Page 4
January 18, 1988
Other Influential Black
Leaders—
by GARRAUD ETIENNE
Staff Writer
Booker T. Washington
(1856-1915)
Frederick Dougias
(1817-1895)
While George Washington is the
father of the United States, Frederick
Douglas is the father of the Afro-
American nation. His tenets of nonviolent,
passive resistance, belief in the impor
tance of vocational and industrial educa
tion, self-help and black integration into
mainstream American society laid the
philosophical groundwork for later black
leaders and the subsequent civil rights
movement.
Born a slave in Maryland, Douglas
escaped slavery and went on to become
a leading abolitionist. Both his newspaper
The North Star (est. 1847) and his
Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglas, an autobiographical depiction of
his slave experiences, were highly
respected and landmark abolitionist
literature.
A man of recognized superior in
tellect and motivation, as a journalist,
essayist and public speaker, Douglas
fought against not only slavery and racial
discrimination, but campaigned for
women’s rights, temperance, and world
peace, and decried both capital punish
ment and lynching.
W.E.B. Dubois
(1868-1963)
A free-born Negro of mixed heritage,
Dubois was a prolific writer of high in
tellect who underwent many changes of
ideology throughout his long life. As one
of the founding fathers of the NAACP and
editor of its official newspaper The Crisis,
he originally admired Booker T.
Washington but later came to criticizc his
accommodationist tactics. He believed
that the "Talented Tenth" (a core of black
intellectuals) and whites of goodwill
would be able to inspire the black masses
to achieve. He often wrote for the need
for racial self-segregation and a separate
and .strong black economy that would
eventually entitle blacks to a degree of
political powej". Foreshadowing some of
the more radical elements of the later civil
rights movement, he called for “a Negro
nation within a nation."
He was also one of the earliest black
leaders to stress pride in African heritage
and the strength of the black race. His
famous text. The Souls of Black Folk.
powerfully envisioned the struggle of
Afro-Americans; one-soul Negro, the
other American, with reconciliation
between the two near impossible.
Malcolm X
(1925-1965)
Born Malcolm Little, son of a West
Indian mother and a Baptist minister, from
an early age Malcolm was exposed to the
relentless violence of white racism.
Malcolm witnessed the brutal beating and
murder of his father, who was involved
in Garvey’s UNIA, at the hands of white
supremacists and the resultant nervous
breakdown of his mother that soon
followed. „
An intelligent and promising
highschool student, Malcolm was
discouraged from pursuing his scholastic
goals by a teacher who informed him that
his goals weren’t proper for a young black
boy. He grew more and more alienated
from white society and soon found himself
imprisoned. It was there that he found his
calling, the Nation of Islam. Under the
leadership of Elijah Muhammad, Islam
offered the black man an explanation of
his condition. The Black Muslim group
at the time preached that whites were
"blue-eyed devils" and that salvation and
redemption would soon come from God.
Allah. Malcolm, as was customary with
converts, rejected his "slave" surname
and adopted the title "X", Using his skills
as an inspirational orator and his
remarkable insights into the American
racial situation, Malcolm made a name for
himself as an uncompromising "radical"
who had nothing but condemnation for the
white man, his "evil, alien" religions and
his unmerciful oppression of the black
man.
Malcolm staunchly criticized passive
resistance and labeled the integration
movement as another white hoax. Of
Martin Luther King. Jr., he said: "Any
Negro who teaches other Negroes to turn
the other cheek is disarming the Negro of
his God-given right ... his moral right
... his natural right . . . his intelligent
right to defend himself."
An unusual and complex post-
Reconstruction era leader who claimed
that the black man’s best friends were
southern whites, Washington was not only
an accommodationist and apologist for
white racism as many of his opponents
claimed, but more importantly a skillful
politician who attempted to upgrade the
statiis of his race while not incurring the
wrath of white reactionaries.
Born a slave in Virginia, Washington
wrote that although he only caught an oc
casional glimpse of classrooms and btxjks
as a child, he always had a burning desire
for literacy and an education. Through
much hardship, he managed to complete
an education at Hampton Institute and
later accepted the position of principal at
Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute. There he
began his career as an educator and
became, in the minds of whites who sup
ported his accommcxlationist views, a race
leader. In both his autobiography Up
From Slavery and his famous speech The
Atlanta Compromise Address.
Washington expressed his ideas on the
best course of action for blacks; 1) slay
Marcus
(1880-
With the exception of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Garvey is the most influen
tial and respected leader in the history ol
black resistance. No leader before him
had ever appealed to the masses of
alienated blacks, especially those of the
northern ghettoes.
Born in Jamaican iruiroon society of
free blacks. Garvey developed a fierce,
almost fanatical pride towards the black
race and culture and distrusted both whites
and light-skinned Negroes. Throughout
his travels between the U.S., Central
America and the West Indies, Garvey saw
first-hand the exploitation of black peoples
at the hands of whites. This abuse, and
his subsequent belief that integration was
neither feasible nor desirable, led to the
formulation of his famous "back to
Africa" ideology. Garvey believed in the
not necessarily physical migration of
blacks to Africa, but a spiritual redemp
tion of Africa aiuLthe creation of a strong
Africa, free from imperalist colonial rule.
He wanted black professionals, intellec-
and work in the south, work hard at
farming and manual labor and hope to im
press whites with industrious behavior and
loyalty; 2) deprecated political action and
voting by blacks, and 3) the need for
blacks to seek education in farming and
industrial techniques rather than academic
education.
Washington’s beliefs were well
received by many whites and deplored by
many black intellectuals, especially
W.E.B. Dubois. Many opposed him on
the grounds that his policies would send
a message to whites that blacks were con
tent and had no intention of leaving their
place. One critic characterized
Washington as “the biggest white man’s
nigger ever.’’ However, many who have
subsequently studied the writings,
speeches and actions of Booker T.
Washington have come to believe that he
was not necessarily an “Uncle Tom’’ but
an expert diplomat who fed white segrega
tionists whal they wanted to hear in order
to obtain their support in building black
schools, libraries and other educational
facilities.
Garvey
1940)
tuuls and businessmen to help create a
strong Africa that would be respected by
the while world. He criticized other black
leaders for their integraiionist beliefs and
reliance on white support.
His organization, the Universal
Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).
claimed to have a membership of six
million, and his newspaper The Ncfiro
World, a circulation of 2()0.(){)(). He
founded a fleet of cargo ships. The Black
Star Line, to conduct trade among the
black communities of the U.S.. West In
dies and Africa. His actions brought a
resurgence to black resistance and racial
unity that would later mature into the civil
rights movement of the 1%0’s.
The flag that symbolized the civil
lights movement was first incorporated by
Garvey and characterizes his racial pride:
the bkn)d of African
peoples everywhere
GREEN — green jungles of Africa.
Iiope and aspiration
BLACK — the common color of the
black race
"This is a great time to be alive... Therefore, I am not yet
discouraged about the future... \Nhen days grow dark and
nights grow dreary, we can be thankful that our God
combines in His nature a creative synthesis of love and
justice which will lead us through life's dark alleys and
into sunlit pathways of hope and fulfillment."
—from Strength to Love, Dr. Martin Luther King, ]r.