Passive Nonviolent Movement

In our day an age, we may read about the blatant systematic discrimination against minorities in the past in horror, wondering how the oppressors ever got away with it. But the truth is racism was the status quo at the time. Despite these challenges, many African American leaders responded to discrimination by organizing movements with the purpose of gaining the rights that were stolen from them. However, during different time periods, such as 1890s-1920s and 1950s-1960s, the goals and strategies of these leaders have differed greatly. Generally, leaders of these movements have been divided by contrasting beliefs on whether a passive, nonviolent approach was better or if a more aggressive campaign was necessary to advance. During the time

The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments had abolished slavery, promised equal protection under the law, and prohibited denying the right to vote. But in its place, poll taxes and literacy tests were enforced in order to discreetly push out African Americans from the voting ballots, and Jim Crow laws were passed to disenfranchise and segregate African Americans under the guise of being “separate but equal.” With this opposition set before them, the general goal of African American leaders of the time focused on gaining an equal standing to white people on social, economic, and educational terms. People like Booker T. Washington had a submissive and mild approach to this, referred to as accommodation. He focused on vocational education as a way for black people to advance rather than political rights because for him the government could not legalize equality, and believed black people should take the blue-collar, low-level jobs that were available to them and work hard to prove themselves worthy of equality to white people. However, his policy was flawed: black people may see themselves as productive and responsible citizens, but this system only reinforced discrimination and, in the eyes of their oppressors, proved that the system worked. This was the type of movement that was not considered radical and still

The difference between them is that later movements wanted legal change that guaranteed social equality, such as the abolishing of voter literacy tests. Like the movement during the 1890s-1920s, the leaders of this movement were divided on what strategies would be most effective to guarantee equal social, economic, and educational standing for black people. Many advocated for nonviolent but direct action and passive resistance, such as sit-ins, protests, marches, and boycotts, to achieve equal civil rights. Among them are Rosa Parks and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. The latter believed that through integration black people would gain self-respect and equality. He worked to get rid of the institution that prevented black people from doing certain things or entering certain places. King’s foil, his Du Bois so to speak, was Malcolm X, who often criticized King’s passivity in the face of aggression and accused him of subjugating black people to their abusers. Rather, he encouraged defense against white violence by any means necessary. Malcolm represented the attitude of many urban radicals who couldn’t quite swallow the idea of nonviolence, who didn’t believe your freedom was earned by simply allowing yourself to be beat up without putting up a fight. He was a representative of the NOI (Nation of