Why the American Civil Rights Movement isn't just American
The Lincoln memorial bookends the national mall. The man who freed the slaves stoically looks over the capital. That memorial is important not only for being a dedication to one of the United States deified leaders, but it was also the finish line for the march on Washington. That march was led by nationally renowned African American figure, Martin Luther King Jr. and culminated in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. MLK has his own monument down the road from the location of his historic speech. These two monuments invoke the patriotic fight for freedom for all that these two figures championed. However, MLK did not lead the movement on his own, he had help from all across America. The movement was affecting change long before MLK had any dreams, through influential leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois, who created the NAACP. Where is his memorial? Not in D.C., not even in America, but in Ghana. This then begs the question, why is this the case? Why does an American Civil Rights activist lack a memorial in America?
This is because the traditionally taught "King-centric" Civil Rights Movement often overshadows the achievements of other prominent Civil Rigths activists like Du Bois. Additionally, by viewing the Civil Rights Movement through a "Du Bois-centric" perspective instead of a "King-centric" perspective, it becomes apparent that the American Civil Rights movement is much more than just an American movement. It is international in scale and learning about the international perspective is crucial for understanding the complexity of the Civil Rights movement. However, the benefits of a National Story can not be understated as well. The formation of two stories, one national and international, is an important part of the history of the movement as often key civil rights figures and groups looked outside of the US for change and support but continued to affect change inside the US. This movement wasn’t just angled to fight for African American equality within America, but a fight against imperialism, and for basic human rights at home and abroad.
Therefore, there are two paths within this digital book, one discusses the international perspective, and the other argues the national aspect of the Civil Rights movement. Historians like Harvard University Professor Jill Lepore would rather emphasize the American aspects of the Civil Rights movement which is demonstrated in Path 1. On the contrary, New York University Professor Nikhil Pal Singh argues in his book Black is a Country, that the Civil Rights movement cannot be defined as solely American and is at the core, international in nature, demonstrated in Path 2. He argues that the movement was not African Americans fighting the Jim Crow laws, but trying to internationalize equality for all by moving against imperialism and white supremacy.We hope you learn something from both of these perspectives, and gain a more complete understanding of this crucial event in American history.
Path 1: National Perspective
Path 2: International Perspective
Teaching Page