Q1. Briefly define the concept of Black Nationalism. What are some of the critical factors according to Allen that helped shaped the movements for Black Nationalism List and explain at-least three? (20 points)
At its essence, according to Allan’s essay on “Black Nationalism,” Black Nationalism is a response to the exclusion of Black Americans from the opportunities offered to white Americans. It draws connections between the colonization of nonwhite people abroad with the oppression of Black people within the United States, despite the ostensible claim that America is a society based upon freedom. First was the Dred Scott decision, a U.S. Supreme Court decision which effectively disenfranchised all Black Americans, regardless of what state of the union in which they dwelt (slave or free). Even after the Emancipation Proclamation, after African-Americans had gained some brief political parity in state legislatures, this was destroyed with the rise of the white terrorist group the Klu Klux Klan. Promises of African-American equality were likewise dashed after African-Americans served in World War I yet were not supported in their quest for equality by the White House.
The Depression of the 1930s further hurt black-owned businesses who had gained some fragile traction in the postwar boom years. Even after executive orders banning discrimination in munitions plants and the integration of the armed forces at the end of World War II, racial oppression and violence against African-Americans occurred, overtly in the South, and through more subtle forms of discrimination in the North. Finally, the struggles of the Civil Rights movement solidified in the mind of some activists that the goal assimilation could never feasibly assure African-Americans full equality, given the environment of hatred that existed in the United States at the time
Q2. Trace the evolution and development of Black Nationalism. Please provide illustrations using Booker T. Washington; Marcus Garvey – the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X, Paul Cuffee and the 1815-1816 movements. Please provide clarity...
(20points).
According to the essay “Black Nationalism,” Black Nationalism has an old history in the United States, stretching back to 1815 and the efforts of Paul Cuffee to encourage repatriation. The challenge with this approach, however, was that even many Africans were resistant, given that the concept of Back to Africa was tainted by racists who supported repatriation of free Blacks alone, arguing that an integrated society of all races was impossible. Booker T. Washington did not advocate a return to Africa, but instead emphasized the need of economic self-sufficiency of the Black community, with an emphasis on working at trades and technically skilled...…funds to improve the health of so-called sick buildings with lead or allergens. The funds could support the creation of parks and safe places to play in largely African-American low-income communities. Support for African-American studies programs, museums, and monuments would likewise foster a sense of pride, history, and remembrance for the victims of slavery and better enable the current generation to comprehend its legacy.
Q4b. List and explain at-least two court cases filed by African Americans to gain reparation for suffering during the period of enslavement. Please provide details of the cases and indicate what decisions were reached by the court on these cases (10pts).
Johnson vs. McAdoo (1914) contested the taxation of raw cotton produced by slaves, arguing that it was unjust enrichment from slave labor, but the case was struck down based upon the idea that the government was immune from prosecution on sovereign immunity grounds (effectively deciding the case on a technicality, versus a matter of justice). Much later, in the 1990s, Cato vs. United States, filed on behalf of an African-American woman’s ancestors was similarly dismissed on the ground that she could not bring forth such a suit on behalf of the dead, despite the fact that African-Americans today are still affected by the legacy of slavery.
Works Cited
Allan, “Black…
