...Malcom X, in the speech The Ballot or the Bullet, invokes an emotional reaction within the audience by using the word “trapped.” Malcom X vocalized the fear African Americans feel by stating, “So we’re trapped, trapped, double-trapped, triple-trapped. Any way we go, we find that we’re trapped. Any kind of solution that someone comes up with is just another trap” The white aristocratic society African Americans are surrounded by leave them economically cornered. Malcom X reinforces the idea that African American’s feel trapped within their own community by using repetition. Malcom X reiterates the words “trapped” and “we” to reinforce the idea that the African American community is being affected as a whole. The word “we” emphasizes that Africa...
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...split up among various foster homes and orphanages. In Malcolm’s late teens he began to drift into the life of petty crime and was convicted on burglary charges. He was to serve 10 years of prison but was granted parole after seven. During his sentence he was converted to the Nation of Islam under the “Great” Elijah Muhammad. He became very active in the Nation and his great talents as a leader moved him to the number two spot in the Muslim organization. In 1964, he withdrew from the Nation upon the knowledge of Muhammad’s affairs and future children, and being silenced because of his comments towards Kennedy’s assassination. Malcolm X setup his own orthodox Muslim mosque and organized a black protest organization, the Association of Afro-American Unity. He continued to emphasize Pan-Africanism, black self-determination, and black self-defense. In February 1965 he was assassinated by three Nation of Islam members....
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...Malcom X, in the speech The Ballot or the Bullet, invokes an emotional reaction within the audience by using the word “trapped.” Malcom X vocalized the fear African Americans feel by stating, “So we’re trapped, trapped, double-trapped, triple-trapped. Any way we go, we find that we’re trapped. Any kind of solution that someone comes up with is just another trap. The white aristocratic society African Americans are surrounded by leave them economically cornered. Malcom X reinforces the idea that African American’s feel trapped within their own community by using repetition. Malcom X reiterates the words “trapped” and “we” to reinforce the idea that the African American community is being affected as a whole. The word “we” emphasizes that they...
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...Hate Groups and the Civil Rights Movement Hate groups have existed for centuries and transformed radically over the years. Hate groups have appeared in America at times of social liberation time and time again. After the emancipation of the slaves in America, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was formed. This hate group committed heinous murders and other acts of defiance against the equality with African Americans that threatened their social and economic standings. KKK membership has fluctuated since they were formed, but; they reached two main membership peaks: in the 1920s with the red scare after World War I and in the 1960s during the civil rights movement. Both of these were times when minority groups fought for recognition. The civil rights movement also brought hate groups of African Americans. Groups like the Black Panther Party and Black Nationalists opposed the oppression they faced and fought it violently. Today, there is a modern civil rights movement happening and there has been a recent rise in hate group activity. Movements such as anti-racism and gay-rights have raised attention and faced opposition. In modern times, hate groups are less tangible. While there may not be groups with national committees holding meetings to oppose these civil rights, there are groups that have these common hatreds: religious groups, political parties, and certain demographic areas are just a few. Hate groups have left huge impacts on society during periods of social liberation, whether for...
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...knows about Mississippi goddam". In the song she rails on the common argument at the time that civil rights activists and African Americans should "go slow" and make changes in the United States incrementally: "Keep on sayin' 'go slow'...to do things gradually would bring more tragedy. Why don't you see it? Why don't you feel it? I don't know, I don't know. You don't have to live next to me, just give me my equality!" Feldstein demonstrates Simone’s increasing politicization through textual analysis of songs like “Mississippi Goddam”, her involvement with various organizations, and her on-stage embrace of African culture and clothing. Feldstein analysis describes Simone’s denunciation of the “going slow” and outspoken criticism of gradual change in race relations in the early 1960s, much before the traditionally-held rise of black power or second-wave feminism in the late 1960s and 1970s. Feldstein presents accounts of her fundraising benefits for SNCC, CORE, NAACP and other groups to show her desirability as a performer whose music, training, and background were accessible and well-received by whites and blacks of different classes. Feldstein describes Simone’s romanticized reception of Africa upon a 1961 trip to Lagos, Nigeria, which was a pivotal turn to physically linking African American struggle with African freedom through black cultural nationalism (via clothes, the “natural”). Simone had great success in...
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...The title of my research paper will be Modern racism. I choose this topic because of as an American that was born in Africa it is always something that has been an interest to me. I came to America around the age of seven. I was young, and coming from Nigeria we were not taught anything about racism. My views on racism in America didn't really come from studying the history of slavery and civil rights in America, but rather from personal experiences I went through. In elementary school even though I was taught the history of African American I never really understood the impact of slavery. I merely took what I was taught as part of the curriculum, which I needed to pass a test. I never really absorbed much from learning. Most of the racist...
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... “The Ballot or the Bullet”, the name itself does not leave something to the imagination. It catches our attention and makes us react without even uttering another word. Malcolm X knew this well and that’s what made him such a charismatic figure in the civil rights movement of the sixties. Malcolm X delivered this speech at the height of the civil rights movement, just one month prior Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was delivered. X was trying to go after a different group of people within the same group (African-Americans), he knew that many people didn’t embrace the peaceful nature of Dr. King’s rallies and knew he could capitalize on the moment. Congress had done very little to further the civil rights movement with any piece of legislation, and the African-American population was growing frustrated. That frustration fueled Malcolm X to deliver “The Ballot or the Bullet”, invoking a sense of emergency amongst African-Americans to act now. 1964 was an election year and Malcolm X used this to further fuel his movement, “when all the political crooks will be right in the community, with all their false promises which they don’t intend to keep (X, 1964). Malcolm X made it very clear that he was not asking the black man to throw caution to the wind with statements such as “I’m not anti-Democrat, I’m not anti-Republican, and I’m not anti-anything. I’m just questioning their (white politicians) sincerity and some of the strategy that they’ve been using...
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...Informal Text-Based Argumentative Essay In the early twentieth century there were several important figures who advocated for Black people when racial discrimination was to its highest peak. Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. was born August 17th 1887 and died June 10th 1940. He was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). He founded the Black Star Line, part of the Back-to-Africa movement, which promoted the return of the African Migration to their ancestral lands (BBC History). William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born February 23rd, 1868 and died August 27th, 1963. He was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor. Born in western Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a tolerant community and experienced little racism as a child. After graduating from Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became a professor of history, sociology, and economics at Atlanta University. Du Bois was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909 (Bibliography.com). Booker T. Washington was born April 5th, 1856 and died November 14th, 1915. Booker Taliaferro Washington was the foremost black educator of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He also had a...
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...greatest speakers in African-American history, Malcolm X delivered a powerful speech entitled “Ballot or the Bullet” on April 3, 1964 in Cleveland, Ohio. In the profound speech, Malcolm looks to unite all blacks in America, disregarding their religion, and to promote Black Nationalism. Black Nationalism, through the eyes of Malcolm, mainly causes for blacks to take over the politics in their communities. Along with the political aspects, Black Nationalism requires blacks to stop supporting white businesses and only invest in black-owned businesses and companies. Malcolm’s Black Nationalism has a “self-help” philosophy, in which blacks control the jobs, housing and culture of their communities. In addition to uplifting the black community, Black Nationalism also called to unite blacks from different religions to fight for freedom (according to Malcolm, second-class citizens, which most black were classified as, were 20th Century slaves.) Another one of Malcolm’s viewpoints is on a black revolution in America. He seemed upset that in his speech that blacks in the south were choosing the lax methods of sit-ins as a form of desegregation. Malcolm felt that if blacks were to gain freedom in America, blood must be shed, referring back to the term revolution. In Africa, he mentions, blacks did not gain their independence from European nations peacefully, however, that they had to fight, kill, and be killed to gain liberty. He also mentions how bloody the American Revolution was against...
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...Board of Education case, causing an uprising of civil rights activists. These activists became notable historical figures, leading fellow citizens in the fight to equality, through the spread of their own philosophies. African- Americans conducted protests, marches and boycotts, challenging discriminatory laws that threatened their equality. Malcolm X is just one of the many leaders that propelled the civil rights movement with his concepts of black supremacy, segregation, and Islam. Malcolm X’s philosophy was effective because it encouraged African- Americans to create self-sustainable businesses, logically strengthen their economy, and unite as a group of people to defend their rights; therefore, his philosophy ignited the assemblage of African Americans, forcing legislative figures to compose new laws. During the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans organized their own businesses to eliminate subjection to the superior white class. Many successful businesses were owned by whites, so to combat the lack of black,...
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...century and the work of black historian and sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963), whose The Philadelphia Negro (1899) was the first sociological text on a black community published in the United States. In 1903, in his book The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois had proposed that the identity of African Americans was fraught with ambiguity. (Sayre, 2012, pg. 1174) When in 1909 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded to advance the rights of black, Du Bois became editor of its magazine, The Crisis. Du Bois sense of the double-consciousness informing African American experience (a double-consciousness that informs the very term “African American”) was often expressed in the magazine’s pages. In this role he wielded an unequaled influence among middle-class black and progressive whites as the propagandist for the black protest from 1910 until 1934. (Rudwick, 2013) He resigned from the editorship of The Crisis and the NAACP in 1934, yielding his influence as a race leader and charging that the organizations was dedicated to the interests of the black bourgeoisie and ignored the problem of the masses. Du Bois’s interest in cooperatives was a part of his nationalism that developed out of his Marxist leanings. At the turn of the century, he had...
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...Contributions to Black Nationalism in the United States Critically discuss the contributions of both Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois to the idea of Black nationalism in the United States. What were the major obstacles they faced in their articulation of the black Nationalist ideology? Booker T. Washington “was an American political leader, educator and author” who proved to be one of the most dominate figures in African American history in the United States (Booker, par. 1). William Edward Burghardt Du Bois “was a noted scholar, editor, and African American activist…[who] sought to eliminate discrimination and racism” (.. During the late 19th and early 20th century Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois were two great men who significantly influenced the idea of Black Nationalism in the United States. Though they both wanted to see an America where the Negro was treated with proper respect and equality, their views on how to obtain these noble goals contrasted one another. The ideology of DuBois and Washington were so completely different that people became subjected to following the doctrine of one or the other. With the knowledge that only one could be the “spokesman” for the race the two began a bitter battle to control the Black Nationalism ideology. Amid the competition against one another, both men still had to face other obstacles such as racism in order to further the goals of blacks of the period. Even though the two men had differing opinions on the...
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...performance art or whatever each individual interpret as art. Literature introduces us to a world of imagination and most importantly experiences, it’s a way of inviting others in to your own world as an artist. One of the best known authors was one of the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance James Mercer Langston Hughes. A pioneer of modern black literature, Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist who devoted his writing career to revealing the attitudes, experiences, and language of everyday black African American. He called this period "the negro was in vogue". As a teenage I can recall reading Langston Hughes work , one that always stayed in printed in my mind is “Mother to Son” one of his poems from his first collections of short stories “The Way of White Folks’, which was published in the year 1934. These collections of stories focus on the interaction between whites and blacks. Langston Hughes main goal with in is writing was to uplift his people. He stressed the saying “black is beautiful” in that current time African Americans was criticized and prejudices based on skin color within the black community. For...
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...Lenin walks around the world. Frontiers cannot bar him. Neither barracks nor barricades impede. Nor does barbed wire scar him. Lenin walks around the world. Black, brown, and white receive him. Language is no barrier. The strangest tongues believe him. Lenin walks around the world. The sun sets like a scar. Between the darkness and the dawn. There rises a red star. – Langston Hughes In the early 1900’s there were very few political parties focused on the plight of African Americans and their quest for civil rights. Communism had inherent within its philosophy the idea that all men and women are equal and focused on an economic model that purported to promote that equality. Karl Marx believed that capitalism thrived on exploitation and he had very concrete notions on slavery. He stated: Direct slavery is just as much the pivot of bourgeois industry as machinery, credits, etc. Without slavery you have no cotton; without cotton you have no modern industry. It is slavery that has given the colonies their value; it is the colonies that have created world trade, and it is world trade that is the pre-condition of large-scale industry. Thus slavery is an economic category of the greatest importance (Marx, 1975). Without slavery Marx believed that it would have been impossible for America to thrive. They needed that free labor to be able to build a profitable industry and forge the nation. Thus the enslavement of an entire race of people was necessary for a capitalist country...
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...One way that Reconstruction was a success was the Transcontinental Railroad. One way that Reconstruction was a failure was that the Black Codes came out of them. I think that it was more of a failure because after a while people didn’t care to try to continue Reconstruction. The Transcontinental Railroad was a success because it helped to connect the east to the west. This was an important idea for Reconstruction because the railroad would help to promote nationalism. The idea of promoting nationalism again is important because the country needed to be united again. This was a success for Reconstruction because the country was broken and needed to be connected again, this idea was going to mend the wounds. On the other hand, the Black Codes...
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