In Charles Houston’s Article, “Education Inequalities Must Go”, we see a definitive action plan to solve educational inequalities, instated by the N.A.A.C.P. Although I appreciated this concrete and unwavering plan, the part that I found most valuable to their argument is when he touches on this philosophical idea of human existence and how we all wish to be treated with respect and equality. When he states “To the N.A.A.C.P ‘amicable race relations’ means mutual helpfulness in promoting the common welfare allowing to everybody concerned the full benefit of the law and equality of opportunity.” In the statement following he says it is not “whether the whites and Negroes can remain friends while the Negro is at the little end of the horn”. Right here Houston has posed a great challenge to all races of America. He is making a statement about humankind and how we all need to treat one another equally because we are all humans and want the same thing. Inclusion, respect, we are social beings after all. Personally, I don’t think that stating your action plan is going to intimidate of change the whites in power as much as this statement which almost digs at all human feelings. It can be understood by all and really causes people to think and reflect on their actions and test if they are truly acting, as they would want to be treated.

I also found interesting how much the circumstances of our presidents changed the course of the civil rights movement. In another leadership class we have read numerous books by Malcolm Gladwell. One of his books, titled The Tipping Point examines those little instances that change a situation dramatically. I think this truly occurred in the context of the Civil Rights Movement when FDR became president. His presidency began a domino effect of positive changes towards solving the social injustices of African Americans. The Joint Committee on National Recovery also dramatically changed the course of the civil rights movement. Finally, the concert at the Lincoln Memorial and Eleanor Roosevelt’s resignation from the DAR, demonstrate the constantly changing mindset of the nation at the time.

A few questions to reflect upon:

1. What are other examples of “tipping point” like situations that have occurred during the Civil Rights Movements?

2. Without people like the Roosevelts would the civil rights movement have gained so much momentum as quickly? Would they have attained goals?

3. Did you find Houston’s article statement on humanity as moving? Do you think it changed the mentalities of whites in Virginia at the time?

– Eliza McLean

After reading the article Educational Inequalities Must Go! and the short film by Charles Houston, I find it interesting that in both accounts Houston uses the laws and constitution of the U.S. to show how much the American government on a local level, is ignoring its own laws and policies. The article in particular presents a new plan put on by the NAACP to figure out a way that can help to eliminate all inequalities for education of whites and blacks.

One of my critiques of the article is that it seems to be focusing on higher education as it mentions the two cases of black students and their admittance into graduate school. My only problem with this is that for these two students to make it to the graduate level, they must have been privileged in order to make it that far in their schooling. As shown in Sullivan’s book, Houston was interested in educating other black men to become lawyers. However, in order to raise the standards of education across the board, I believe it to be necessary to work at the local levels in elementary schools in order for all children to have an equal education. Houston certainly mentions this method as well in his articles and short film, but I think more could have been done right away with policy changes.

The plan that Houston and the N.A.A.C.P. laid out to equalize education was one that we have not seen a great deal of in our studies so far in this class. That is they sought to “insist that the U.S. respect its own Constitution and its own laws” (The Crisis). At a time when African-Americans were placed into categories based on their looks, this was an excellent way in which they could have legitimacy in the American legal system. There could not be any denial of the law and this was a beneficial method for the N.A.A.C.P. in order to reach their goal of educational equality.

Here are a few questions I have:

1. In what ways are W.E.B. DuBois and Houston’s goals relatable to one another?

2. Based on our discussions in class, what other ways could the N.A.A.C.P. and Houston approached educational inequality in America?

-Kate Fleischer