Running head: HOW TO SPARK A CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

How to Spark and Civil Rights Movement Eighty Years before Its Time
Grace Wernert
South Newton High School

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Abstract
The main topic of this paper is the African American literature after the American Civil War.
Different strategies used by African American authors to influence Negros to fight for equal civil
rights are discussed. Two of W.E.B. Du Bois works are compared to Booker T. Washingtons
autobiography, and an article published in the Dearborn Independent is used as evidence.
Webpages featuring Jim Crow laws, a comparison of Washington and Du Bois perspectives, and
information about the Negro World and its publisher are also used as support. A source focusing
on the goals of the Universal Negro Improvement Association provides points of comparison.
The compiled research resulted in the conclusion that African American literature after the Civil
War sparked interest in equal civil rights.
Keywords: Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, The Negro World,
civil rights, Atlanta Compromise

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How to Spark a Civil Rights Movement Eighty Years before Its Time
The Civil War seemed like the end of conflict between the North and South, the slaves
and masters, but it wasnt. In fact, it took an entire century after the Civil War for Negros to gain
their civil rights. They never stopped fighting, and one of their strongest weapons was literature.
African American leaders used literature to persuade the public to accept the blacks as equal
citizens, but their strategies were not the same.
Booker T. Washington was one of the first African American civil rights leaders to
emerge in the United States after the Civil War. The child of an unidentified white man and a
slave named Jane, Washington had no personal knowledge of learning until he saw several
dozen boys and girls in a schoolroom engaged in study (Washington, 2015). The sight of the
children affected Washington on such an intimate level that he had the feeling that to get into a
schoolhouse and study would be the same as getting into paradise (Washington, 2015). His
yearning for learning drove Washington to apply and graduate from Hampton Institute in
Virginia, and to pursue a career in educating the African Americans of the South (Washington,
2015). In Alabama, he established the Tuskegee Institute, which primarily focused on vocational
training for blacks (Washington, 2015). The training furnished African Americans with skills that
would enable them to improve their situations; it taught blacks to be respectful, loyal,
persistence, integrity, and to take pride in their work (Washington, 2015).
The vocational training was based on Washingtons experience with education. While at
the Hampton Institute, he worked odd jobs in order to pay his tuition (Washington, 2015). By
using examples from his own life and the stories of other blacks successes, Washington showed
the African Americans how they can better themselves, but he didnt encourage them to expect to

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be treated equally to whites (Gibson, 2015). He believed that African Americans needed to prove
themselves to be indispensable to the whites; the whites still depended on the blacks for an
economic profit (Gibson, 2015; Du Bois, 1903). In fact, in his Atlanta Compromise, Booker T.
Washington discourages African Americans from seeking social equality. Rather than addressing
blacks, Washington appeals to whites by offering a trade: jobs and educational opportunities for
the end of demands for equal civil rights (Gibson, 20159). This approach earned Washington
considerable amounts of criticism, even from African Americans who shared similar viewpoints.
W.E.B. Du Bois, a proponent of Washingtons ideas until 1901, became one of
Washingtons strongest opponents, focusing mainly on the unfair treatment of African Americans
(Gibson, 2015). He blames the emergence of Jim Crow laws on the behavior of poor whites
during slavery; retrieving escaped slaves gave poor whites work and some authority as overseer,
slave driver and member of the [police] patrol system, all of which made the destitute
Caucasians feel as if they were associated with the masters (Du Bois, 1935). The Jim Crow
laws reinstated that connection. The strict segregation, grandfather clauses, poll taxes, and
literacy tests all prevented African Americans from being an equal part of society (Pilgrim,
2000). The laws provided penniless whites with a method of social control over blacks (Pilgrim,
2000). Lynching, the new equivalent of slave retrieval after the Reconstruction, provided an
ego-massage for low-income, low-status whites, a way to defend white domination and [help]
stop the fledgling equality movement (Pilgrim, 2000). An anti-lynching law was proposed,
but it was widely criticized because federal interference in such matters would be a direct
interference with the police powers of the states and considered unconstitutional (Miller, 1921).
Rather than pushing all of his efforts into vocational training of African Americans, Du Bois
focuses on advocating for more well-rounded subjects.

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While Washington wanted to give African Americans the skills they needed to survive in
the workforce, Du Bois wanted to educate the blacks about the world around them. Du Bois
educational views may have differed from Washingtons due to their different experiences with
education. Du Bois grew up in more tolerant area in an urban area of Massachusetts and
graduated with a Doctorate from Harvard University (Du Bois, 1903). He experienced social
prejudice, but he didnt experience life as a slave or have any close relatives that had been slaves
(Du Bois 1903). His education, which was a combination of vocational, classical, and theoretical
education, led him to believe that every African American should have the same educational
opportunities as he had. Du Bois blamed Washingtons emphasis of vocational training on
American industrialization. He believed that industrialization adverted attention from education
to capital, and that it was spreading greed throughout the country (Du Bois, 1903). Du Bois tried
to revert attention back to African Americans by emphasizing pride in African heritage; In his
book, The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois includes a Sorrow Song at the beginning of each essay
to encourage not only reemergence of African culture, but also as a source of hope for equality
(Du Bois, 1903).
Marcus Garvey was also a supporter of black pride. A former supporter of Booker T.
Washington, Garvey was a major advocate for the Back to Africa movement (Van Leeuwen,
2000). Garvey had left his native country of Jamaica and traveled to London when he read
Washingtons Up from Slavery. Washingtons book motivated Garvey to return to Jamaica (Van
Leeuwen, 2000). Once there, Garvey attempted to start a civil rights movement by founding the
Universal Negro Improvement Association, or UNIA; its motto was One God! One Aim! One
Destiny! (Van Leeuwen, 2000). The objectives of the UNIA mainly focused on uniting the
African race and promoting the spirit of race pride and love (Hill, 1983). After not making

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much progress in Jamaica, Garvey decided to go to the United States (Van Leeuwen, 2000),
where he promptly set up UNIA headquarters in New York and established The Negro World
(Van Leeuwen, 2000; People and Events: The Negro World, 2000). The Negro World became the
official newspaper of the UNIA and was entirely controlled by Marcus Garvey (People and
Events: The Negro World, 2000). The newspaper mainly focused on Garveys philosophy of
black consciousness, self-help, and economic independence (People and Events: The Negro
World, 2000). What separated Garveys newspaper from similar prints was the lack of
advertisements for skin lighteners and hair straighteners. Many smaller newspapers used the
controversial advertisements to pay for their prints (People and Events: The Negro World, 2000).
The lack of controversial advertisements in Garveys newspaper sent a strong message of black
pride to its readers. By celebrating the African past and encouraging African Americans to be
proud of their heritage and proud of the way they looked, Garvey developed his Back to
Africa campaign (Van Leeuwen, 2000). The auxiliary groups of the UNIA wore specialized
military uniforms to draw attention to their ethnicity, and Garvey wore a plumed hat to
symbolize his status as provisional President of Africa (Van Leeuwen, 2000). Garvey met with a
prominent leader of the [KKK] to discuss their views on interracial reproduction and
social equality (Pilgrom, 2000). This meeting was viewed as fraternizing with the enemy by
many other influential African American leaders at the time (Pilgrim, 2000). Eventually, Garvey
was criticized due to his association with the Ku Klux Klan and he fell out of the limelight of
society; he served a prison sentence for mail fraud and was deported to Jamaica (Van Leeuwen,
2000).
Although their perspectives varied, these three men wanted the same civil rights as the
white men had. They stood up for what they believed in, even if others criticized. They sparked a

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movement that would gradually gain momentum until the 1960s. The movement would then
combust into the largest civil rights movement since the Revolutionary War and change society
for the better. The leaders of the Civil Rights Movement would showcase similar strategies and
ideas to Washington, Du Bois, and Garvey, and finally achieve what those men had advocated for
almost eighty years ago.

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References
Du Bois, W. (1903). The souls of black folk. Chicago, Illinois: A.C. McClurg &Co. Retrieved
from http://www.livebinders.com/media/frame?myurl=https://books.google.com/books?
id=fU9XAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+souls+of+black+folk&hl=en&sa=X
&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAGoVChMIrebm4rL5yAIVyDomCh0jCQJ3#
W.E.B. Du Bois was born in Massachusetts in a fairly tolerant and integrated community.
He was the first African American to receive a doctorate from the University of Berlin,
and at Atlanta University, he became a professor of history, sociology, and economics. He
was a co-founder of the NAACP and a prominent leader of the Niagara Movement. In
The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois analyzes the development and effects of double
consciousness and the Veil. He believes that African Americans struggle because the
different aspects of their heritage cannot be completely merged together, and that veil is
the exclusion of Negros because of their conflicting heritage.
While similar, Du Bois views are more extreme than Booker T. Washingtons. He agrees
that vocational education is important, but Du Bois places more importance on classical
and theoretical education on developing freedom of the mind. His viewpoints on
education are slightly biased based on his favorable upbringing, which was vastly
different from the majority of blacks in the US. He also believes that capitalism is
suppressing Negros by preventing them from gaining any profit from their labors. He
states that Negros limited themselves by thinking that they are lesser than whites based
on the treatment they receive from whites. All of Du Bois positions were influenced by
his education, which greatly differed from that of Washington and Garvey. Du Bois
establishes ethos by describing the Veil in detail and giving examples of Negro successes.
His pathos is present in the retelling of the loss of his first born son. Du Bois uses logos
by pointing out the logic errors in Washingtons reasoning.
Du Bois anger and despair is completely different from Washingtons approach. He uses
anecdotes as well, but they are fewer and farther between than Washingtons. He
discusses the economy, church, black culture, and the fight for civil rights in more depth,
as well.
Du Bois, W. (1935). Black reconstruction: A history of the part which Black Folk played in the
attempt to reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880. New York City, New York:
Harcourt, Brace and. Retrieved from http://www.livebinders.com/media/frame?
myurl=https://books.google.com/books?
id=IqDEhQtoYEkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Black+Reconstruction+W.E.B+Du+Bois
&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAGoVChMI_MG6zrP5yAIVyMImCh3nfwOz#
W.E.B. Du Bois was born in Massachusetts in a fairly tolerant and integrated community.
He was the first African American to receive a doctorate from the University of Berlin,
and at Atlanta University, he became a professor of history, sociology, and economics. He
was a co-founder of the NAACP and a prominent leader of the Niagara Movement. In

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Black Reconstruction, Du Bois analyzes the social class of the South and give reasons as
why the Reconstruction was not as successful as it should have been.
Du Bois goes deeper into the social order of the South. He believes that the hostility
experienced between black and white workers enable the elite whites in the South to
regain control over the poor. Their control was evident in the Jim Crow Laws and the
majority of Democrats in state legislature. He establishes ethos by using data and primary
sources. Du Bois may have been influenced by his hatred toward elite southern whites.
By presenting historical events in chronological order, he uses logos. He uses pathos
when describing the effects of Jim Crow Laws on the Negro society.
Black Reconstruction provides a reliable timeline with information involving the changes
in economy, black status, and legislature passed before the Civil War and during the
Reconstruction Era. It also goes deeper into the relations between the different social
classes of the South.
Gibson, R. (2015). 78.02.02: Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois: The Problem of Negro
Leadership. Retrieved December 5, 2015, from
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1978/2/78.02.02.x.html
An educational partnership between Yale University and the New Haven Public Schools,
called the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, was formed in 1978 to strengthen teaching
and learning in local schools and, by example, in schools across the country. 192 volumes
of teaching units are used to help students learn English, History, Social Studies, the
Languages, the Arts, Mathematics, and Science in elementary, middle, and high school.
There is no information about Robert A. Gibson.
Gibson establishes how the conflicts between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois
formed. He uses logos by presenting the information in chronological order. He uses
ethos by explaining each man position clearly. He uses pathos by explaining the public
reaction to each mans positions. Gibson provides a detailed bibliography with reliable
primary and secondary sources as evidence. His viewpoint differs from both
Washingtons and Du Bois because he does not patronize either man.
The publics reaction to Washingtons and Du Bois positions is relevant to my thesis
because it explains how public preference transferred from one man to the other. There
are also some important historical facts about the Atlanta Compromise that were not
mentioned in Up from Slavery.
Hill, D. (1983). Primary Sources: Objectives of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.
Retrieved November 12, 2015, from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/filmmore/ps_objectives.html
Dr. Robert A. Hill graduated from the University of West Indies in 1976 with his Masters
of Science. He is currently an associate professor on the UCLA History faculty. His fields

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of interest include Afro-American and Caribbean History. He has published numerous

articles about racial issues, such as The FBIs RACON: Racial Conditions in the United
States during World War I and Africa for Africans: The Garvey Movement in South
Africa. Objectives of the Universal Negro Improvement Association was published in
the University of California Press in 1983. He explains the goals set forth by the UNIA
for Africans. Hill claims that Marcus Garvey believed that the Africans needed to join
together in a brotherhood to promote racial pride and rise in social and political status.
Hills position on Garveys beliefs agrees with other men who have written about African
oppression, including W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. All four men believe
that Negros needed to encourage black pride and the fight for equal rights. Hills interest
in Afro-American history most likely influenced him to write about Garveys views. His
evidence is Garveys first-hand experience in the southern US, Jamaica, and Africa. Hill
uses logos by presenting factual information. To use ethos, he establishes that Negros
need secondary schools, colleges, and universities, just the same as whites. For pathos,
Hill describes assisting the backwards African tribes.
The general theme of Hills work is the advancement of the Africans in social and
political positions. His description of the general objectives of the UNIA would be useful
as an analysis of how the Negros wished to better themselves. They could also be used to
predict how Negros would have continued to be treated if they had not demanded their
rights.
Van Leeuwen, D. (2000, October 1). Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement
Association, The Twentieth Century, Divining America: Religion in American History,
TeacherServe, National Humanities Center. Retrieved December 5, 2015, from
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/twenty/tkeyinfo/garvey.htm
David Van Leeuwen earned his Ph.D. in religious studies from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. This is all the information about David Van Leeuwen. The
National Humanities Center is a private, nonprofit organization, and the only independent
institute dedicated exclusively to advanced study in all areas of the humanities. It
provides scholars with the resources necessary to generate new knowledge and further
understanding of all forms of cultural expression, social interaction, and human thought.
Through its education programs, the Center strengthens teaching on the collegiate and
pre-collegiate levels. Through public engagement intimately linked to its scholarly and
educational programs, the Center promotes understanding of the humanities and
advocates for appreciation of their foundational role in a democratic society.
He presents Marcus Garvey in a practical light and he had similar views to the PBS
website. Van Leeuwen uses logos by presenting the information in chronological order.
He uses ethos by explaining why Garvey believed what he believed. He uses pathos to
explain the reaction the public had to some of Garveys extreme views.
I would use information pertaining to Garveys origin and travel history. The
establishment of the UNIA in the United States and the promotion of black pride are

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essential support for my argument. The Back to Africa was a unique strategy that
neither Washington or Du Bois mentions.
Miller, E.E. (1921, October 22). Must We Have a Federal Anti-Lynching Law? The Dearborn
Independent, pp. 12. Retrieved from
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/2013218776/1921-10-22/ed-1/seq-12/#
E.E. Miller contributed an editorial to The Dearborn Independent in 1921. The Dearborn
Independent was a newspaper published by Henry Ford form 1919 through 1927. The
newspapers main ideas mostly consisted of Fords anti-Semitic ideas. He dictated his
viewpoints to his executive secretary, Ernest Liebold. William J. Cameron was
responsible for arranging Fords ideas in article form, while Liebold collected
information to support the articles. The newspaper was published in Dearborn, Michigan,
from 1901 to 1927. In his editorial, E.E. Miller, a southern, argues the right the federal
government has in interfering with the states police powers.
Other sources discuss the effects of Jim Crow Laws on American society and the uneasy
fear which Negros felt everyday due to the possibility of being lynched. None mention
the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, most likely because it was never passed. This editorial and
the Jim Crow sources discuss how lynching occurred and the difficult situations that both
Negros and Negro-sympathizers experienced. Miller may have been influenced by his
southern heritage to protest the law, but he submits it to a newspaper that is very much in
the North. The northern views of the newspaper may have influenced to submit his views
on the anti-lynching law. To support his argument, Miller states statistics about how many
people were killed by mobs and gives the instance of two lynched Negros whose killers
were not found. He uses logos by stating that lynching can be prevented, and states how.
Ethos is evident when he explains how an anti-lynching law would infringe on state
government. By presenting the story about the two lynched Negros, Miller addresses
pathos.
There are several statistics that describe the different causes of lynching and the number
of Negros lynched. His reasoning as to why the South would object an anti-lynching law
is good support for the opposition. His reasoning as to why an anti-lynching law would
be beneficial support for the Reconstruction of the US government.

People and Events: The Negro World. (2000). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/peopleevents/e_negroworld.html
The Negro World was created by Marcus Garvey in New York, 1918. It was a weekly
newspaper that eventually became circulated worldwide. Marcus Garvey used The Negro
World to express his philosophy, self-help, and economic viewpoints towards blacks. He
was born in Jamaica, which he eventually left to travel throughout Central America.
During his time in Central America, he edited for several newspapers. He then moved to
London and attended Birkbeck College to study law and philosophy. There he worked for
the African Times and Orient Review. He eventually returned to Jamaica and organized

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the Universal Negro Improvement Association which spread to the US in 1917. Garvey
used The Negro World to encourage growth of the UNIA in the US. It mainly expressed
Garveys ideas of promoting the Negros socially, politically, and economically by
covering current events, an editorial by Garvey, politics, the status of blacks in the US,
and reports on the UNIA activities.
Garveys political views are little more extreme than those of Washington or Du Bois.
His call for independence caused European colonial powers to ban the newspaper from
many parts of the Caribbean and Africa. Garvey felt strongly that blacks should fight for
their civil rights because of his activist activities when he lived in Central America. The
treatment of blacks by whites on the banana plantation that he worked at may have
swayed him to want to fight for other blacks. He uses logos by presenting situations in a
factual manner. Then, he uses pathos by describing how the situations affect blacks.
Finally, he uses ethos by telling blacks how they can advance their station.
Garveys main theme is the bettering of Negros. He believes their rights are theirs, but
that the Negros have to demand them from the whites. The fact that he is a self-made man
makes his points more credible.
Pilgrim, D. (2000, September 1). What was Jim Crow. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from
http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm
Dr. David Pilgrim is the professor of Sociology at Ferris State University. He received his
doctorate in sociology from Ohio State University. He is the founder and curator of the
Jim Cow Museum at Ferris State University. With Clayton Rye, Pilgrim produced a
documentary about the museum to explain his method of teaching racial tolerance by
using artifacts of racial intolerance. What Was Jim Crow is an article that gives facts
and examples of the Jim Crow Laws and their effects.
Pilgrims information about the Jim Crow Laws agrees with the information presented by
Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. Pilgrims stance is simply that supporters of Jim
Crow Laws were racist and werent often punished for their mistreatment of Negros. His
founding of the Jim Crow museum influenced him to write articles about the history of
the laws and their impact on the US. He uses historical artifacts, such as photos of de jure
segregation signs, as evidence. He uses logos by presenting the formation of the Jim
Crow Laws and what they were. He uses pathos by explaining how supporters of Jim
Crow escaped punishment from the local, state, and federal law. He also uses pathos
when he gives several scenarios of the injustice experienced by the Negros.
Pilgrim does a good job of showcasing how Jim Crow became a way of life for white
southerners. The oppression the Negros faced is apparent in the numerous restrictions
placed on them by Jim Crow. Lynching became commonplace and the mob a permanent
fixture in society.

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Washington, B. (2015). Up from slavery: an autobiography. New York City, New York:
Skyhorse Publishing. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?
id=4jaGCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT11&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false
Booker T. Washington was born a slave on a plantation in Virginia. He lived with his
mother and siblings until the slaves were emancipated. They then moved to Malden,
where he worked in a salt furnace and a coal mine. He leaned whatever he could from the
local school. After graduating from Hampton, Washington returned to Malden and taught
the community. Eventually he was invited to teach at Hampton. He moved to Tuskegee
and began a new school there. Washington eventually expanded the school considerably
and became known as a prominent speaker. Up from Slavery is his autobiography in
which he expresses his support of education, self-reliance, helping others, the benefits of
labor, and civility between races.
Washingtons viewpoints are less extreme compared to Du Bois and Garveys. He never
writes about hatred or anger directed toward whites. His views are more peaceable; they
are about working through tough times, rather than demanding civil rights. He believes
that the Negros have to prove themselves worthy through perseverance and labor. His
opinions have been heavily influenced by his upbringing on a more tolerant plantation
and his own success through hard work. He uses logos by explaining how Negros can
advance themselves through hard work and perseverance. Pathos is evident in his
anecdotes, which are plentiful throughout the book. He establishes his credibility by
telling the reader about his experiences as a Negro.
The anecdotes and personal experiences that Washington presents in his book are
excellent support for his persuasive technique. They provide a different perspective on
the Negro race and its experiences with whites. Comparing Washingtons viewpoints to
Du Bois or Garveys positions would be an excellent way to analyze the different
techniques that African Americans used to influence the citizens of the US.