African American Individuals Flashcards
Booker T Washington positves.
Start of period - 1915
He secured support from both blacks and whites.
He set up Tuskegee college in 1881 for vocational skills for black people to get jobs.
He focused on economic improvement for AAS.
His Atlanta Compromise speech in 1895 argued that if whites could regard blacks as potential economic partners rather than dangerous political opponents then the race question would be eventually defused.
He was invited for talks at the White House by T. Roosevelt.
Booker T Washington negatives
Start of period - 1915
His Atlanta Compromise speech in 1895 accepted that black’s wouldn’t have equality immediately.
His acceptance of segregation as a temporary condition was criticised by WEB Du Bois particularly.
Blanche K Bruce positives
In Senate from 1875-81
Advocated for both AA and NA rights.
A black senator.
First black leader who had an important political career.
Advocate for better race relations.
Fought vs corruption.
Blanche K Bruce negatives.
Senator 1875-81
He lacked the support from others to improve Civil Rights in general.
He didn’t manage to use his time in power to help black people.
WEB Du Bois positives.
Helped create NAACP in 1909.
Advocated Pan-Africanism, the belief that all people from African descent should work together to gain freedom, he led the first Pan-Africanism conference in London in 1900.
Encouraged development of black literature.
Used the SC with the NAACP to advance rights.
Helped to found Niagara Movement in 1905 and made a speech calling for ‘racial uplift’ and to fight against all forms of discrimination.
WEB Du Bois negatives
His views clashed with other leaders such as Booker T.
Focused too much on middle class.
Niagara Movement collapsed due to internal arguments.
A Phillip Randolph positives.
1920s onwards
Set up the BSCP (Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters) which was the first black union.
Kept pressure on for civil rights.
Organised a threatened march on Washington in 1941 which led to executive order Executive Order 8802, stating that there should be “no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries or Government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.”
This also set up the Fair Employment Practices Committee to enforce order 8802.
He was a major organiser of the March on Washington in 1963.
He was the first to realise the importance of pressuring government.
NO MAJOR HINDRANCES.
Ida B Wells positives
Helped to set up NAACP in 1909.
Made it her mission to end lynching, expose mob violence in America to the world, she travelled and wrote to do this.
Wanted black women to be more talked about.
Set up first black women’s suffrage group.
Set up magazines to inform people.
Exposed inequality in education.
Her book, The Red Record exposed white mainstream media.
Ida B Wells negatives
Confronted white suffrage groups which caused tensions, not particularly negative.
Marcus Garvey positives
Start of 1900s - 1920s
He was the first black person to talk about Black Pride, he influenced Malcolm X alot on this.
Pan-Africanism and back to Africa campaign.
Founded UNIA
Set up a ship to go back to Africa.
Raised black pride and hope.
Marcus Garvey negatives.
Largely discredited due to fraud surrounding his ship.
Anti-Semetic views.
He believed in separation of blacks and whites which didn’t help equality.
Rosa Parks positives
Local activist, she was deliberately chosen to keep her seat. As a middle class woman she gained sympathy.
MIA was set up to organise the bus boycott in Montgomery that lasted 381 days from December 1955 to December 1956. Led to Browder vs Gayle.
17,000 black individuals were involved and the bus company had to concede.
Martin Luther King positives
Great orator, “I have a dream” speech at 1963 march on Washington.
Pushed for 1964 CR and 1965 VR Acts.
Preached non-violence
He was an integrationist, worked with white people cohesively.
Worked with government.
Birmingham 1963 march
Selma 1965 targeted low voter registration areas.
MLK negatives
Accused of bowing down to white people, MX disapproved.
Lots of blacks in the north didn’t believe that they helped them.
Malcolm X positives
Died Feb 1965
Gained mass black support, especially in the northern ghettos with young blacks.
Encouraged violent self-defence when necessary.
Proud to be black.
The ballot or the bullet speech
“By an means necessary” and “white people are the devil”
His Hajj in 1964 after being removed from the NOI after comments about JFK assassination led him to see not all white people are bad.
Malcolm X negatives
Criticised Elijah Muhammad’s leadership and adultery.
Suspended from NOI when he said the “chickens come home to roost” over JFK’s death.
Rejected white people’s help which alienated them and created fear.
Angered NOI leading to death in 1965.
He was at one point one of the highest on the FBI’s threat to national security list.
Stokely Carmichael positives
Took part in 1961 freedom rides, highlighting the segregation still in the south.
Chairman of SNCC in 1966.
Support of the North when he was clear about prevention of equality.
He was vocal about the black refusal to fight in Vietnam.
Stokely Carmichael negatives
Criticised due to his separationist views.
Accused of racism towards whites
Views on women were old fashioned
Jesse Jackson posities
He had the most successful black presidency campaign until Obama, ran in 1983-84 and 1987-88.
Shared MLK’s desire for equality.
Helped found Chicago branch of Operation Breadbasket.
Founded PUSH in 1971 (People United to Save Humanity), Chicago based where he advocated black self-help and achieved a broad audience.
1984 established National Rainbow Coalition, sought equal rights for AA women and homosexuals.
Jesse Jackson negatives
Accused of using the SCLC for personal gain.
Arrogant.
Some observers accused him of being meddlesome and self-aggrandising.
