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Black Religious Leaders as Protestors in the 20 th Century Black religious leaders played a vital role in organization of black protests in the 20 th century. Although in the beginning of the 20 th century there also were charismatic black leaders who had their followers, only with the beginning of the Civil rights Movement and appearance of Africa American religious leaders did black protests and demonstration reach its full potential. Within the course of this research, we will look at the prominent African American leaders of the 20 th century. Two distinct voices of black protesters in the late 19 th and early 20 th century are T. Thomas Fortune and Marcus Garvey. Fortune, in his 1884 essay The Negro and the Nation, explains the plight of the black race during Reconstruction, proclaiming that nothing has been solved; slavery is gone, but the black man is not free.
His essay concludes that revolution to throw off the white tyrant is inevitable. He states, The throne itself must be rooted out and demolished (Barbour, p. 46). And like David Walker, Fortune reminds America of humanity's history. Reiterating the threat of revolution, he states: When you ask free men that question - What are you going to do about the oppression? - you appeal to men who, though sunk to the verge of despair, yet are capable of uprising and ripping hip and thigh those who deemed them incapable of rising above their condition. The history of mankind is fruitful of such uprisings of races and classes reduced to a condition of absolute despair. (Barbour, p. 53) The enslavement of the black race may have changed facades, but the theme of upward mobility remained strong and defiant, more resounding with rage than ever before.
Marcus Garvey stands alone as one who has vehemently sought to channel the rage of his people militantly. He exclaims: Shall we not fight for the glorious opportunity of protecting and forever more establishing ourselves as a mighty race and nation, never more to be disrespected by men? Glorious shall be the battle when the time comes to fight for our people and our race. (Barbour, p. 114) Garvey, a pioneer of Black Nationalism, envisioned an autonomous African nation free from white rule and oppression. His vision included marshaling the 400, 000, 000 Negroes of the world to fight for the emancipation of the race and of the redemption of the country of our fathers (Barbour, p. 117). Dismissing the possibility of obtaining equality in America, he concludes that so long as there is a black and white population, when the majority is on the side of the white race, you and I will never get political justice or get political equality in this country (Barbour, p. 133). Perhaps most significant about Garvey's rhetoric is his expressed desire to dominate racially.
Marcus was not noticed for just one accomplishment is his lifetime, but many on them. When Marcus returned to Jamaica he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which sought, among other things, to work on black emigration to Africa. In Jamaica Garvey didnt attract the kind of following that he hope for so he moved his tactics to New York in 1916. By 1919 the UNIA reached its peek with members in thirty-six states and hundreds of branches worldwide. He also founded the Black Star Line (BSL), which focused on purchasing boats and serving an international shipping trade that would return black people to their homeland of Africa. Marcus Garvey not only founded the UNIA and BSL, but he also founded the Negro World, grocery stores, restaurants, Black Cross Nurses, and millinery shops.
All of Marcus Garvey's accomplishments and failures had an effect on society. When it comes to the UNIA Marcus Garvey left an impact on society, which was felt immediately, and it is still felt today. By 1920, Garvey's followers were in the thousands at his high point when he appeared at the First National Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World in New York City. In 1922 Garvey was arrested for defrauding shareholders, and convicted in 1923. Five years later he was returned to Jamaica, where he again tried to regain his movement.
Eventually going bankrupt, he moved to London where he died in 1935. Marcus Garvey had many failures while promoting black individuality and equality, but that did not stop him. Garvey raised the standard of success for blacks far above where it had ever been before-and rarely since. Ralph J. Bunch draws interesting conclusions in his 1935 essay, A Critical Analysis of the Tactics and Progress of Minority Groups. He concludes that because of the vast outnumbering by whites, and because the Negro masses are so lacking in radical class consciousness...
any possibility of large scale identification of the Negro population with revolutionary groups can be projected only into the future (Bunch, p. 318) However, as Benjamin E. Mays puts it: "The tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. " (Mays, p. 127) Booker T. Washingtons thoughts about the labor of black people differ from a traditional view.
Washington feels that many white boys and girls never mastered a single trade or special line of productive industry. All the cooking, cleaning, everything was done by slaves, so when freedom came blacks were well off to begin a life of their own. Except for book-learning and ownership of property, Washington felt positively of the long term investment made from all that hard labor. Washington envisioned a future for Black America where their hard work would earn them the respect of whites and pave the way for equality between the races. Washington had success on his mind for his whole life.
There is not a moment in his life where he did not think of achieving a goal that would make him more successful and a better person. He used to picture in his mind how he would climb from the bottom of the ladder and one day is on the top, despite his race. He did envy the white boy as you would think in his early part of his life, but once again his view changed from what is considered normal in my opinion. Washington states: I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. (Franklin, p. 27) Washington felt that a Negro youth must work harder and must perform his tasks even better than a white youth in order to secure recognition, and in that also gaining more strength and confidence than a white youth. By the time the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950 s and 60 s was in full swing, white America wondered in awe at the demonstration of black protests they witnessed. Many were aghast, wondering where all the penned up anger came from.
Race riots and violence ravaged the country. Black spokesmen rose up from various organizations -- Black Panther Party, SNCC, Nation of Islam -- and proclaimed BLACK POWER! Martin Luther King, Jr. , explained that the sweltering summer of the Negros legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality (Franklin, p. 103). The Civil Rights Movement has produced an explosion of black rhetoric, specifically rhetoric of rage, more extensive and complete than at any previous time in American history. Prior to the era, blacks were never free to openly speak and criticize white institutions and government. Because of this new freedom to speak in open forum, internal black rage has finally been released, heard externally through unprecedented expression and demonstration.
In the struggle for civil rights, the rhetoric of revolution dominates as one major theme of black protests. In his address to the 1966 graduating class at Howard University, Adam Clayton Powell, Congressman from Harlem, boldly proclaims, We are the last revolutionaries in America -- the last transfusion of freedom into the bloodstream of democracy. Because we are, we must mobilize our wintry discontent to transform the cold heart and white face of this nation (Franklin, p. 114). Black Power, advocating -- screaming for -- revolution and violence, dominates the forefront of black-protest demonstration.
It is important to understand, however, that the whole idea of Black Power and Black Pride originated, not as a venting of rage to cause people to rise up in anger, but rather to provide self worth and a realization that as humans, blacks must demand comparable treatment. Nonetheless, this seed of innocence soon produces a channel for rage. In his 1967 speech The Meaning of Black Power, Franklin Florence defines Black Power as an active attitude. He proclaims, And I say tonight, freedom and justice are not gifts -- you must take them -- rise up, you mighty black people -- organize and take power (Barbour, p. 82). Indeed, Black Power encompassed a wide variety of thought and rhetoric during the Civil Rights Movement. Leroy Jones, recalling the separatist philosophy of Garvey, exclaims, Black Power cannot exist WITHIN white power. (Barbour, p. 111) Continuing, he proclaims, One or the other.
There can only be one or the other. They might exist side by side as separate entities, but never in the same space. Never. They are mutually exclusive (Barbour, p. 113). The decision, according to some, has to be made as to which one will prevail. One organization that aims to channel black protests militantly beyond the efforts of others is the Black Panther Party.
The Party holds that only a true revolution will effect the changes required to rid black society of white oppression (Franklin, p. 166). One goal of the Panthers is to organize blacks in a common effort to overcome despotism. Bobby Seale, Chairman of the Party, explains in a 1968 address that black people should not sit down and let a spontaneous...
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