Richard Wright & Southern Manifesto Authors’ Portrayal of Race (Research Paper Sample)

Reconstruction Era
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The fight for human rights did not start with the Black Lives Matter Movement. The battle has been going on for years and generations in the United States of America. The division between people and states supporting and against slavery was the main reason that led to the Civil War. People know about the Civil War and the other eras, but many do not know about the Reconstruction Era. The Reconstruction Era was the period after the Civil war in the United States. This paper explains more details of some of the actions during the Reconstruction Era after the end of the Civil War.
Differences between Richard Wright and Southern Manifesto Authors’ Portrayal of Race in the South
Many people or authors wrote about their experiences, thoughts, and ideas on home to make life better during the struggle for equality in the United States of America; one of these writers was Richard Wright. Richard Wright was a black man born and raised in the American South. From history, people should know that the Southern part of America was pro-slave trade, segregation, and other discriminatory actions against the black community (Wright 1950). When Richard Wright had a chance to move to France, he chose to stay there; that’s when he wrote ‘I Choose Exile’ due to his choice to live in exile in France.
On the other hand, the Southern Manifesto was developed in the United States of America in nineteen fifty-six by Southern politicians after the Brown versus Board of Education case was ruled in the Supreme Court (Day 2014). The Southern Manifesto was signed by a total of one hundred and twelve politicians out of the possible one hundred and thirty-eight. The Southern Manifesto was meant to guide or inform the whites in the south to resist all desegregation efforts in lawful ways. Some of the differences between Richard Wright ‘I Choose Exile,’ and the Southern Manifesto’s portrayal of the race relations in the south include;
The first is that Richard Wright was hopeful for many ears that the conditions in the United States of America would change and black people would have the freedom to do what they wanted in life. His hope represents everybody in the black community in the country (Wright 1950). The black community wanted more freedoms and to live normal lives, not as inferiors to the white community. The relationship portrayed here is that the black wanted to get more freedoms and live as equals to the white community. People in the black community wanted opportunities and equal rights compared to the white community.
On the other hand, the Southern Manifesto portrays the relationship between the black and the white races completely differently. The manifesto clearly shows that the white community did not want to offer any freedoms and rights to the black community. The politicians in the south would rather use all means available to them to undermine the supreme court rather than to offer the black community any freedoms they enjoy (Day 2014). The main difference here is that while Richard Wright shows hope, which he eventually gave up on, the manifesto shows that the whites would not approve of any rights and freedoms granted to blacks.
The second difference in how Richard Wright and the Southern Manifesto portray racial relationships is that Richard Wright could have a relationship with white people. This means that ‘I choose Exile’ shows that a black person can have friends and live as equals with people from the white community (Wright 1950). when he was searching for property, he was offered a place to stay by his white friends. The fact that he had white friends in the first place is completely different from what the Southern Manifesto shows and presents to people. Richard Wright states that a black person can have more freedom in one block than American citizens in France. According to him, people from different races could be able to coexist with each other. The Southern Manifesto, on the other hand, shows that it is futile to try to have people from different races go to receive education together.
Differences in Federal Government Powers between Robert Elliott and Southern Manifesto Authors
When people face social challenges, some try to use their power, knowledge, and wisdom to fight for their people and improve living conditions. One of these people is Robert B. Elliott. Robert Elliott was a lawyer from South Carolina. He used his knowledge to help black people against the KKK, a movement against the black community in the country. He also gave several speeches that moved people and showed his love for his people and his government. On the other hand, the Southern Manifesto was a document developed by Southern politicians to guide and advise white people in the south to use lawful means to undermine the Supreme Court ruling (Day 2014). Robert Elliot and the Southern Manifesto have several different opinions; some of them include;
The first is that Robert B. Elliott believed that the government was formed to have the government enforce human rights in the country. He believed that the government was responsible for ensuring everybody, including people of color, would receive human rights. the main evidence that this was the case is that he called the government geared towards human slavery a pseudo-government. This means that he thought that the federal government had the obligation and power to offer human rights to everybody, including the people he represented against the KKK and other black people in the country (Zinn Education Project 2021). He also considered any other southern ideas immoral, giving them characteristics such as greed, tyranny, and pride. Robert B. Elliott shared that the government was formed with the colored people in mind as part of the government. It was thus an obligation that the federal government uses its powers to protect them from racism and discrimination. From all this, it is clear that Mr. Robert Elliott supported the government using its powers to protect the black community and impose measures, laws, and policies to protect the black community from discrimination.
On the other hand, the writers that developed the Southern Manifesto had other ideas in mind. When the Supreme Court made its ruling on the Brown versus Board of Education, they developed the argument that the federal government had too much power and used its power to impose its will on other states (Day 2014). This was implied because other courts had made a different ruling at the state level, but the Supreme Court overruled the ruling. According to the writers who developed the Southern Manifesto, the federal government is overpowered and uses the supreme court to circumvent laws established in the constitution.
To sum this up, the main difference between Richard B. Elliott and the writers who developed the Southern Manifesto on the federal government power is their race and emotions. Robert B. Elliott says that the government has sufficient power and should use its power to offer human rights to people of color. On the other side, the people who developed the Southern Manifesto say the federal gov