MLK Day and the African-American Experience

Martin Luther King day is suppose to be a moment when we reflect on the contributions made by Martin Luther King, Jr. It is that, but "_________ day" has always struck me as a problematic construction. I think MLK would point out, "What are you doing the other 364 days?" It is an easy criticism and I am not making it. The struggle to get an MLK day was hard, so its a celebration we should be proud to have. Indeed, I can point to the events organized by the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Rollins for proof of the commitment to celebrate the message and legacy of Martin Luther King.

Still, I'm an academic and with an election coming up this particular MLK day has me in a reflective mood. In an era of an African-American president, how do we judge the legacy of Martin Luther King? Is racism no longer the social ill it once was? It is clear that in many ways the struggles that animated the civil right movement in the twentieth century are not the same today. The evolution is worth considering as we celebrate MLK in 2012.

We live in a society with radically different expectations related to race. When W.E.B. Dubois addressed the question of social equality between blacks and whites in 1920, he made it clear that that social equality was the means to "associate with one's fellowmen." This simple goal, so easily achieved today, triggered violence against African-Americans throughout the United States. Indeed, the destruction of Rosewood, Florida in 1923 offers a vivid example of the threat of violence that defined the African-American experience for much of the twentieth century.



The struggle for racial equality associated with Martin Luther King began decades before King's appearance. The National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) legal strategy championed a systematic attack on Jim Crow segregation through a series of court cases that challenged segregation. Still, for all those efforts, King provided a much needed public face to the civil rights struggle. His emergence on the national scene with the Montgomery Bus Boycott was pitch perfect. A well educated, articulate religious leader from a good family, he spoke with reasoned eloquence about the need for social justice.



Still, the reality was that King became a public face for the civil rights movement in part because behind the scene struggles prompted a search for a "fresh face" to lead the boycott. He was untainted by the internal politics that the ongoing struggles for social justice produced. Far from absolute consensus, the struggle for equality required action, but that action was not always welcomed or the path to it clear. Conflict could and did abound happen on the way to social justice.




Martin Luther King was able, as leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, to bring together the grassroots efforts of individuals and organizations across the south. He was the group's public face and he became the person that many white Americans associated with struggle against segregation. In reality, groups such as NAACP, the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) worked in parallel with the SCLC and King. Sometime they agreed and worked together, sometime they disagreed and worked apart. The centrality of the church and the emphasis on nonviolent resistance personified by King gave the SCLC a moral certainty many white Americans found compelling. Even if they were not comfortable with racial equality in practice, they respected the moral message in principle. As a result moderate white Americans found it hard to reject calls for justice, especially when confronted with the massive, often violence resistance mustered by southerners against non-violent protesters.



It does nothing to diminish Dr. King to say he understood the media. We tend to ignore the fact that the Civil Right movement had high points and low points. During the low points, civil right activists planned their next action with an understanding that they needed to regain momentum or bring the public eye back to the struggle. Classic moments such as the Children's Crusade in Birmingham garnered negative reactions at the time because it put children in the midst of the action against Eugene "Bull" Connors, a segregationist renowned for his violence reactions. King's response to the criticism, his famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" is a direct and articulated answer to the problem pose by struggling for social justice.

As celebrated as MLK is for his thoughtful message and nonviolent tactics, it is
perhaps equally important to King's success that he was often contrasted against an unsavory alternative. Malcolm X emerged as the equally articulate spokesperson for the Nation of Islam around the same time as Martin Luther King. Of course, Malcolm X message did little to comfort whites. Indeed, the contrast between the two often ignored the similarities in favor of sharp distinction on the question of violence. For many white Americans, Malcolm X, who advocated African-American self-defense and self-pride threaten them with violence with his every action and word.



The reality is more complicated. It is true that Malcolm X and Martin Luther King seem at odd in terms of the rhetoric. Yet, in practice King and X represented differing views on how to achieve the shared goal of African-American uplift.



Of course, the moderation of Malcolm X's views after his break from the Nation of Islam made this comparison problematic. The fact that both men continued to speak about the need to address poverty even as segregation was attacked by new legal standards further highlights the common themes in their individual messages. The death of both men prevented them from reconciling their message for the public. Indeed, by the 1970s the struggle for desegregation was in many ways overshadowed by the emergence of other social justice campaigns by disabled persons, women, gays and lesbians, Asian-Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos in the United States. Race did not stop being a problem, it was joined with a long list of other social concerns. In this atmosphere the struggle to achieve equality has become more complicated.

What would MLK say about the state of the African-American experience today? I'm not sure. It is clear African-Americans still struggle in the United States. Despite the election of a black president, poverty, crime, and health care are still problems for African-Americans. The difference today is perhaps that racism is not as closely linked to other problems. An interlocking matrix of influences linked to race, class, and gender challenge modern society. In this atmosphere, can we be sure that racism is the cause of high rates of African-American incarceration or is there something to be said about the problem face by the working poor? In this analysis, working-class poverty is the problem, and African-Americans, who also face limitation because of racial stereotypes, face an amplified effect growing from the discrimination linked to race and limited opportunity associated with class.

This is a real question and something that scholars should be considering. I count myself lucky that I have colleagues such as Rachel Newcomb,Walter Greason, Vidhu Aggarwal, Jonathan Gayles, and Denise K. Cummings( to name just a few, so if I didn't name you, it not because I don't love you:-) who are engaged in the complex work of cultural analysis. In many ways, the efforts made by individuals and groups to understand and address the persistent obstacles to equality mirror Martin Luther King's efforts. At the time of his death, he was organizing his Poor People Campaign, a grassroots action to demand the government help Americans get jobs, health care, and decent housing. Perhaps this fact should animated our thinking about MLK day in 2012. The struggles that defined Martin Luther King's last days still vex us today.

Flashback--Reflections on Black History Month from 2007...Still About Right

Given Black History Month is around the corner, I am expecting to be asked about being black or blackness or whatever. There is no way for me to really answer these questions, but of course I do my best. Still, anything I can do answer in advance would probably be good. So, I went to the archives!!!!

I wrote this for the college newspaper wayback in 2007. The world has changed--African-American President!! On the other hand, it hasn't changed that much. I changed some words, who wouldn't? Still most of it is the same and I think it hold up well.

________________________________________________________

Well, it is Black History Month again. As usually my immediate thought is that we got the shortest month. Black people have done a lot for this country; you could have at least given us January. I did not take up this space to complain however; instead I want to consider the importance of a "black" history month.

It is true; the average person cannot identify famous black inventors, politicians, educators, doctors, or artists. On the other hand, it is likely that person could not identify any famous white persons for the same thing. It is asking a lot of people who cannot find Iraq on a globe to remember things that happened five, fifty, or even 150 years ago. Still, the whole idea of a special month for X group is problematic. For example, April is…Poetry Month…no, wait, it is Math Month, no, that is not right, it is Zoo and Aquarium Month. April is all of these things, yet when April rolls around I think to myself, "How long until the semester is over?"

The problem with a special month is that people sleepwalk through it, leaving the meaning behind the month…meaningless. Do not get me wrong, the need to celebrate the unique culture of the many peoples that make up the United States is noble. Yet, being forced to do so has been, and continues to be, a source of resentment.

Recently, Francis Fuyukama, a guest at the upcoming Rollins Colloquy, wrote in Prospect Magazine that the American identity is rooted in a White Protestant culture. As a result, the things Americans most identify with themselves, "the famous Protestant work ethic, the American proclivity for voluntary association and the moralism of American politics are all by-products of this Anglo-Protestant heritage." This interpretation of American identity plays well in Peoria, but it is not really true.

At the turn of the twentieth century, many Americans were convinced what made this country great was that the process of creating the United States incorporated the best elements of many immigrant people and forged them into an "American" identity where deeds and ideas mattered more than class, traditions, and lineage. Basically, immigration and multiculturalism made American unique. There were many conceits in this "melting pot" idea. Still, the result is we consume the elements of many immigrants culture without thought. Our culture pulls from the food, language, and belief of many people from around the world, but strips away the markers of difference.

Reacting to this ideas inform Black History Month, Hispanic History Month, and Italian Heritage Month. Yet, unlike their Italian counterparts, African Americans still face questions about their worth in society. Questions that stem from continued marginality. Even as studies show a growth in the black middle-class, the fact remains that race and racism persists. For African-Americans, the incorporation of their cultural perspective is a bitter pill. On the one hand, urban music, food, and style are the very definition of "urban" culture, while at the same time resentment and resistance prevents African Americans societal participation. And make no mistake, it is resistance. Whether it is segregation that ensures the wealth building opportunities associated with homeownership do not affect black neighborhoods or the lack of access to financial services that contributes to a wealth gap between African-American and mainstream society, racial biases remain an important part of the black experience. So the need to recognize African Americans and other minorities as fully functional and contributing actors in the U.S. identity remains strong.

This commitment does not depend on recognition in a special period however; instead it requires us to consider how the strength of differing perspectives helps the United States and how U.S. society must make sure that we do not ignore the inequity that sometime come from struggle between the majority and the minority. For all of the fear associated with multiculturalism, the ideas at the heart of U.S. identity resonate with every American. As we face the new century, a global perspective informed by American popular culture is shrinking the distance between people. It is a good idea to celebrate difference in this circumstance even if only to demonstrate that those who are different than us need not fear us. This is a lesson we can take to heart every month of the year.

Strange Symmetry

South Carolina State Legislature in 1868




Tim Scott is set to become the first African-American elected from South Carolina since Reconstruction. I take issue with the idea in the NPR piece that he is the first African-American elected from the deep south since Reconstruction because Corrine Brown was elected from Florida's 3rd Congressional District in 1992. Now, we could argue about the depth of Florida's southern identity, but I will let it go.

The specter of Scott election in South Carolina is worth a brief historical note. Remember, the Civil War began in South Carolina and during Reconstruction, the federal push to insure African-American political participation championed by the Republican Party gave African-Americans a commanding presence in state legislature. The great irony is that this era's Republican party, which struggles to define itself in an era of changing demographics has been slow to embrace minority voters. The Republican Party became the party of southern white resentment in the 1960s in the aftermath of the Civil Right legislation championed by Lyndon Johnson. The pattern of catering to anti-government, anti-democrat, and pro traditional values has been the bedrock of the party since. Scott's eventually victory will give Republicans a chance to lay claim to a history of progressive policy that most people associate with Abraham Lincoln and the defense of the Union. Anyone who considers the Republican Party's Platform from 1860 must realize the party has changed. Ironically, South Carolinians' vote for secession in 1860 was triggered by the Republican Party's victory. Southerners believed the Republican Party was a hostile to southern interests. Republicans, for their part advocated for balance between national interest and state's right. At the same time, Republicans also advocated for anti-corruption and greater fiscal constraints. As the platform states, the party viewed, "the reckless extravagance which pervades every department of the Federal Government; that a return to rigid economy and accountability is indispensable to arrest the systematic plunder of the public treasury by favored partisans." Still, southerners took issue with anti-slavery elements of the platform. Scott's campaign has championed him as a conservative republican, a label that is linked, in my mind, to Republican politics in the aftermath of civil right activism in the 1960s not the Republicans of the 1860s. It could be Scott's very presence will shift the party and open a dialogue about what the Republican Party stands for in the United States. On the other hand, the anxiety and frustration the Republican Party has tapped since the 1960s may leave little room for African-American voices they have long identified with undermining southern traditions.

Remaking Place and Asserting Space: The Land Trust Experience in Winter Park, 1991-2010__Ep 2: The Story Grows More Complex

Caption: Allison England working in the archive.
Photo by Julian Chambliss











Caption: Shady Park sit at the center of the Hannibal Square, the historic black community in Winter Park. Photo by Kelsey Von Wormer







Part of the value of working in the Rollins Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Program is the opportunity to pursue those ideas you don't have time to pursue during the regular academic year. Working with students to show them the reality of your discipline, getting into the archive, and making discoveries that reshape your thinking are all part of summer research. Allison England and I recently took a few days to burn through the Olin Library Archive and Special Collection vertical files on the Westside Winter Park. Some elements I knew, some I did not. Allison confessed, "It is a more complicate story than I thought." While you might rightly point out, she is new the material, in her defense, it was a more complicated story than what I thought also!


We have been doing some free writing, summarizing information and mapping out the story. Recently Allison wrote this:

Winter Park’s west side, Hannibal Square, was founded for African-American residents in 1881. By all accounts, West Winter Park was “a bustling, vibrant community that, in some ways, had more going for it than it does today.” It had a black-owned newspaper, The Advocate, catering to both blacks and whites, and two black men were twice elected as city aldermen. A negative image of West Winter Park has led to “a renaissance of sorts” by Winter Park, and a decision to revitalize and redevelop the community. The tracks running through Winter Park have historically stood as a dividing line between black and white, but this line has recently moved, causing some to wonder “if the rapid transformation of the area is a healthy boost or a destruction of culture.”

Everything she wrote is true, but that shift from "vibrant community" at its founding to "renaissance of sorts" is a complicated story. It also happen way before the story we are suppose to be talking about. As we discuss our finding, I was struck by how much the origin story of Winter Park is tied to the idea of two worlds, one black and one white and the homes in those two worlds. While I thought of our story as being about the meaning of the home in the city and the historical implication of the struggle to have a home, I had not thought about that meaning as one long narrative present at the foundation of the community. In the beginning Oliver Chapman and Loring Chase purchased 600 acres bordering Lakes Maitland and Osceola with the goal of creating a beautiful winter residential community for wealthy northerners. Between 1881 and 1885, they developed and advertised the new town of Winter Park located just four miles from the county seat. Chase and Chapman relied on the area’s natural beauty to entice visitors and to support the image of a community as tourist destination. Between 1882 and 1886 Chase oversaw the construction of the Seminole Hotel. Reminiscent of the coastal luxury hotels owned by Henry Flagler, the Seminole was situated on Lake Osceola and offered two hundred guest rooms and amenities that included sailing, rowing, fishing, and two steam yachts for guests. The hotel and the agricultural business developing in Central Florida required labor and African-Americans were crucial for the hotel and the groves in the area. When plotting the original town, Chase and Chapman set aside plats to the west of the rail tracks to be sold to African-Americans at a low price with the restriction that they must erect a home on the lot. Thus, the African-American labor in Winter Park, like much of the South, allowed the community to function. Yet, the sale of land and the demand to build a home, also created a vibrant community of property holding African-Americans. Indeed, the town could not have been incorporated without the support of African-American residents in Hannibal Square. Hannibal Square was the heart of the black community and residents enjoyed relative economic stability and strong community organization at a time when southern Democrats moved to redeem the South after a decade long effort to reconstruct society. The growth of Hannibal Square coincided with the emergence of Eatonville, FL (the oldest incorporate African-American community in the United States) and the two communities shared cultural and educational links. In 1887,Gus C. Henderson, the African-American owner of local general printing and publishing company rallied African-American voters to support Loring Chase’s efforts to incorporate Winter Park. Henderson, a staunch Republican urged, the sixty-four registered African-American voters to support the measure. These votes were crucial; only forty-seven white voters were registered and the total year round African-American population outnumber the total year round white population!

The measure passed and the newly incorporated town included Hannibal Square. Reflecting the importance of the black community, the election of new aldermen included African-Americans Walter B. Simpson and Frank R. Israel representing West Winter Park. Yet, like much of the south, conflict between Democrats and Republicans and wider control of the region changed the political landscape. In 1893, William Comstock and several other residents petition the Florida legislature to detach Hannibal Square from the city. Like most African-Americans, Hannibal Square residents were Republicans and Hannibal Square represented a powerful counter to Democrats' control. The Florida Legislature voted to change the city boundary, despite local opposition. While the strong economic and social links between the black and white community continued, the political link temporary came to an end. In an ironic twist, in 1925 Winter Park once again annexed Hannibal Square when city officials realized they needed a greater population base to qualify for state funding for municipal projects. Once again, African-American property owners were needed in order for the state to designate the "Town of Winter Park" as the "City of Winter Park."

The link between the black homes and white homes in Winter Park was there at the beginning. Also at the beginning is a question of fairness, access, and power. Winter Park's one time slogan of "City of Homes" is full of meaning, as we learn more, that meaning is only become more and more complex.