W.E.B. Du bois vs. Marcus Garvey
The Harlem renaissance occurred during a flourishing era of social, political, economic, and demographic change and on that score, all the domains (literature, music, etc.) were deeply influenced by race, politics, political and racial theories, criticism, economics, and the black migration. The New Negro comprised both political and cultural concerns that ranged from racial pride to an urgent need for equal rights, to a nationalistic or pan-African separatism.
W. E. B. Du Bouis and Marcus Garvey shaped the civil rights movement of their time with almost perfectly opposing approaches. This comparison between these two politics shows very clearly that in was not only a fight between black and white but also a problem within the black community.
W. E. B. Du Bois, the editor of the influential journal The Crisis, a successful poet and novelist, and one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), which still exists, wanted a social inclusion between black people and the American society. He further believed that the intellectual elite of the black community should lead them in this direction.
Marcus Garvey’s intention was leading the masses of black people towards black purity of race and culture by means of black nationalism. Du Bois affirmed that black Americans were composed of two parts: the black part and the American part. In his book, The Souls of Black Folk, he stated, "One ever feels his two-ness - an American, a Negro, two souls, two thoughts, two unrecoiled strivings, two warring ideas in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder". But, "In this merging he wishes neither of the old selves to be lost". This contrariness is shown often in Du Bois' writings. He was both an integrationist and an advocate of a form of voluntary segregation. He took the view that the Negro race "could only advance through its own self help and the assistance by whites of good will". He thought that the "Talented Tenth," the intellectual elite of the black community, should inspire and lead their people while seeking aid and stimulation from white people. But, even though he thought that it was good to receive support from white people he also made "a call for the black community to maintain a seperate racial identity". He was a passionate proponent of black pride and thought that black Americans held gifts to humanity, in the form of art, music, humour, and folk tales that had yet to be appreciated.
However, despite having a wide influence and being an open-minded person, his enthusiasm for the Harlem Renaissance decreased as he accused white people of voyeurism. He further believed that a black artist is first of all a black artist, not an artist.
W. E. B. Du Bois, the editor of the influential journal The Crisis, a successful poet and novelist, and one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), which still exists, wanted a social inclusion between black people and the American society. He further believed that the intellectual elite of the black community should lead them in this direction.
Marcus Garvey’s intention was leading the masses of black people towards black purity of race and culture by means of black nationalism. Du Bois affirmed that black Americans were composed of two parts: the black part and the American part. In his book, The Souls of Black Folk, he stated, "One ever feels his two-ness - an American, a Negro, two souls, two thoughts, two unrecoiled strivings, two warring ideas in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder". But, "In this merging he wishes neither of the old selves to be lost". This contrariness is shown often in Du Bois' writings. He was both an integrationist and an advocate of a form of voluntary segregation. He took the view that the Negro race "could only advance through its own self help and the assistance by whites of good will". He thought that the "Talented Tenth," the intellectual elite of the black community, should inspire and lead their people while seeking aid and stimulation from white people. But, even though he thought that it was good to receive support from white people he also made "a call for the black community to maintain a seperate racial identity". He was a passionate proponent of black pride and thought that black Americans held gifts to humanity, in the form of art, music, humour, and folk tales that had yet to be appreciated.
However, despite having a wide influence and being an open-minded person, his enthusiasm for the Harlem Renaissance decreased as he accused white people of voyeurism. He further believed that a black artist is first of all a black artist, not an artist.
Marcus Garvey, the establisher of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Harlem, was a charismatic leader who advocated complete racial purity and seperatism. The most important part of Garveyism, the philsophy that emerged out of his writings and speeches, was the return of black Americans to Africa.
Garveyism emphasized the importance of religion through the creation of the African Orthodox Church and Garvey's claims that, "Since white people have seen their own God through white spectacles, we have now started to see our God through our own spectacles". Therefore, black people should visualize a black God and black Christ.
Garvey had such strong seperatist and purity opinion that he even had sympathies with the Ku Klux Klan. As he put in, "Whilst the Ku Klux Klan desires to make America absolutely a white man's country, the UNIA desires to make Africa absolutely a black man's country".
Eventually, his milestones in his brief meteoric career attest to both the grandness of vision and the depth of his failure. Arrested in 1922, convicted to federal prison in 1925, and deported in 1927, Garvey and the UNIA, for all practical purposes, had ended their spectacular run.
(based on: Wintz, 2006)
(based on: http://www.oocities.org/writingryan/dubois.html)
Garveyism emphasized the importance of religion through the creation of the African Orthodox Church and Garvey's claims that, "Since white people have seen their own God through white spectacles, we have now started to see our God through our own spectacles". Therefore, black people should visualize a black God and black Christ.
Garvey had such strong seperatist and purity opinion that he even had sympathies with the Ku Klux Klan. As he put in, "Whilst the Ku Klux Klan desires to make America absolutely a white man's country, the UNIA desires to make Africa absolutely a black man's country".
Eventually, his milestones in his brief meteoric career attest to both the grandness of vision and the depth of his failure. Arrested in 1922, convicted to federal prison in 1925, and deported in 1927, Garvey and the UNIA, for all practical purposes, had ended their spectacular run.
(based on: Wintz, 2006)
(based on: http://www.oocities.org/writingryan/dubois.html)