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Difficulty: MediumRacial Terror and the Anti-Lynching Movement

Read the following excerpt from the NAACP flyer 'Why We March,' distributed during the 1917 Silent Protest Parade in response to the East St. Louis riots and ongoing lynchings:

> 'We march because we deem it a duty to support the Constitution of the United States and to point out where its provisions are being violated. We march because we want to make our protest heard against the lawless treatment of our people in East St. Louis and elsewhere, and to show our sympathy with our suffering brethren.'

Which of the following best explains how the organizers of the Silent Protest Parade framed their campaign against racial terror?

  1. A
    By accepting white supremacist claims that the violence was a localized response to criminality rather than a systemic national issue
  2. B
    By urging African Americans to abandon their claims to U.S. citizenship and prepare for collective emigration to West Africa
  3. By asserting their identity as American citizens and demanding that the federal government uphold the protections guaranteed by the U.S. ConstitutionAnswer
  4. D
    By calling for armed, confrontational self-defense as the primary means to protect Black neighborhoods from white mobs

Answer

The organizers framed their campaign by asserting their identity as American citizens and demanding that the federal government uphold the protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
The correct answer is correct because the excerpt from the NAACP's flyer 'Why We March' explicitly appeals to the U.S. Constitution and highlights violations of its provisions. By doing so, the organizers framed the fight against racial terror and lynchings as a demand for the enforcement of constitutional protections and the recognition of Black Americans' rights as citizens.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the primary source text for the core argument and rhetorical strategy used by the authors.
The text states a duty to 'support the Constitution of the United States' and protest the 'lawless treatment' of African Americans.
Identifying the central claim helps connect the historical document to the correct ideological framework.
2
Evaluate the answer choices to find the option that matches this constitutional and citizenship-based framing.
The option asserting identity as citizens and demanding federal enforcement of the Constitution aligns directly with the text.
Matching the textual evidence to the conceptual definition of the NAACP's early civil rights strategies is essential for finding the correct answer.
3
Differentiate the correct framing from other historical perspectives (emigration, armed self-defense, or accepting pretexts of crime).
The other options represent alternative historical movements or common misconceptions that are not supported by the silent protest's constitutional focus.
Eliminating incorrect distractors ensures the validity of the selected answer.

Key Concept

Constitutional and citizenship-based framing in early anti-lynching activism
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Topics

Racial Terror and the Anti-Lynching Movement

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