In honor of Martin Luther King day, I want to mention some black people throughout american history , both well, and lesser known, who spoke and acted out against the oppresive realities of their lifetimes. This list is fairly short, and is meant to stir curiosity in the reader about the black struggle in america.
Martin Luther King
Born January 15th, 1929, MLK jr was the son of Martin Luther King Sr, who was a civil rights activist and minister just as his son would become. Growing up, MLK had a white friend who’s parents eventually forbade the two of them to continue meeting as friends, stating “we’re white, and you’re colored”. After telling his own parents of the situation, MLK’s parents explained the racial history and relations of the United States to him. It is said he initially swore to hate white people forever after learning of this, however, that sentiment did not stick.
Known for his non-violent disobediance tactics, King spoke in various cities in states around the country. Influenced by Mahatma Ghandi’s methods of non-violent disobedience, and his christian beliefs, he went about spreading a message of desegregation, and advocating for the voting rights of african americans. He helped organize and lead the 1963 march on washington, and gave the famous “I have a dream” speech at the Lincoln memorial.
He was arrested more than 20 times and assaulted at least four times, along with other attempts at his life because of this highly controversial message he was giving. At age 35, MLK was the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
At 6:01pm on April 4, 1968, MLK was standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was fatally shot by James Earl Ray. As news of his death had spread, roits broke out in cities around the US. Today the United States recognizes a federal holiday in his name, Martin Luther King’s day, celebrating his birthday.
Nat Turner
Nat Turner, born October 2, 1800, was an Enslaved African-American preacher. He learned how to read and write at an early age, and was identified as one who had “natural intelligence and quickness of apprehension”, which was surpassed by very few. Turner used his abilities to organize and lead a four-day violent rebellion consisting of both enslaved and freed black people in South Hampton County, Virginia, in the year 1831.
In the beginning he had enlisted only several trusted fellow slaves, but as his rebellion continued, his ranks grew to more than 70 enslaved and free Blacks, some of which were riding on horses. Knives, hatchets, axes, and blunt instruments were used in place of firearms. The reason being that guns were difficult to gather, and would raise too much suspicion.
On August 21, 1831, this band went house to house, freeing enslaved people, and killing many white people they encountered along the way. Nat believed this revolutionary violence would help awaken whites to the reality of the inherent brutality involved with slave-holding. He at one point mentioned that he intended to spread “terror and alarm” among such whites.
White malitias eventually gathered and battled against the revolt with overwhelming might. Turner, still remaining in South Hampton County had eluded his capture for for about six weeks. However, on October 30, a white farmer by the name of Benjamin Phipps, finally discovered Nat hidden in a depression of the earth among the local people known as Nottoway. He was detained and sent to stand at trial. On the day of his sentencing, Nat was asked if he was regretful of what he had done. He responded, “Was Christ not crucified?” He was then hanged to death on November 11, 1831 Read more about it in Wikipedia.
Frederick Douglas
Frederick Douglas was a black american social reformer, orator, abolitionist, writer and statesman. Born into slavery on Feburary 1817 or 1818, Frederick was taken from his grandparents and sent to work on plantations. Eventually coming under servitutde to a man named Hugh Auld in the city of Baltimore, Hugh Auld’s wife began teaching him the alphabet at about age 12. Auld was not approving of this, as he believed if a slave is literate, they are likely to seek their freedom.
Under her husband’s influence, Sophia decided to stop teaching Frederick, snatching a newspaper from him, and hiding all reading materials. Still, Douglas taught himself in secret by reading any pamphlets, papers, political materials, and books that he could get his hands on. This granted him a new realm of thought, leading him to question and condemn the very institution of slavery.
In 1833, Frederick was moved from Hugh Auld to a man named Edward Covey, who was a poor farmer with a reputation of being a “slave breaker”. He whipped Douglas so often that his wounds hardly had time to recover. Frederick later said these whippings broke his body, soul, and spirit. However, when 16 year old Douglas finally fought back against Edward, winning a physical confrontation, Edward never tried to harm him again.
Douglas went on to escape slavery, buying his freedom, and settling in Massachusetts with the love of his life, Anna Murray Douglas. He went on to write 3 autobiogrophies, became a national ablotionist leader in Massachusetts and New York, and was recognized by his fellow abolitionists as a living counterexample to the arguments of slaveholders that enslaved people lacked the intellectual capacity necessary to act and function as independent American citizens. Northerners at the time, likewise found it hard to believe that such a talented orator had once been a slave. Douglas died of a heart attack shortly after returning home from a council meeting in Washington DC on February 20, 1895. He was aged about 77 years.
Fred Hampton
Fred Allen hampton Sr, born August 30th 1948 in the state of Illinois, would grow up to become deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, a national pro-black political organization. During his role, he organized rallies, established a Free Breakfast program, and negotiated a peace pact among rival gangs. He became chairman, giving lectures and empowering speeches to men and women in his ranks at the young age of 22.
Arguably his most notible contribution was his founding of the Rainbow Coalition. This was a anti-race, anit-class organization which initially consisted of the black panthers, the young patriots (poor whites), and the young lords (poor hispanics). The inequality that the poor faced did not discriminate by race, which was no doubt a helping factor in forming this multicultural coalition. Together they formed an allience among major street gangs in Chicago to end infighting and work towards social change. Fred Hampton considered fascism as the greatest threat, saying, “Nothing is more important than stopping fascism, because fascism will stop us all”.
William O’Neal, who was a black man employed by the FBI to infiltrate and spy on the Panthers, had spiked Hampton’s drink with a strong sleeping drug and then left the safe house Hampton was in on the evening of December 3, 1969. Officers were later dispatched to raid this apartment. They stormed in and opened fire, killing a security guard, and then opened fire on Hampton’s bedroom, where he laid unconscious from the drug. Alongside him was his sleeping, almost nine-month-pregnant fiancee. After the gunfire, Hampton was found to only be wounded and not dead. Upon that discovery, an officer shot him twice in his head and killed him. The rest of the panther members who were not killed, were arrested and indicted by a grand jury on charges of attempted murder, armed violence, and a variety of weapons charges. These charges were eventually dropped when during a later investigation where it was discovered that Chicago Police fired ninety-nine shots while the Panthers only shot once.
“You have to understand that people have to pay the price for peace. If you dare to struggle, you dare to win. If you dare not struggle then goddamnit you don’t deserve to win”
“Why don’t you live for the people? Why don’t you struggle for the people? Why don’t you die for the people?” -Fred Hampton, 20th Commemoration.
These are just four examples of some of our most ambitious black freedom fighters of the past. There are many more who have gone unheard, but we have plenty of time to go over them in the future. Do you have any civil rights role models? Feel free to mention them in the comments.
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