Black Twentieth-Century Thought

1. Black Twentieth-Century Thought 1. Setting the Stage: The Nineteenth Century and the “Promise” of Freedom 2. Booker T. Washington and the Philosophy of Self-Help 3. W.E.B. Du Bois and the Black Intellectual Platform 4. Marcus Garvey and Pan-Africanism

2. Abolition of Slavery 1793: Canada passed bill to prevent further importation of slaves; first British territory to enact anti-slavery legislation; 1807: Abolition of slave trade in British Caribbean; 1834: British colonies abolished slavery but introduced period of Apprenticeship which lasted until 1838; 1865: Abolition of slavery in the US South; 1886: Cuba abolished slavery, ending slavery in the Caribbean; 1888: Brazil was the last colony in the Americas to abolish slavery.

3. Reconstruction 1866-1877 The Reconstruction aimed to • Reorganize southern states after the Civil War; • Facilitate the re-admittance of southern states into the Union; • Define the means by which whites and blacks could live together in a non-slave society.

4. 14th Amendment (1868) Section 1. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States . . . No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

5. 15th Amendment (1870) Section 1. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

6. Disenfranchising Black Votes in the South • Literacy Tests: you had to be able to read to be eligible to vote; • Poll Taxes: you had to pay a tax in order to vote; • Grandfather Clause: you could only vote if your grandfather had been eligible to vote and had been a citizen.

7. Southern Black Codes • Refused blacks the right to vote; • Restricted the legal and civil rights of blacks; • Prevented blacks from carrying weapons; • Heavily punished interracial marriage; • Introduced vagrancy laws that tied blacks to agricultural labour.

8. Development of African American Political Thought • First Tradition: Frederick Douglass - militant approach that lobbied for full citizenship • Second Tradition: Alexander Crummell - segregated community development and self-help

9. Booker T. Washington • Thrift, industry and Christian morality would earn blacks their rights in US society; • Blacks should transform themselves into a productive workforce and begin to accumulate capital; • Future of blacks tied to the south.

10. Booker T. Washington “In all things that are purely social, we can be as separate as the five fingers, yet as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” (Atlanta Exposition 365)

11. W.E.B. Du Bois The history of the American Negro is the history of …this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face. (Souls of Black Folk 215)

12. Marcus Garvey • UNIA was the most influential black movement of the 20th century; • Promoted a philosophy of black pride, self-worth and self-reliance; • Fought for the decolonisation of Africa; • Encouraged global cooperation among Africans.

13. Some Questions 1. Can cultural and political identity only be determined by “race” and colour? 2. Is the project of self-recovery the same for all blacks globally? 3. Can we base the development of any community on a common racialidentity?