Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Black Experience Exam 2 Cheat Sheet
Black Experience Exam 2 Cheat Sheet
Supreme Ct 1) He is whiter than white 2) citizenship should be based on patriotism ; Bhagat Sing Thind:
South Asians classified Caucasian but average man knows Thind not white
Politics of Black Empowerment: resurgence of white supremacy, racial caste system, north/south
divide, republic party (own personal corporate interests), democratic party
Booker T Washington
Life: Born into slavery 1856, wrote Up from Slavery Book, Educational Background: Hampton Institute
under strong influence of Civil War general Samuel Chapman Armstrong (who put a lot of emphasis on
practical education, education should have direct practical utility, build & President of Tuskegee
institution in Alabama, had to accommodate a lot with Southerners
Atlanta Exposition Address, Compromise Address (political strategy): Atlanta Trade Fair, higher
educational purpose
o Vocational Education (Cast down your bucket necessary for practical skills, necessity for common
occupations, Economics Integration/Social Separation: accept social segregation if black people
given opportunity to advance economically; Accommodation: doesnt want political agitation (will be
quiet politically if given economic opp); Gradualism: starting from bottom instead of top, slower/surer
process through all constructive grades of industrial, mental, moral, gradualist approach
o Faustian Bargain: accept racial status quo for the time being; exchange docility in politics and no
demands for social equality for economic opportunity
o His Calculus: If blacks progress economically, then they can buy themselves out of segregation;
earn
o Article, : No race that has anything to contribute to markets of the world is long, in any degree,
ostracized, the opporutiy to earn a dollar in a factory is now worth infinitely more that the
opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera house
Evaluations of Booker T:
o Machiavelli of the South (had to do what you need to get what you want; ends justify the mean,
morality has no role in politicsin public Washington talks about quiet, docile strategies while behind
the scenes--used funds from whites (who thought he was pro-segregation) to support the start of civil
rights movement and organizations, worked behind scenes to raise legal funds, challenged railroad
discrimination cases
o Legacy: institutions (last beyond lifetime), working with constraints, relevance of economic power
(importance emphasis), Machiavellian element (cover things needed to advance course of
empowerment)
o William Monroe Trotter: (1872-1934) called Washington the Benedict Arnold traitor-of the Black
Race: Washington tried to shut down Trotters newspaper (enemy list), questioned the dominant way
of thinking (Washington very distinguished individual
o Strategies: Vocational education, economic integration/social separation, accommodation,
gradualism, pragmatism, , Machiavellian element/dimension to his strategies (public vs behind the
scenes challenge)
Du Bois (Harlem Renaissance intellectual vs cultural, Civil Rights Movement, Worker/socialist movement,
International movements
Life and Legacy: New Englander 1868, partially protected childhood raised in MA, precocious child,
white paternalism experienced when Church pays for Fisk Univ instead of Harvardblack boy belongs),
Fisk University (TN): able to witness everyday Black American life at a time when reconstruction was
failing (important formative role in his life
Education: studies philosophy and romance languages (unlike Booker T), continues as undergrad at
Harvard(valedictorian), University of Berlin (1892-94) intellectual center of western world but cant
complete phD bc scholarship runs out; European experience: being able to look at America from outside;
Narrow englightenment perspective: 1) Understand physical world (science replaces metaphysical)
2) Science is basis upon which we solve societys problems (Galileo, David Hume, Charles Darwin, Isaac
Newton), cure for ignorance/stupidity on social issue was knowledge on scientific investigation
o The Philadelphia Negro: documenting Philadelphia Blacks everyday life to show greater
understanding with hope to garner attention from policy makerknowledge based on scientific
investigation (systematic investigation) could be the cure for racism (particular world view has
limitations, couldnt solve/understand/improve racial relations)
Humanistic perspective: Irrational violent episodes that changed Du Bois scientific worldview If
otherwise good, ordinary people could take little children to watch lynching/torching he lost faith in
scientific method (being a detached scientist with facts wasnt enough to address violence that was
growing in parts of America)
o Death of 1st son: white doctor would not come to see a black baby, leaves south to north-science
alone was not enough to address the color line, need legal protection
Legal Protection: realizes intellectual work/writings need to target audience beyond uni/policy makers,
NAACP (National Association for Advancement of Colored People 1909) starts mobilizing/becomes
formative part of political organization to fight for legal protection (anti-lynching campaign)
Du Bois and Booker T Washington (complex relationship): Du Bois initially agreed with Atlanta
Compromise, but then argues that scientific method has limitation and that Booker T Washington is
wrong, need to fight for legal protection
o Economic cast: one cant separate economic empowerment and political empowerment; Costs of
quest-inferiority: In quest for economic empowerment, Du Bois thinks Washington encouraging
blacks to accept status of inferiority, detrimental to AA; Priorities: Washing was calling on B to give
up political power/civil rights/higher education and concentrate on industrial
education/wealth/conciliation with the South; Political climate: when blacks facing increasing terror
we need not less civil rights but MORE civil rights (Du Bois), white terror
Power through Culture: Du Bois concerned with how white superiority and black inferiority
manufactured through media, culture, mechanisms (power through force, but also mainly through
culture), Racist ideological climate
o Gramsci (1891-1937): Marxist theoretician and politician who thought power is not only maintained
through force but also through manufacture of consent (how does popular culture allow you to buy
the status quo, socialized to think a certain way
o Stuart Hall: (1932-2014) cultural theorist (inventor of field of study called cultural studies) place
where hegemony was manufactured (ideas of ruling class, imperial political economical pursuits)--Du Bois- if blacks are not educated who is going to give them alternative world view if ideas come
from higher educations placed to protect western interests, western hegemonies, western ideas (Who
is going to be Rosa Parks lawyer?)
o Du Bois found essential for blacks to fight for political rights, begin own cultural production (represent
themselves in own terms) to fight resurgents of scientific racism/counteract world view(popular
books: The Negro a Beast, etc)
Humanistic over Scientific: Instrumental in founding NAACP, founding editor of Crisis Magazine,
engage broader public
o Souls of Blackfolk: (evokes connection, passion, emotion),optimisting world fighting for a place for
B in US society, humanistic approach (talks about humanity of black people, living experience of black
people), visible the invisibility of black exp in America
o Problem of Color line: Veil of separation between white and black america (metaphor, biblical allusion,
ancient ewish temple behind veil stood arc of covenant, matter of life/death (severity of problem),
miraculous (major effort society needs to overcome it), to overcome color line, whites must
understand black religion, feel passion of black sorrow
Harlem Renaissance: Cultural/Artistic Movement (artists fighting for self representation, art serving as
a distinctly politica purpose, tried to use art and literature in course of black empowerment
Intertatoinalism/Radicalism: Tensions within NAACP (Du Bois felt NAACP should talk about economic
justice when into Great Depression, criticizes NAACP in Crisis magazine, released from editor position
editorial independence from Crisis), Du Bois writes that blacks should put aside differences, demonstrate
patrioritism, fight in segregatd army (similar to Washington), Red Summer of 1919: many blacks who
served in WW1 come back to racial violence, Woodrow Wilson does nothing to keep status quo,
radicalizes Du Bois regrets supporting Wilson
o Truman (socialist leanings, Bois doesnt like bc nuclear weaponry, even though NAACP forms
alliance & Lyndon Johnson (frustrates Bois with slow pace of change)
o Video: What political/intellectual activities was Du Bois involved in (NAACP, );
o
Marxism: (Communist Manifesto: written for workers in European factory); class struggle (class is
essential way of looking at history: bourgeoisclass that owns means of production and capital,
proletariat: working class (more profit=less wages)
o Du Bois: interested in connections between race and class (psychocultural dynamic
racism/economical effect): Systemic nature of Racism, Transformation, Economic Justice
(departure of Booker T, not just economic growth but distribution of economic growth),
Internationalism (cannot limit struggle to one geographical area
o McCarthyism: black reconstruction, 1950 Joins American Labor Party, indicted, villinafied and
isolated
Last Thoughts:
o Du Bois and exile: Left for Ghana, with no point of return (hopless American Negro cant win),
pioneered Modern Civil Righst Struggle, link between national and international movements,
Garveys Option (Du bois takes Garveys option to travel back and die in Africa)
o Positions: Narrow Enlightenment Perspective (Philadelphia Negro), Humanistic Connections
(Souls of Black Folk, NAACP, Crisis Magazine), Emerging Radicalism/Internationalism (Nationalism,
Worker Rights, Socialist Move), Internationalism/Democratic socialism
o
Contributions: Intellectual legacy, architect of modern civil rights mov, harlem renaissance
prime mover, anti-colonialism/pan Africanism/internationalism/civil rights and economic justice,
encyclopedia Africa (global black ex
Marcus Garvey (1887-1940): Black
Early life: From Jamaica (peasant background, grps of people in Jaimca who escaped slavery formed
independent communities, emphasized self reliance/independence), forbidden to play with school friend,
Moves to Kingston (publishes The Negro World largest circulating black newspaper), participates in
union activities; travels to England (1912), Hyde Park Speaks Corner (public speaking in Hyde Park),
Interested with how british government works for British people (prime minister elected by party that
wins, questioned by House), Birbeck College, disturbed by contradictions between colonized world and
center of the world, how well british democracy was working vs elsewhere (jaimaca vs England)
o Booker T Washington Influence: UP from slavery: 1) idea of economic independence as a means
of political empowerment 2) Need for some sort of economic self-sufficiency 3) Individual political
formation
UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Associations) (July 1914) to reverse invisibility of Black ppl, centered
in Harlem (black political and cultural life starts here), starts to publish Negro World, global movement
(tried to form globally)
o Madison Square Garden Convention: 20,000 delgates around world, Rights of Return to Africa
(territorial nationalism: idea that Africans have right to return to Africa to establish space for self
determination, apart from Bois), Capitilization of N in Negro (constant struggle for self determination),
Teaching of Black History, New Pan Africanism flag (Red: blood lost, Black: race, Green: richness of
Africa land), Elected President (Provisional President of Africa)
Programs: Philosphy of Race First (program of emancipation, racial empowerment convert disabilities to
positive strength), Economic/Cultural Nationalism, UNIA Businesses (Black Star Line)
KKK dialogue: Strategy-majory of blacks lived in south, wanted expansion, deal with realities of South,
Klan wanted legitimacy (talking to most popular B leader), Both Garvey and Klahn didnt believe in
possibility of white sharing same democraticy space) Brutally a Black man Reality of being black,
*Mainstream civil rights oppose Garvey
Challenges: Conversation with KKK, J Edgar Hoover (Head of FBI), NAACP, Socialist, Indicted Mail Fraud
(deported, Jamaica pardoned from prison), dies in london (Back to Africa, yet irony of dying in London)
Booker T/WB Du Bois/ Garvey
Accomodation and Pragmatism, Institution building, Machiavellian Dimension, Intellectual Struggle,
Counter narrative, social justice, economics, global solidarity,
o