In yesterday’s article we went over the conditions of voting for former slaves during the 19th century and how voting rights evolved over time in legislation and in practice. As people began to communicate around the barriers restricting their voting rights they became more equipped to organize in the interest of dismantling those barriers. This is the same path we’re on today we continue to fight voter disenfranchisement.
Educational vs. Empowerment Literature
With most of the literature that we read dedicated to entertainment and occasionally for education, it’s essential that we subscribe to empowerment literature. Empowerment literature, while it does educate readers, teaches practical skills for nation building rather than concepts that restrict free thinking. For example instead of learning how to find ‘x’ repeatedly in a list of equations, one would learn how to calculate lost equity on a product investment as a practical skill for pitching a business proposal. Both are mathematic knowledge, but one is much more practical. Empowerment literature values financial literacy over ‘PEMDAS’ regurgitation. In the same way empowerment literature that aims to liberate its readers, it also values political literacy necessary for participating in American government.
Political literacy skills include understanding concepts as simple as how to work a computerized voter machine to more complex aspects of government like understanding how to get an initiative onto the ballot. These are skills that typical educational institutions do not teach which leave the community responsible for making sure that their residents are knowledgeable about voting and government related processes.
Dwindling Role of Churches in Socioeconomic Empowerment
Many communities are ill equipped for such a responsibility. During the 19th century it was common for these types of programming to be offered in churches. However, today the dwindling role of the church in socioeconomic community empowerment is disappointing. Government funding regulations restrict nonprofit organizations, like churches, to take political stances or organize around political related issues. Doing so would result in the forfeiture of funds that many churches depend on to operate.
In 1954, Congress approved a proposal by Senator Lyndon Johnson prohibiting 501(c)(3) organizations, which includes charities and churches, from engaging in any political campaign activity. Consequently our once most popular gathering and organizing venue is now off limits which arguably has the greatest impact on the Black community. Aside from churches there aren’t many places were you can be sure to congregate hundreds and even thousands of Black people together on a regular basis to network amongst members, hold events and communicate ideas. Voter education education projects, like the national Earn Our Vote Campaign organized by a cross-country team of Black law students, play a huge role in filling this gap.
Niagara Falls Movement’s Birth of the Black Advancement Committee
Literature plays a large role in bridging the gap between unawareness and becoming politically literate. This is why we continue to create empowerment literature, like the Right2Vote Report, today.
When I first viewed, What a Colored Man Should Do to Vote, a voters pamphlet from the early 20th century printed in Philadelphia by the Committee of Twelve for the Advancement of the Interests of the Negro Race. The committee was an all black group that included Frederick L. McGhee and C.E. Bentley. McGhee was born a slave, freed in 1864 and became one of the country’s first black lawyers and a prominent civil rights activist.
The establishment of the group marked the beginning of the Niagara movement in 1905, the first significant Black organized protest movement of the 20th century in America. As apart of their work they released literature like the ‘Colored Man’ Voter’s guide which listed all of the requirements of Black men in order to be qualified to vote in each of the Southern States. This was a small 10 page booklet that any black man could grab and use to be as prepared as possible to exercise their write to vote at the polling place. The collection of requirements was also used as evidence in the progression of voter equality among whites and former slaves.
As I mentioned the church played a huge role in educating Black voters in the past. Daylong “Voter Empowerment Sundays” were hosted at churches where members were encouraged to complete voter registration, conduct panel were conducted and coordinate demonstrations as well as workshops on how to operate voting machines. The was a venue with a community, a perfect place for organizers to gather, speak to masses of people and hand our literature like the voters guides.
The Critical Role of Liberating Literature
Seeing this literature inspired me because literature has always been one of the most effective tools for building community around specific topics and events. We’re able to connect to one another, stay up to date, document our progress and record our successes in print overtime. Because of the power that print media has its been difficult to us to obtain, maintain and sustain our the Black owned Media outlets that we’ve grown to love over the years. We saw this problem explicitly in my experience with the Bay View Newspaper in San Francisco. The power of Black Media is infinite because within it is the authority to communicate ideas that direct the movement of an entire community. It’s essential that we locate empowerment in our literate, especially as it relates to legislation. In order to move from one place in history we must have a unified vision and plan of action, both of which are best communicated in an empowering way in print where we can all touch the pages and hope that those following in our footsteps will be inspired by those pages on their evolved journey towards liberation in the same way that we’re inspired by the literature left by our ancestors.
It’s essential that we locate empowerment in our literate, especially as it relates to legislation. In order to move from one place in history we must have a unified vision and plan of action, both of which are best communicated in an empowering way in print where we can all touch the pages and hope that those following in our footsteps will be inspired by those pages on their evolved journey towards liberation in the same way that we’re inspired by the literature left by our ancestors.
