Advancement and Evolution of African American Writers during the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1971

Advancement and Evolution of African American Writers during the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1971).

Author: Tony

Introduction.

The civil rights movement was a collective designation used to describe various social movements which shared the common stated goals of ending racial discrimination, racial segregation and also enforcing universal suffrage. Campaigns promoting nonviolent civil resistance characterized the movement and its modus operandi. Among the civil rights campaigners were prominent African American writers who articulated and presented the complaints of the African Americans to the wider non-black global audience. Some of the writers even led some social movements which advocated for social justice. This led to widespread support for the civil rights movement across America and the world, and this resulted in legislations that earmarked the civil rights period as the period when legalized racial discrimination ended (Roberts and Garton 2009, 39). Thus, it can be stated that African American writers contributed to the civil rights movement by providing inspiration, articulating and conveying the grievances of the movement, and even providing leadership for the movement.

The peaceful civil resistance campaigns took various forms such as boycotts, sit-ins and marches. These campaigns ultimately created a series of crisis situations. These crises affected the entire American society and this forced the American society to acknowledge that African Americans had legitimate grievances. The determination and resolve of campaigns of the civil rights movement ultimately achieved notable legislative outcomes in form of enactments of several legislations such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which banned discrimination in public accommodation and employment, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which enforced universal suffrage to all Americans regardless of race, the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965 which opened US borders to non-European immigrants, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 which banned discrimination in the housing sector. However, the period of 1964-1970 was characterized by the rise of militant black movements which instigated riots in predominantly black communities and even challenged the order established by the then black leadership. These militant movements laid down their agenda as political autonomy and economic self-sufficiency for black Americans. Most of these movements were at one point led by prominent African American writers such as Malcolm X (Morris 1984, 66).

African American writers during the civil rights movement.

The roots of the civil rights movement can be traced back to the post-reconstruction era when several southern states enacted several repressive legislations which legalized racial segregation and also disenfranchised potential African American voters. The legislations also promoted the economic exploitation of the black population within the southern jurisdictions. Moreover, the legislations also promoted racial violence. The reconstruction era was also occasioned by several failures which were blamed on African Americans. These claims were refuted in a book entitled Black Reconstruction in America which was authored by a prolific writer named William Edward Burghardt Du Bois. This work showcased that African Americans could also express their views, perspectives and thought through writing. Du Bois was one of the earliest African American writers whose work on race relation and social justice would inspire later generations of authors during the civil rights era (Marable 1984, 74).

1.      William Edward Burghardt Du Bois.

He was born in 1868 in Massachusetts to Mary Silvina Burghardt Du Bois and Alfred Du Bois. He was of mixed-race extraction. He attended integrated schools in Great Barrington where he did experience instances of racism; though the local white population did treat him and his family relatively well as compared to the racism endured by other blacks of purely negroid stock (Horne 2010, 17).

His intellectual traits were fostered by his teachers who encouraged him to further his studies. His neighbors and the local church got together and donated money for his university education. He went to Fisk University, and it was during his studies there that he experienced southern racism and its malignant hostility to African Americans as was occasioned by Jim Crow legislations, economic deprivation, pervasive bigotry and occasional lynching. Du bois resolved to use the knowledge he had acquired for the betterment of the African American population. After completion of his university education, he was appointed as a lecturer at Atlanta University where he authored a publication entitled The Philadelphia Negro which utilized both scientific and sociological tools to analyze the accomplishments of the Negro population in Philadelphia. This exemplary work demonstrated to his contemporaries that black authors could write prolific works which were based on objective facts, and as such they deserve to be treated equal to their white counterparts. Moreover, this work lends credence to his claim that Black authors were not stupid ravages who were wrecking the then American authorship establishment. Du Bois alongside other contemporary black activists would in 1905 establish the Niagara movement to publish and publicize the noble ideals espoused by African Americans concerning the issue of justice and social harmony. The Souls of Black Folk was a work authored by Du Bois, and it was meant to showcase to the world the intrinsic humanity possessed by the Negro race (Horne 2010, 55). Snippets derived from this work would be used by notable civil rights activists to refute accusations directed against the black population during the eventful period when militant black movements advocated for violent campaigns against the government and the non-black population. The activities of these violent militants made some whites to conclude that blacks do not understand the concept of humanity (Roberts and Garton 2009, 69).

In 1910, Du Bois participated in a conference that led to the creation of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), an organization that included members from every race. The NAACP was the first instance when both black and non-black activist came together to form an organization advocating for social justice specifically for African Americans (Horne 2010, 80). For civil rights activist, the NAACP was an inspiration that enabled black activists to ask for assistance from sympathetic whites, and also refute the claim that black organization were exclusively for blacks only. Moreover, the NAACP would provide the platforms where future leaders of the civil rights movement met and exchanged ideas. During the 1950s, Du Bois educated budding civil right activists about the need of adopting non-violent means in their social activism.   Moreover, Du Bois participated in the civil rights campaigns, and also solicited for support for the civil rights movement from the United Nations, World Congress of the Partisans of Peace and world leaders such as Mao Zedong (Roberts and Garton 2009, 91). It can therefore be deduced that Du Bois’ social activism and literary works did advocate for an all-inclusive society where there was harmonious co-existence among all racial groups.

2.      Richard Nathaniel Wright.

Another prominent African American writer who was involved in the civil rights movement was Richard Nathaniel Wright. He was born in 1908 in Roxie, Mississippi. His childhood experiences with his caretakers made him develop hostility to any form of religion. He excelled in his studies, but he was still faced with financial problems which ultimately led him to stop attending Lanier High School. His rebellious nature was noted during his school years when he refused to deliver a valedictory address prepared by his school principal who happened to be white. His definitive encounters with American racism in its crude form occurred when he was in Mississippi and Memphis, and these encounters made a lasting impression on him regarding race relations in the United States. Wright published The Voodoo of Hell's Half-Acre when he was 16 years old. This was his first work of literature, and it also inspired him to study the literature and literary works of other prominent writers (Rowley 2001, 23).

He also attended meetings convened by the John Reed Club, and he was also able to make literary contacts with several members of the club. By 1933, he was a bona fide member of the communist party. His membership induced him to write several proletarian poems such as Red Leaves of Red Books, I Have Seen Black Hands and We of the Streets. These poems were published in left-wing periodicals such as The New Masses. His first novel was titled Cesspool and it was published in 1935. In 1936, the New Caravan published his literary work Big Boy Leaves Home. All the above works including poems addressed the theme of race relations, economic deprivations and social justice. He also worked for the National Negro Congress and South Side Writers Group. He submitted his works for literary criticism to the writers group before he published them. The group also enabled him to become the editor of the Left Front Magazine. His interactions with white communists enabled him to change his views about the irreconcilability between the black and white races. However, these interactions made black communists to consider him to be a bourgeois intellectual (Rowley 2001, 57).

His work, Black Boy, was published in 1945. This masterpiece of literary work traced the literal, sociological and historical aspects of the journey undertaken by the black man towards self-actualization within a hostile society. Black Boy enabled him to gain popularity around the world. This popularity enabled him to travel globally where he adopted internationalists’ perspectives which further enabled him to become a political figure as well as a public literary (Rowley 2001, 75). From this position of elevated reputation, he was able to express the grievances of African Americans and also advocate for justice for other oppressed people around the world (Roberts and Garton 2009, 121). It can thus be stated that Wright’s social activism and literary works did introduce new ideas, attitudes and philosophical approaches that were to prove useful to the civil rights movement especially when it was attacked by hostile literary intellectuals. Wright himself also presented the grievances of the American civil rights movement to the global audience.

3.      Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks.

Another prominent African American writer who was involved in the civil rights movement was the notable poet Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks. She was born in 1917 in Kansas to Keziah Wims and David Anderson Brooks. The great migration enabled her and her family to move to Chicago. She had a stable home life, but she did experience racial discrimination within the neighborhood and at school. She initially attended a high school populated by white students but the pervasive racial prejudice forced her to transfer to Wendell Phillips high school, a predominantly black school. She thereafter attended Englewood High School, a wholly integrated school. Later on, she attended Wilson Junior College where she graduated in 1936. Her educational experiences enabled her to understand the racial dynamics of Chicago and its environs. Her comprehension of such dynamics and her perspectives on how racial relations ought to be were conveyed in her literary works (Melhem 1987, 31).

She was an accomplished poet by the age of 16, as she had already published 75 poems whose themes revolved around the issues of racism, economic deprivation and the general inner city life. She participated in several poetry workshops in 1941, but the workshop that had the most significant impact on her was the one organized by Mrs. Cunningham Stark. Mrs. Stark was an affluent white woman who was able to create a platform that did bring together African American poets. Gwendolyn utilized this platform to publicize her poems, and it paid off as she was recognized as an outstanding poet by the Midwestern Writers' Conference in 1943. In 1945, Harper and Row published her first collection of poems under the title A Street in Bronzeville. This exemplary piece of literary work enabled her to receive a fellowship position at Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1950, her work Annie Allen enabled her to win the Eunice Tietjens Prize and the Pulitzer Prize. The themes in her poems revolved around the issue of racial understanding, social justice, discrimination and women’s rights (Melhem 1987, 98). Her established poetry career enabled her to voice the grievances of the civil rights movement to the wider world. Also, her involvement with the civil rights movement(at its infancy phase) lend some credence to the movement as  a legitimate movement espousing legitimate demands, and not a collective of dangerous subversive elements who have resolved to destroy the American way of life, as the critics of the movement had consistently stated. She met President John F. Kennedy in 1962 during a poetry festival, and she was able to use the opportunity to request the president to support social justice and racial equality. At Fisk University in 1967, she espoused the need for black civil activists to foster values that promote social cohesion, racial harmony and black economic empowerment (Morris 1984, 49).

In her epic 1968 poem, In the Mecca, she retraced the path journeyed by the civil rights movement from its inception till that time (Melhem 1987, 103). It can be inferred that Gwendolyn’s literary works concisely articulated and clearly expressed the grievances of the civil rights movement. Also, her social activism gave an intellectual voice to the (civil rights) movement and this voice was used to convey the movement’s message to intellectually-oriented groups, such as university lecturers, political leaders and preeminent famous scholars. Gwendolyn herself also presented the grievances of the American civil rights movement to the global audience.

4.      Malcolm Little.

The most prominent African American author of the civil rights era who promoted an ideology that advocated for violence and dismantling of the existing social order was Malcolm Little (commonly known as Malcolm X). He was born in 1925 in Omaha to Earl Little and Louise Little. Earl was the leader of the local chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, and he was also an ardent admirer of Marcus Garvey. As such, he inculcated the values consistent with black pride and self-reliance in all his children. According to Malcolm X, three of his paternal uncles died as victims of racial violence which at that time was spearheaded by the Ku Klux Klan. Later on, the Black legion burned down their family home and also killed his father. This tragedy made his mother to have nervous breakdown and thereafter institutionalized till Malcolm X alongside his siblings came to release her 24 years later. These incidents made Malcolm X to reach a conclusion that the two races could only co-exist under separate jurisdictions. During his childhood years, he excelled in his studies but eventually dropped out of high school due to financial constraints. At school, he experienced racial prejudice that was directed to him by his teachers. During his youth, he engaged in both legal and illegal activities in order to support himself financially (Terrill 2010, 61).

His illegal activities would later on land him in jail where he was exposed to the teachings of the Nation of Islam. His study under the tutelage of Nation of Islam made him a voracious reader. This enabled him to promote the Nation’s teachings upon his release from prison. The peculiar teachings of the Nation were an excellent recipe for social disharmony and racial violence.  Some of these teachings included the prepositions that whites were devils and that the black race holds a preeminent position in the racial hierarchy by the virtue that they were created first. Malcolm X promoted these teachings in his public lectures and his literary pieces which were published in The Final Call. These public lectures were also transcribed and thereafter published in The Final Call. These teachings were at odds of the values (such as racial equality and collective humanity) espoused by the civil rights movement. Malcolm X severely criticized the non-violent nature of the civil rights campaign and argued that its leaders were feeble-minded, incapable and unqualified to lead such an emancipation movement. Also, his anti-Semitic statements had started to disrupt the multiracial cohesiveness of the civil rights movement.  This led the civil rights movement to denounce him and his movement as a movement of irresponsible extremists who do not uphold the values of the African American community (Terrill 2010, 94). However, he publicized the grievances of the African Americans, and was also able to prevent disenfranchised African Americans from falling into the hands of criminal organizations and gangs that were propping up, and would later on have a negative effect on the economic viability of black neighborhoods.

In 1964 he converted to Sunni Islam and thereafter he exercised moderation in the views he expressed in order not to offend the Islamic Umma (Terrill 2010, 96). It can thus be stated that Malcolm X literary works and social activism introduced new ideas, attitudes and philosophical approaches that were to prove disruptive to the civil rights movement. However, upon his dissociation with the nation of Islam, he was able to effectively present the grievances of the African Americans (within its religious context) to the global audience.

Conclusion.

The civil rights movement was made up of several social pressure groups which sought to end racial discrimination, racial segregation and also enforce universal suffrage. Their campaigns were characterized by nonviolent civil resistance.  Some of the civil rights campaigners were prominent African American writers. These writers contributed to the civil rights movement by providing inspiration, articulating and conveying the grievances of the movement to the global audience, and they sometimes provided leadership to the movement. The determination of the civil rights movement to see change did ultimately achieve some notable legislative outcomes in forms of enactments of anti-discrimatory legislations. The social activism and literary works of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks  and Richard Nathaniel Wright did introduce new ideas, attitudes and philosophical approaches that were to prove useful to the civil rights movement especially when it was attacked by hostile intellectuals. These writers also presented the grievances of the American civil rights movement to the global audience. For Malcolm Little, he was able to effectively present the grievances of the African Americans (within its religious context) to the global audience when he dissociated himself from the Nation of Islam.

References.

Horne, Gerald. 2010. W.E.B. Du Bois: A Biography. Westport: Greenwood Press.

Marable, Manning. 1984. Race, Reform and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945–1982. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

Melhem, DH.1987. Gwendolyn Brooks: Poetry and the Heroic Voice. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.

Morris, Aldon. 1984. The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change. New York: The Free Press.

Roberts, Adam and Timothy Garton. 2009. Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.

Rowley, Hazel. 2001. Richard Wright: The Life and Times. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Terrill, Robert. 2010. The Cambridge Companion to Malcolm X. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.