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African American civil rights movement
African American civil rights movement
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The African American civil rights movement started in the year 1955 (Paul, 2009, 199). It was a movement that championed the equality between the African Americans and the Caucasians. It was one of the most lucrative and the most important social movements whose existence was in the twentieth centuries. Half of the movement was led by Martin Luther king Junior himself. He was one of the greatest fighters for equality. The other half of the movement was led by Malcom X who believed that this equality could be only achieved through forceful, violent and radical methods.
The main goal of the movement was to bring to an end the racial segregation and discrimination against black Americans and enforce the constitutional voting rights to them. Racism and color discrimination was a major problem in the world especially in America and in the other western countries. This movement of which I strongly support its course fought hard to have the status quo overturned (Paul, 2009 199). Numerous efforts were made by the leaders and the followers to ensure that their main aim was achieved.
This movement was one of its own and was characterized by major campaigns of civil resistance, acts of non-violent protests and civil disobedience. This movement succeeded in bringing out fully the plight of the African Americans in the hands of the white elite to the Federal authorities who had to respond to the scenario with a lasting solution. Forms of protest and civil disobedience an example being the Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama and a wide range of other nonviolent activities sent across the message of the inequality that characterized the systems in the USA as well as in the world (Paul, 2009, 200). Many achievements were made by the runners of this movement.
References
Paul F. (2009). Encyclopedia of African American history. New York: Oxford.
Africa-American & African Studies Season of Migration to the North
Africa-American & African Studies: Season of Migration to the North
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1. Reading Mustafa Sa’eed’s relationship with the English women as a metaphor for contemporary (1960s) power struggles, what does Seasons of Migration to the North say about either (a) the relationship between east and west, or (b) the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized?
‘Season of migration to the north’ is a Sudanese post colonial novel written by Tayeb Salih. The novel is a tale of two parallel postcolonial characters. The anonymous narrator returns to his native home Sudan after spending seven years furthering his education in England. In his village, he encounters Mustafa Sa’eed, a villager who is less concerned about his achievements unlike the others. Mustafa Sa’eed recites a poem in English while drunk and betrays his past. The narrator resolutely discovers their similarities with Mustafa who likewise studied in Europe although he violently harbors hate of his western acquaintances that had a complex relationship. He in fact confessed killing his British woman while in England and exploited a number of them sexually where three of them committed suicide. The narrator’s discovery of Mustafa’s experience in England triggers anger, curiosity, and despair in him. Mustafa drown in River Nile and disappears mysteriously leaving the narrator to take charger of Mustafa’s wife and his two sons. The novel emphasizes on the troubled past of Mustafa in Europe where he hunts a number of women and finally falls for a British woman. His marriage with the woman is consummated with violence and imprisonment. He finally moves to his village in Sudan along the banks on Nile where he remarries and bears children. Mustafa is used to reveal the narrator’s past indirectly where he befriends him and makes him his sons’ guardian and his enigmatic life repository before committing suicide. The narrator is passive and is subdued by sought of a concealed relationship with parents and villagers. The novel touches on sexual mores, status of women, colonial arrogance and Sudan’s Independence.
‘Season of migration to the north’ attempts to lay criticism on imperialism as a way to expose it. The title north is used not only as a direction but an ideology. “In her eyes I was a symbol of all her hankerings. I am south that yearns for the North and the ice” (Salih 30). This shows the icy nature of Mustafa since he is portrayed as having no emotions or feelings showing the competitive nature between South and North for instance “ I was like something rounded, made of rubber: you throw it in the water it doesn’t get wet, you throw it on the ground and it bounces back” (Salih 20). “…a southern thirst being dissipated in the mountain passes of history in the north” (Salih 42) portray Mustafa’s desire to leave South and become part of North and his attempt to do this by marrying a Briton, leads him in Jail and ends up in Sudan or South. However, he did not entirely detach from north since he had photographs, collection of books for study and spoke fluent English. Alienation hunts the narrator until the end. The author condemns the effects of colonialism. The life of Mustafa tells the nature of contamination and cultural contact between British which is the former colonial power of Sudan. The sexual exploits upon women could be vengeance towards the British colonizers as noted “This is a fact in my life: the way chance has placed people in my path who gave me a helping hand at every stage,, people for whom I had no feelings of gratitude: I used to take their help as though it were some duty they were performing for me” (Salih 23). His misapprehension of his inviolability indicates the consequence of attempt to be assimilated in civilization as contradicted by his culture. Sa’eed’s mind absorbed Western civilization which in turn ended up breaking his heart. This shows an opposition between civilization or West and savagery or Africa which could not unite due to the differences in economic, political and social status.
Individuals who have developed inferiority complex as a result of colonization try to imitate the west as in the case of Sa’eed who comes to realize that no level of education would equalize him and ‘them’. From the novel, Mustafa Sa’eed remained colonized “The language, though which I now heard for the first timer is not like the language I had learnt at school. These are living voices and have another ring. My mind was like a keen knife. But the language is not my language; I had learnt to be eloquent in it through perseverance” (Salih 28 &29). Realistically, Sa’eed could not be accepted in the dominant western culture in spite of his education. He is impressed as having overcome primitivism by the English. As a result, he lives a paradox in assimilation which distances him from his natives and never becomes equal to ‘them’. Therefore, Sa’eed seduced and left English women and murders his own wife as atonement to reciprocate his moral exile. For instance when he is asked by Isabella Seymore if he was Asian or African, he replies: “I’m like Othello…..Yes,’ she said: ‘Your nose is like the noses of Arabs’….’Yes, that’s me. My face is Arab like the desert of the Empty Quarter while my head is African and teems with a mischievous childishness” (Salih 38) Sa’eed’s response shows that he recognizes the attitude of the English towards their colonial subjects. Sa’eed points out referring to Isabella that “….There came a moment when I felt I had been transformed in her eyes in to a naked, primitive creature, a spear in one hand and arrows in the other, hunting elephants and lions in the jungle” (Salih 38). The statement is a reflection of Isabella’s tales regarding Africa which stereotyped him as primitive. This is racial discrimination which made Mustafa who stands for the colonized society to suffer emotionally contributing to low self esteem. Isabella as a woman represents the colonizer who regarded the colonized as primitive.
Sa’eed becomes violent and during his trial, he states that “Yes, my dear sirs, I came as an invader into your very homes: a drop of poison which you have injected into the veins of history. I am no Othello. Othello was a lie” (Salih 95). Disclosing his identity reveals that he has finally accepted his culture and is willing to fight for it. Professor Maxwell Foster-Keen who was Sa’eed’s former mentor and he defends him in court stating that “You, Mr. Sa’eed.., are the best example of the fact that our civilizing mission in Africa is of no avail. After all the efforts we’ve made to educate you, it’s as if you’d come out the jungle for the first time” (Salih 93&94) this is a clear and a straightforward reflection of colonial ideology rather than crime he had committed. He suffers seven years imprisonment and finally moves back to his home country, Sudan in a primitive village near the River Nile. The women were not murdered by Mustafa Sa’eed but rather by the deadly economic, cultural and political disease infected from the colonial invasion. Sa’eed reflects a colonialism convert who failed. He recognizes that he is an intruder, a colonizer of civilization and an exile from his natives reflecting the unstable relationship between Africa and the West.
Season of migration to the north portray the adverse relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. Irrespective of the effort to become westernized, there is no way that the two cultures could integrate and become one whatsoever. There exists cultural conflicts since the Africans, in this case, Mustafa, after suffering rejection and discrimination decides to stand for status quo and engages in revenge mission. To compensate for the pain he has suffered while in the West, Mustafa harasses women sexually who ends up committing suicide because of him. His engagement with women represents the marriage of the two different lifestyles that could not match irrespective of the efforts invested in the union. Unsuccessful literal marriage between Mustafa and his British wife reflects the incompatibility of the two cultures. This way, the author portrays women as the weaker gender that becomes victims of the circumstance. The novel is a clear reflection of the political conflicts that existed at the postcolonial time between the colonizers (British) and the colonized (Sudan). Efforts made to civilize the colonized society were nullified although some aspect of alienation stuck making a dent to their culture. The efforts to become civilized did not come easy else, it involved bloodshed, suffering and imprisonment as experienced by suicide of the women, murder of Mustafa’s wife and his ultimate imprisonment. This portrays the adverse effects that resulted from colonization which spoilt the relationship between the two societies.
Works Cited:
Salih Tayeb. Season of Migration to the North. Great Britain: Heinemann Educational Publishers. 1969.
Africa-America Public Policy Matters
Africa-America Public Policy Matters
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Africa-America Public Policy Matters
The story regarding Africa-American and their affiliation with the South American and the rest of the world is fundamental and significant to the America’s history up to date. Between the years 1870 to 1920, there was considerable experience concerning the Africa-America policy matters. The significant policies during this period include the Reconstruction Amendments, the season of hope, the “Exodusters,” disfranchisement and segregation. In this essay, the mentioned above policies as well as the role of terrorism, Supreme Court, national and regional leaders during the era will be discussed into a profound extent.
After the victory by North during the civil war, lots of questions raised regarding the Africa-American and the Confederate States Among these most questioned matter considered the position of the ex-slaves in the society and the standing of the defeated ex-Confederate states in the Union. The thirteenth, fourteenth, and the fifteenth Reconstruction Amendments to the constitution correctly answers the previous queries. The Thirteenth Amendment was proposed in 1864 and approved in 1865. It concerns the abolishment of slavery, and unwilling bondage apart from those found guilty of a crime according to the law. The fourteenth Amendment regards the equal protection of laws for all civilians as well as the rights of citizens. It was anticipated in 1866 and authorized in 1868. The Fifteenth Amendment was proposed in 1869 an approved in 1870. It addresses prohibition of discrimination of citizens’ rights to vote regardless of the prior servitude status, color and race (Hobbs, 2014). The three above Amendments did not address discrimination in regards to sex basis. However, this is addressed on the Nineteenth Amendment which was approved in 1920.
The “season of hope” during 1870 to 1920 oversees the future of Africa-Americans in the nation which was signified by some progress. They come out from the old techniques of supervised slavery and overstretched plantation owners to adopt personal family cultivation. The Fifteenth Amendment which granted the right to vote continued to be adhered to and some blacks could even hold office years later after reconstruction. The “Exoduster” movement was on the positive association of Africa-Americans towards Kansas from the South. Benjamin Singleton, who was a freedman from Tennessee played a significant role in planning the unexpected movement.
Disfranchisement and segregation were the techniques used by the Southern states to pass laws which were made to impose white supremacy. This refers to the act of outlawing Africans’ rights to vote and racial separation following the disappointment of the Lodge Force Bill. Disfranchisement was the first to be implemented through literacy test and beginning tax poll towards the blacks. The Supreme Court supported the mentioned states laws claiming that there was no prescribed race. Hence they did not violate the law. After the freeing of Africa-Americans from the voters’ list, the states had the mandate to do whatever they want with them. The states preferred segregation laws which did not only separate blacks in racial basis but also from access to necessities in life such as healthcare, education, housing and employment (Elliott & Kelley 2016).
The Supreme Court played a part in supporting the federal states through authorization of Disfranchisement which left the Africa-America well-being at threat during this era. Terrorism was commonly done through vigilante executions. They were a collective way of carrying out white supremacy on the local level by white multitudes responding to an apparent violation of ethnic customs. Terrorism in the form of racial-riot played a significant role in manifesting violence towards Africa-Americans. Various regional leaders such as Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois played an essential role in advocating accommodation to separation and Africa-America rights in regards to equality and incorporation into the convention of American life.
In the 1910s, the Africa-Americans were better off compared to the 1870s and 1880s because their rights regarding voting bun, segregation and disfranchisement had been reprimanded (Tapscott, 2007). They had also had access to the vital services and opportunities such as healthcare, education and employment which was not the case during the 1870s and 1880s.
References
Elliott, M., & Kelley, B. M. (2016). Entries 222 was the states’ power to define citizens by color.“There is no caste here,” Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote in dissent.“Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.” Blacks hoped that Harlan’s view would prevail someday. The Cambridge Guide to African American History, 221.
Hobbs, A. (2014). A chosen exile: a history of racial passing in American life. Harvard University Press.
Tapscott, C. (2007). The challenges of building participatory local government. Participatory governance, 81-95.