John Gibbs 's Better Know As St. Clair Drake

During the 1900’s, society limited the rights of African Americans. Gwendolyn Brooks was a writer who experienced discrimination from the white population, and even African Americans who were fairer in complexion. She originally wrote about the oppression of African Americans, and their day-to-day struggles. Later on, she expanded her writings to include the struggles of African Americans everywhere. By the end of her life, she inspired thousands of young writers to write about things they’re passionate about. The impact Gwendolyn Brooks has on my life is incomparable to any other important figure I've studied. It's the steps that she took that made her a global leader and will impact my development as a global leader.

The life of one of the most influential individuals in American history began in 1755 on the island Nevis in the British West Indies. In this tiny tropical island in the Caribbean was where he came into this world at the very bottom of the social order. He was a bastard -- illegitimate, because his mother was not legally married to his father. As a result, he was prohibited from attending a Christian school, and had no rights of inheritance. When he was ten, his family moved to St. Croix, where hundreds of plantations -- worked by slaves -- produce sugar and coffee for export. His Scottish-born father, James A. Hamilton, came to the West Indies with the ambition to make a fortune in the sugar trade, but was never successful. Soon after they arrive on St. Croix, his father abandoned the family. He would never see his father again. Only about two years later at the age of thirteen his mother, Rachel Faucette, died of yellow fever. Faucette’s small estate went all to her first husband, Hamilton only kept the books. He loved reading and took advantage of these books and the knowledge stored in them.

For decades, Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) was the major African-American spokesman in the eyes of white America. Born a slave in Virginia, Washington was educated at Hampton Institute, Norfolk, Virginia. He began to work at the Tuskegee Institute in 1881 and built it into a center of learning and industrial and agricultural training. A handsome man and a forceful speaker, Washington was skilled at politics. Powerful and influential in both the black and white communities, Washington was a confidential advisor to presidents. For years, presidential political appointments of African-Americans were cleared through him. He was funded by Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, dined at the White House

While at Dartmouth, although it was a period of social change, racial tensions were still high when he arrived on campus along with the first “substantial group of African American males” (Hoover and Eschenbach). Bogan believed that they were “pioneers of their race” (Bogan). Although, Dartmouth held a reputation for being welcoming to black men, the Civil Rights Movement was “a time of heightened consciousness [towards race],” so they banded together to form their own community (Hoover and Eschenbach). While Bogan did believe that sports were a way to rise above low socioeconomic status, he, unlike many others, realized that “education was the thing that was going to allow [him] to achieve a measure of success and financial independence” (Hoover

John Hope Franklin was an iconic figure not only in the African American community but also in American society. Born in Rentiesville, Oklahoma in an all-black community, Franklin encountered an array of ruthless racism frequently. These encounters set up the platform for him to become “one of the world’s most distinguished and influential historians” of the 20th century (Arsenault & Franklin). Franklin was also an “educator noted for his scholarly reappraisal of the American Civil War era and the importance of the black struggle in shaping modern American identity. He also helped fashion the legal brief that led to the historic Supreme Court decision outlawing public school segregation, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) and was instrumental in the development of African-American Studies programs at colleges and universities” (“John Hope Franklin”).

Washington was burdened with much work as a child from laboring in a salt furnace to serving as a houseboy where he was exposed to the importance of cleanliness and order, traits that became a theme throughout his life. After his education at Hampton Institute, an early freedman school of industrial education, he gained respect from northern whites as well as blacks. He pushed the idea that we can all work together but continue to stay separate. Washington became President Roosevelt’s black advisor. His autobiography depicts the importance of self-made men, which was the idea that he pushed to African Americans to overcome their situation.

John Howard Griffin was a journalist and a professional on race issues. After publication, he became a leading advocate in the Civil Rights Movement and did much to promote awareness of the racial situation sand pass legislature. He was middle aged and living in Mansfield, Texas at the time of publication in 1960. His desire to know if Southern whites were racist against the Negro population of the Deep South, or if they really judged people based on the individual 's personality as they said. Because of this he felt that they had encouraged him to cross the color line and write Black Like Me.

W.E.B. Du Bois spent most of his career focusing on race relations and he defined the problem of the color line. For most of his life he believed in integration, but towards the end of his life he began to focus on Black Nationalism after he became discouraged with the lack of progress in race relations (Allan, 2013). Du Bois was an author, a poet, civil-rights activist, Pan-Africanist, a sociologist, and he was known for many other trades that he spent his time doing throughout his life. He graduated valedictorian from high school then earned his bachelor’s degree of arts from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. Then he attended Harvard University and got his bachelor of arts cum laude, and then he pursued graduate studies in

(Paris Noir 192). However, this was not the case. More specifically, those critics do not realize that the reason why Wright is an admired figure today is not only due to his literary mission, but because he successfully created a one-of-a-kind black community in Paris. In more detail, Wright created a supportive environment that consisted of black or white progressive American writers and artists and French intellectuals. With the help of this unique community he was able to speak out against any racial injustices that existed in the U.S. even more passionately than before.

Washington put immense effort in trying to improve education for black people. He helped bring about changes in African American education in the second half of the 20th century by contributing to the black population’s economy and educational advancement (Schaub). Washington said that education is the “sine qua non” or essential action required for a person to obtain citizenship (Schaub). He thought if black people were educated, then white people would have more respect for them. Washington found the Tuskegee University (then known as the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute) which he helped become one of the country’s leading schools (Wilkinson). He put a lot of work into the school and its curriculum, and he stressed economizing, patience, and enterprise throughout the university (Booker T. Washington). Because of his beliefs regarding the education of black people, the school was a vital way for him to share his thoughts with others. His work with the expanding of education for black people and founding of the Tuskegee Institute has inspired

Life for black men and women in the early and mid 1900s was difficult. They were often discriminated against by members of the white race. Many people tried to understand what life was like for the black race during this time, but none went as far as John Griffin. Some say that his story was not true or that it was not really a black man’s experience, but a white man’s. I believe that a white man could come close to understanding what discrimination against black men and women was like but I don’t believe that it was foolish of him to try it because of his newfound knowledge and empathy towards the black race.

Being born a slave, he understood hunger, hardship, grueling physical labor and prejudice. Washington was blessed with a gift of wisdom. He fulfilled a childhood dream of making the world a better place. Mr. Washington was born between 1858 and 1859 on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. And lived in a dirt floor one-room cabin with his mother and two siblings John and Amanda. His childhood was not your normal childhood, after all he was born a slave, and labored early in the day into the night like everyone else on the plantation. There was no frolicking for him, or happy fond memories of breakfast or dinners around the table, meals were often eaten straight out of the pot much like a trough for the animals. Schooling for him was not part of his life or any slave, to be able to attend school would have been a beautiful dream much like how he imagined heaven would be. After the war the family moved to Malden W. Virginia with their stepfather, whom they hardly knew, their new home was a step down from shanty cabin they lived on the plantation. Here in Malden is where his education started, he soon learned to recognize the number 18, that was assigned to his stepfathers in the salt mine. Likewise his mother by a miracle secured his first book, Webster’s “ blue-black speller”, he also was able to attend night -school after his shift in the salt-mine. He would imagine what it must have been like to be white, with no limits, stopping you from becoming whoever or whatever you want in life. Mr. Washington learned success is not the title or position you hold, it is the difficulties you have come through on your road to

This educator who believe much in change as growing up believe that sooner or later slavery would have to end. It was rough for him just like any other black person trying to educate themselves without being discretized. As time past he gains the faith

Despite the racial struggles in this period education remained a critical center point for civil rights upheaval during the 1950’s and through the following decade. Godfrey made a great impact at Penn State. Her former advisee and student Brenda Binns, describes her as magician, a people person and skillfully attune to the practice she taught. Binns said “I never thought of her as I have a black lady as an advisor, it was never part of it. She was a wonderful person who, at least, I didn’t sense any color bias at all” (B. Binns, personal communication, April 7, 2016.

At a much too early age, Malcolm understood his role as a negro living in the early eighteenth century. Malcolm was an intelligent kid who constantly focused on his education. When asked what he wanted to do in the future, he told his teacher he wanted to be a lawyer. His teacher responded with pitiful laughter, telling him that his goal was unreasonable, for black people simply weren’t good enough to be lawyers. Malcolm recalled the sheer change in heart he experienced that day. He accepts