Anti-racism

Anti-racism refers to beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. In general, anti-racism is intended to promote an egalitarian society in which people do not face discrimination on the basis of their race, however defined. By its nature, anti-racism tends to promote the view that racism in a particular society is both pernicious and socially pervasive, and that particular changes in political, economic, and/or social life are required to eliminate it.

The revival of anti-racism in the U.S.

Anti-racism showed signs of revival in the 1920s and 1930s. At that time, anthropologists such as Franz Boas, Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, and Ashley Montagu argued for the equality of humans across races and cultures. Other whites, too, began to speak out in favor of racial equality; Eleanor Roosevelt, for example, was a very visible advocate for minority rights during this period. Socialist organizations like the wobblies, which gained some popularity during the Great Depression were often explicitly anti-racist. Perhaps more importantly, beginning with the Harlem Renaissance and continuing into the 1960s, many famous African-American writers, including James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and James Baldwin argued forcefully against racism.

Related Topics:
Franz Boas - Ruth Benedict - Margaret Mead - Ashley Montagu - Eleanor Roosevelt - Wobblies - Great Depression - Harlem Renaissance - James Weldon Johnson - Langston Hughes - Richard Wright - James Baldwin

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Anti-racism won its most notable and lasting victories in America during the Civil Rights Movement. Jim Crow laws were repealed in the South and blacks finally re-won the right to vote in Southern states. Civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech is probably the best-known condensation of anti-racist ideology in the U.S., and possibly in the world.

Related Topics:
Anti-racism - Civil Rights Movement - Jim Crow - Martin Luther King Jr. - I Have a Dream

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