Guiding Question: To what extent did Founding principles of liberty, equality, and justice become a reality for African Americans in the first half of the twentieth century?

• I can interpret primary sources related to Founding principles of liberty, equality, and justice in the first half of the twentieth century.
• I can explain how laws and policy, courts, and individuals and groups contributed to or pushed back against the quest for liberty, equality, and justice for African Americans.
• I can create an argument using evidence from primary sources.
• I can analyze issues in history to help find solutions to present-day challenges.

Building Context

In 1896, John Hope was a professor of classics and sciences at Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tennessee. He made the speech below to a Black debating society. He later became one of the founders of the Niagara Movement and the National Association for Advancement of Colored People. In 1906, Hope became the first Black president of Atlanta Baptist College (later Morehouse College).

John Hope, “We are Struggling for Equality,” 1896

Source link: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1896-john-hope-we-are-struggling-equality/

Comprehension and Analysis Questions

1. What does Hope demand in this excerpt? How does he suggest this be attained?
2. How does this speech reveal different approaches to working for civil equality within Black American leadership by the beginning of the twentieth century? Consider Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Exposition Address.