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Research Paper

Liam Loveday

Ethnic Studies Department, Salt Lake Community College

ETHS-2410-401

Juone Kadiri, Ph.D. MSW

December 2, 2021
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Final Research Paper: African American Political Organizers

The African American experience, all throughout colonial America and the history of the

United States brought blossoming and experimentation in the strings of American society at the

time. The segregated societies that African Americans found themselves confronting not just

resulted in, but institutionalized the importance and need for organization. The main class text

“Let Nobody Turn Us Around” centralizes this aspect in the introduction of the textbook.

“The themes of reform, resistance, and renewal formed the cultural and social

matrix of black consciousness, community, and public discourse. They were the

foundations for the construction of a black American society that was self-conscious and

motivated to define and achieve its specific interests.”

By studying this aspect of African American history, the interlocking details of different

movements in their focus, and intent provide very introspective details in the narratives apparent.

Why I chose this area for my final research paper is because I am a big fan of the true stories

carved in history. In essence these forms of narratives humanise historic figures. From research

conducted for this paper, I encountered several people that piqued my curiosity and assisted in

contextualising historic narratives often known but seldom expanded on to cover their specific

lives.

African American history in Salt Lake City is seldom acknowledged outside of relation to

Latter Day Saint church history. The state as a whole is quite ubiquitous with racial segregation

in its history. However, the story of Julius F. Taylor and his pursuit to organize African
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Americans in SLC goes against the grain. Taylor was a free slave who apprenticed in the news

paper industry, moving to SLC in 1895 with his wife Anna Emogene Taylor. With her support as

an artist and art teacher, Taylor soon launched a newspaper titled “The Broad Ax” A newspaper

that was targeted for the African American population of Salt Lake. The paper was solely edited

by himself, and served as pamphlets that discussed local news, state policy, with themes around

championing racial and religious solidarity. Taylors ambition is exemplified in his calling for

black representatives to run for legislative positions in Utah. Taylors presence in Utah did not

last however, as his conflicting opinions with the LDS church culminated enough for the Taylors

to move cross country to Chicago, where he would continue printing The Broad Axe until 1931.

To pivot from this story it is important to note the regional contextualization of various

movements in the United States. Around the 1930s socialist and labour movements propped up

in the wake of the great depression, these movements reflected attitudes and the perspectives of

northern industry workers as opposed to the more agricultural based labour in the south. This

disconnect was fueled by an apparent derelict in the view of southern workers being disorganized

in their role as domestic workers. The northern variance in opinion ignored the historical and

cultural radicalism that many southern workers held. For one thing, the practices of

disinvolvement in southern communities took the shape of being more elusive in their acts. Acts

such as sustenance farming, the “toting” of food from patricians, and my favorite being flooding

landlords with postcards. These acts of defiance were attained to avoid conflict with authorities.

Eventually domestic work became less widely available to the southern working class, resulting

in female led organization in the form of neighborhood relief committees.

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An excerpt from the book “Hammer and Hoe” by Robbin D. G. Kelley explains the social

situation resulting in African American woman to assume roles in organization,

“Because most black working-class families relied on two incomes, women

usually combined wage labor and housework. As conditions worsened, the burden of

providing for their families increasingly fell upon the shoulders of women”

Estelle Milner became a leader for the movement, with goals centered around opposing

the well-fare conditions pushed by the red cross. Minler became central in organizing the rural

poor in the shifting of labour. She was quite successful in bridging racial gaps by attracting

white women into the small movement in Birmingham, Alabama. The reforms of the welfare

state were aimed to end the practice of investigative social workers invading privacy. There was

a common incentivising practice by government officials (referred to as stool pigeons) to search

through welfare participants' homes for food and assets to trim their amount of assistance.

People were often antagonized for possessing gardens, and storing food, as well as being

required to sell radios, instruments and other items deemed essential. Welfare participants were

also advised to spy on their neighbors for these aspects as well. The Organization of “vigilance

committees” would take action with intimidating “stool pigeons” or police informers, often

utilising postcards as intimidation tactics. Milner is just one example of an African American

woman being central in the organization of radical political beliefs at the time.

I am extremely glad I got to partake in this class. This project specifically helped me to

further develop my research skills as well as the way I interpret articles encountered online, and
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where to look for research. It was also very engaging in collaborative aspects with class peers.

However the biggest challenge from this paper, and the most I took away from it, was the

challenge of fitting the information I compiled into a well rounded narrative. I found two

historical figures who I thought introduced very niche aspects in African American history that I

found seldomly covered in my research experience. There are very few widely known African

American figures that have affiliations with the state of Utah, especially in the earlier days of

statehood that Julius F. Taylor found himself in. His ambition to conflict with the LDS church

for racial and religious equality is something I found profoundly interesting, but from my

research it was quite hard to find information aside from the digitized publications of the Broad

Axe. However it still felt important to share the brief aspect of Utah history. It also felt like a

just choice to explore the women led movements that existed in the also seldom explored aspect

of African American socialists in the south. Estelle Milner was also very challenging to research

in academic journalism. However her presence in history provides a great background and path

to explore the role women played in radical politics at the time.

Learning outcomes:

The Research project for this course was quite challenging, which I found made it more

apparent for students to become self-sufficient in their research and acquisition of knowledge.

The broad aspect of the project presented challenges that we turned into insights into the

academic world of research and the compiling of information. Some of the learning outcomes

that this class brings up in the syllabus were certainly met by the completion of this final

research project. Learning outcome number 1 was met in my choice to explore the African

American plight in historical and sociopolitical experiences of the early 20th century, which was
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rooted in the social isolation their communities found themselves in. I explored critical thinking

in learning outcome number 4 by laying out the complexity in the social situations and their

prevalence in the pattern of African American societies throughout the United States. Through

the exploration of a plethora of historical events that played out in the southern United States I

explored learning outcome number 1, as well as African American practices of civil

disobedience in protest.
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Bibliography:

Marable, M., & Mullings, L. (2000). Let nobody turn us around: Voices of
resistance, reform, and renewal : an African American anthology. Rowman & Littlefield.

Kelley, R. D. G. (2015). The Underground . In Hammer and hoe (pp. 22–29).

essay, The University of North Carolina Press.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL. (n.d.). The broad

ax. [volume]. News about Chronicling America RSS. Retrieved November 30, 2021,
from https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024055/.