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Universal Negro Improvement Association, By Booker T. Washington

Decent Essays

African-Americans attempted to establish themselves and prove to whites that they were capable citizens. Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association emphasized racial pride and economic self-help, and Booker T. Washington, leading spokesperson for the plight of African-Americans, told blacks to ignore racial slurs and inferiority comments while working to build self-dignity and worth. Washington believed that in order to identify themselves, they had to cooperate with whites and gain respect over time. In Addition, many African-Americans began to define themselves as a race in the nineteenth century by leaving white churches and creating their own. They worshiped according to their own customs, chose leaders, managed religious affairs, and established a lifestyle of their own. The African-Americans as a race attempted to define themselves as dignified, economically independent citizens. Colored women also began to define themselves and establish an identity. They made speeches, advocated rights, established organizations, and even made their way into the world of business in American society. Mary Church Terrell said in her speech in Washington D.C. that fifty years before, no one would have believed that a slave, let alone a woman, would be making a speech in the U.S. Capital and be supported by so many respected people. Fifty years ago, not only were African-Americans not allowed in schools, but most states considered it a crime to teach them to read and

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