1. T HE J OURN E Y T O
FINDING AFRICAN-
AME RICAN ID E N T IT Y
By: T’Rese Maddox

2. CONSERVATIVE BEGINNINGS
 Booker T. Washington was a conservative political
and social leader in the late 1800's.
 Famous 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech noted
that education and manual labor for blacks was more
necessary than forcing integration and equality.

3.  “Our greatest danger is that in the great leap from slavery to freedom we
may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the productions
of our hands… progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will
come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than
of artificial forcing.” (Washington)
1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech

4.  Paul Laurence Dunbar emphasizes this
ideal of conservative blacks holding off
equality and their identities to fit in with
mainstream "white society" in his poetry.
His most notable work of this ideal is "We
Wear the Mask" Published in 1895.
Paul Laurence Dunbar

5. “WE WEAR THE MASK”
“Why should the world be over-wise,/ In
counting all our tears and sighs?/ Nay, let
them only see us, while/ We wear the mask”
(Dunbar)

6. THE TREACHEROUS
JOURNEY TO LIBERATION
 W.E.B. Du Bois was for black liberation and
equality. This ideal began at the turn of the
20th century in 1903 as he published
The Souls of Black Folk
 Contained essays about the tensions
between blacks and whites, double
consciousness, and the importance of black
empowerment.

7. THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK
“what shall save us from a second slavery? Freedom, too, the
long-sought, we still seek,—the freedom of life and limb, the
freedom to work and think, the freedom to love and aspire”
(Du Bois).

8. CLAUDE MCKAY
 Claude McKay was known for noting
the injustices blacks were facing such as
lynchings and harassment.
 Also strove for black liberation in his
poetry.

9. “ENSLAVED”
“For weary centuries despised, oppressed,/
Enslaved and lynched, denied a human
place/…Then from the dark depths of my soul I
cry/…To liberate my people from its yoke”
(McKay)!

10. FINDING, KNOWING, &
EMBRACING BLACK IDENTITY
 Alain Locke was an educator and
writer who was an important figure
during the Harlem Renaissance in the
1920’s.
 Works highlighted the positive aspects
of being black and the importance of
knowing and embracing one’s roots.

11. “APROPOS OF AFRICA”
 “Only prosperity looks backward… all peoples exhibit the
homing instinct and turn back physically or mentally, hopefully
and helpfully, to the land of their origin. And we American
Negros in this respect cannot, will not, be an exception”
(Locke)

12. LANGSTON HUGHES
 Langston Hughes is known for his positive
messages and black empowerment.
 Noted that knowing one’s origin was
important and embracing it was crucial for
blacks to acknowledge their self-worth.

13. “THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF
RIVERS”
 “I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young./I built
my hut hear the Congo and it lulled me to sleep/… I’ve
known rivers:/ Ancient, dusky rivers./ My soul has grown
deep like the rivers” (Hughes)