Natasha Powell

Test V

POS 315-91-121

1. Black Nationalism advocates for a racial definition of national identity rather

than multiculturalism. There are several philosophies but the main principles are
unity, self-determination, and independence from European society. The idea
was to change the balance of power from white to black but the idea was not to
oppress whites. They sought to seek Black autonomy for the creation and
implementation of matters that concerned black people. Nationalism stemmed
from the African American experience of being purposely excluded from and
rejected that is racist. The leaders believed that racial integration was not
possible nor desired because in doing so it would destroy the groups distinctive
culture and their sense of ethnic identity.
In 1815, Paul Cuffee a wealthy black New England sailor attempted colonization. He
arranged a small group of individuals to travel to Africa. Blacks opposed this idea and were
hostile to the plans of colonization. Their opposition was not simply because they did not
want to separate from whites but rather they objected to the racist reasoning whites
used in justifying emigration. The Society which consisted of slaveholders wanted the free
blacks to emigrate because they were considered dangerous and useless part of the
community.
Martin R. Delaney advocated for people to emigrate to the east coast of Africa and
set up a nation of their own. He formed a convention for the best black intellects to
formulate plans for his colonial expedition. The convention was held in 1854 to discuss the

issue of emigration. Three ideas were presented including suggestions that blacks
emigrate to Central America or Haiti. Representatives were sent out to survey the
proposed areas to determine the conditions as well as scope out the local governments.
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed by Congress as part of the Compromise of 1850.
This caused thousands of fugitive slaves to flee to Canada if they wanted to be free. In
1854 the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened the northern territory to slavery. Next in 1857
there was the Dred Scott decision where the Supreme Court sanctioned the notion that
black people were not citizens.
2. Due to the lynching occurring in the South between 1880 and 1900 caused
Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois to come forward as spokesmen. They
both were considered ideological antagonists and during that time period their
way of thinking exhibited nationalist undertones. Washington was considered
and Uncle Tom while DuBois was considered the father of the civil rights
movement. Washington advocated the uplifting of blacks through industrial
education and economic self-help projects. He was also the founder of the
Tuskegee Institute which was a school that trained blacks in the fields of
industrial and agricultural vocations. He organized the African Union Company
which promoted trade between African Americans and the Gold Coast of Africa.
Later Washington founded the Negro Business League. He was willing bypass

black participation in politics and accept segregation to receive financial support

from whites for his educational and economic efforts.
DuBois was an archcritic of Washington. He charged Washington with shifting
the burden of black oppression from the nation to the shoulders of black people.
DuBois helped organize the Niagara Movement to counter the programs of
Washington. The movement called for male suffrage, full civil rights, economic
opportunity, an education of black youths according to their ability. The
Niagara movement eventually became a part of the newly formed National
Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Marcus Garvey took Washingtons economic programs, added in militant
nationalist rhetoric, and built an organization that was supported by millions of
black people. Garvey was of Jamaican descent and related the problems of
African Americans to those of colonialism in Africa. His belief was until Africa
was liberated black people everywhere were doomed. He founded the Universal
Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). His beliefs were both nationalist and
racial. He advocated for racial purity, racial integrity, and racial hegemony. He
also tried to organize blacks in the U.S. into a vanguard for Africas redemption
from colonialism with hopes them being eventually led back to Africa.
Nation of Islam also considered the Black Muslims surfaced around the early
1930s. Muslims rejects Christianity because they consider it the white mans
religion and they constructed their own version of Islam. Their god Allah is
seen as the supreme black man and they believe that the first men were black

men. The Muslims call for racial separation and a complete economic withdrawal
from white society with hopes of establishing a separate black state.
3. The claims that America owes for the enslavement of African Americans has
been around for over 150 years. The clamor for repayment of the debt has
been intensified especially during the time following the Civil War. The call for
reparations has moved to the blacks who did not relocate to the suburbs during
integration. It has been said that the reparation efforts for African Americans
is based on the successful litigation of the Holocaust reparation movement or on
the successful reparation claims that Congress approved for the Japanese
American during World War II.
4. The first period for African American reparation dates back to the 19 th
century. During this time a coalition of black and whites activists attempted to
use reparations to not only complete the emancipation of slaves but to also
engage in monetary justice by connecting the award of property to freed slaves
to the disenfranchisement of the former slave owners.
The second period was when the African Americans attempted to escape the
South and achieve a semblance of freedom in the North. An effort was made to
force Congress to pass legislation providing economic relief for freedmen.
During WWII, Senator Theodore Bilbo proposed to distribute newly acquired
territories for colonization by African Americans. His proposal was also
supported by Marcus Garvey.
The third reparation movement occurred during 1960s and 1970s and were the
at the height of the Civil rights movement. Dr. Kings I Have A Dream speech

as seen at the beginning of that time period for the request for reparations.
Other reparation claims were raised years later when the Nation of Islam
demanded the federal government provide African American with several states
located in the regions with large African American population as compensation
for slavery. Another major event occurred in 1968 when activist James Forman
interrupted a service at Riverside Church in New York city to introduce the
Black Manifesto which demanded $500 million dollars for the reparations of
African Americans. Lastly the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in
America have been promoted.
The first lawsuit related to reparations was Johnson vs. MacAdoo in 1915. The
plaintiff was Cornelius Jones who sued the U.S. Treasury Department claiming
that the governments taxation of raw cotton produced by slave labor
constituted an unjust enrichment from the labor of blacks. The D.C. Circuit
Court of Appeals ruled against him and decided the government was immune for
suit on sovereign immunity grounds.
Another lawsuit was Cato v. United States was filed early in the 1990s. An
African American woman filed suit for damages against the U.S. government
alleging the kidnapping, enslavement, and transshipment of her ancestors also
including continuing discrimination on behalf of the government. She also sought
acknowledgement of the injustice of the Jim Crow laws and also an official
apology from the government. The lawsuit was dismissed.