An examination of black nationalism in the context of Islamic movements and human rights in the USA (1865-1965)

Even before the existence of the USA, black nationalism was a prominent phenomenon followed by the blacks in order to struggle with the violation of civil and human rights. This study tries to examine black nationalism in the USA between 1865-1965 in the context of Islamic movements and human rights. After the Declaration of Independence in 1865 blacks gained some of the basic rights. Although some legal regulations have been made in order to optimize black's legal status from 1865 onwards, it had really been difficult for blacks to have the same status with whites in American society. After an exhausting and long struggle, blacks finally obtained and guaranteed some of the basic civil and human rights in 1965. Blacks' human rights struggle and the influence of the Islamic movements on black nationalism between 1865-1965 were examined in this study. Therefore primary and secondary sources have been used in order to investigate the relation between black nationalism and Islamic movements. In this regard online archives are used to illuminate the period with regards to newspapers published by the blacks and FBI reports. At the end of this study, it has been concluded that black nationalism is a reactive ideology in some aspects against blacks' deprivation of their basic rights in American society and Islamic values were adopted between 1865-1965 by some black nationalist groups in order to refute the dominant value system which belongs to whites and gain an exclusive self-consciousness.