Skaman
02-24-2004, 10:51 PM
In a period of growing industry, the labor class finds itself stuck in a
vacuum of poverty, dominated by their capitalist masters. While social
programs begin to emerge and examine these stagnant groups,
individuals like William Graham Sumner take a Social Darwinist stance.
Rather than hand out ‘capital’ and better the societal whole as a
collective, Sumner takes an individualistic stance, promoting the ideal that
all members of society are responsible to their own, and no other.
Sumner goes to such lengths as to suggest that the rich are prosperous
as they build their livelihood and wealth off of the inferiority of others.
This stark assertion can be made on page forty four in Sumner’s article-
“What Social Classes Owe to Each Other, 1883”: “The men who have not
done their duty in this world never can be equal to those who have done
their duty more or less well”. All have the born right to seek equality, but
in actuality, Sumner suggests it is not a reality at all, and this is left to
chance. Page forty three stipulates in one quote: :Rights should be equal
because they pertain to chances, and all ought to have equal chances so
far as chances are provided or limited by the action of society”,
Ultimately, Sumner sees helping the less privileged as simply moving
ones capital to another, and futile as a means of equality
In the post civil war period, African Americans are faced with a
dilemma of belonging in ‘free society’. While the shackles of slavery have
been broken, they are now subject to racial, economic, and political
subsistence. The fallacy of freedom is a hard lesson learned, and
theories like Sumner’s only hold back a segregated people further,
complicated by hate and unemployment. How can a people make a life
for themselves and rise in social status when they are the very victim of
Sumner’s ‘superior economic elite’? A voice for the African American
contingent is even unlikely as political action is met with lynching and
stern Anglo-American resistance. How then does a ‘free’ people exist,
how do they go about living their lives? Individuals such as W.E.B Dubois
and Henry McNeal Turner propose their own solutions to the cyclical
problem.
Dubois advocates a social, educational aristocracy ideal of sorts,
putting emphasis on taking the talented members of the African American
society and improving upon these individuals so they can in-turn transfer
their skills to the rest of the African- American populous. He stresses that
notice is not given to those African- Americans who have indeed
surpassed expectation and risen to great heights in standards of
education, literacy and morality. This general theme of Dubois is made
on page forty four with: “…it is the problem of developing the best of the
race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and
death of the worst, in their own and other races” Dubois is selective,
lumping the ‘untalented 90’ as a ‘social contagion’, only destined to drag
down the rest of the African- American contingency. What must be
understood is that apart from the ‘talented tenth’ an immense and great
proportion of ex-slaves would live a life of disparity, fragmented within
their own social setting, already held in general disregard from the rest
of the Anglo-American population. Rather than live a disenfranchised life,
individuals such as Henry McNeal Turner promoted the African American
look within for a solution, and act together as a strengthened
homogenous unit.
Turner examines the grim realism of a segregated society and
comments on the hopelessness of an equal people, ultimately dominated
and controlled by a white society. The very status of an African-
American is not his own. Turner makes this claim on page 42: “The civil
status of the Negro is simply what the white man grants of his own free
will and accord. The black man can demand nothing.” A solution does
not exist within the United States, but at the root and origin of the African
continent, the cradle of their culture, society, and language. It was in
Africa that Turner proposed the ex-slaves make a life for themselves. In
a post civil war period, there was no place for African- Americans, their
freedom was a fallacy, and their liberties were non-existent, salvation lay
in their own hands.
While all three sources provide different aspects of thought in
dealing with the African Americas in the post civil war, it was
consequently and amalgamation of all these ideals that formed the
backbone of African- Americans in the United States. Many ex-slaves
returned to their roots in the African continent, many rose to great
achievements at the side of Fredrick Douglas, while additionally, many
suffered the burden of an oppressive socio-political life.
'rough copy'
vacuum of poverty, dominated by their capitalist masters. While social
programs begin to emerge and examine these stagnant groups,
individuals like William Graham Sumner take a Social Darwinist stance.
Rather than hand out ‘capital’ and better the societal whole as a
collective, Sumner takes an individualistic stance, promoting the ideal that
all members of society are responsible to their own, and no other.
Sumner goes to such lengths as to suggest that the rich are prosperous
as they build their livelihood and wealth off of the inferiority of others.
This stark assertion can be made on page forty four in Sumner’s article-
“What Social Classes Owe to Each Other, 1883”: “The men who have not
done their duty in this world never can be equal to those who have done
their duty more or less well”. All have the born right to seek equality, but
in actuality, Sumner suggests it is not a reality at all, and this is left to
chance. Page forty three stipulates in one quote: :Rights should be equal
because they pertain to chances, and all ought to have equal chances so
far as chances are provided or limited by the action of society”,
Ultimately, Sumner sees helping the less privileged as simply moving
ones capital to another, and futile as a means of equality
In the post civil war period, African Americans are faced with a
dilemma of belonging in ‘free society’. While the shackles of slavery have
been broken, they are now subject to racial, economic, and political
subsistence. The fallacy of freedom is a hard lesson learned, and
theories like Sumner’s only hold back a segregated people further,
complicated by hate and unemployment. How can a people make a life
for themselves and rise in social status when they are the very victim of
Sumner’s ‘superior economic elite’? A voice for the African American
contingent is even unlikely as political action is met with lynching and
stern Anglo-American resistance. How then does a ‘free’ people exist,
how do they go about living their lives? Individuals such as W.E.B Dubois
and Henry McNeal Turner propose their own solutions to the cyclical
problem.
Dubois advocates a social, educational aristocracy ideal of sorts,
putting emphasis on taking the talented members of the African American
society and improving upon these individuals so they can in-turn transfer
their skills to the rest of the African- American populous. He stresses that
notice is not given to those African- Americans who have indeed
surpassed expectation and risen to great heights in standards of
education, literacy and morality. This general theme of Dubois is made
on page forty four with: “…it is the problem of developing the best of the
race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and
death of the worst, in their own and other races” Dubois is selective,
lumping the ‘untalented 90’ as a ‘social contagion’, only destined to drag
down the rest of the African- American contingency. What must be
understood is that apart from the ‘talented tenth’ an immense and great
proportion of ex-slaves would live a life of disparity, fragmented within
their own social setting, already held in general disregard from the rest
of the Anglo-American population. Rather than live a disenfranchised life,
individuals such as Henry McNeal Turner promoted the African American
look within for a solution, and act together as a strengthened
homogenous unit.
Turner examines the grim realism of a segregated society and
comments on the hopelessness of an equal people, ultimately dominated
and controlled by a white society. The very status of an African-
American is not his own. Turner makes this claim on page 42: “The civil
status of the Negro is simply what the white man grants of his own free
will and accord. The black man can demand nothing.” A solution does
not exist within the United States, but at the root and origin of the African
continent, the cradle of their culture, society, and language. It was in
Africa that Turner proposed the ex-slaves make a life for themselves. In
a post civil war period, there was no place for African- Americans, their
freedom was a fallacy, and their liberties were non-existent, salvation lay
in their own hands.
While all three sources provide different aspects of thought in
dealing with the African Americas in the post civil war, it was
consequently and amalgamation of all these ideals that formed the
backbone of African- Americans in the United States. Many ex-slaves
returned to their roots in the African continent, many rose to great
achievements at the side of Fredrick Douglas, while additionally, many
suffered the burden of an oppressive socio-political life.
'rough copy'