Cyril Briggs facts for kids
Cyril Valentine Briggs (born May 28, 1888 – died October 18, 1966) was an African-Caribbean American writer and communist political activist. He is best known for starting and editing The Crusader, an important magazine in New York during the New Negro Movement in the 1920s. He also founded the African Blood Brotherhood (ABB), a small but important group that worked to promote Pan-Africanism, which is the idea of a united Africa and its people.
Contents
Biography
Early life and education
Cyril Valentine Briggs was born on May 28, 1888, on the Caribbean island of Nevis. His father, Louis E. Briggs, was a white plantation manager. His mother, Mary M. Huggins, was of African-Caribbean background. Because of the rules about race in Nevis at the time, Briggs was seen as "coloured" even though his skin was very light. He received a good education, but he was not accepted into the island's most powerful groups because of his mixed family background.
As a young person, Briggs worked as an assistant in a church library. There, he first read books that criticized imperialism, which is when one country controls another. Later, he became a writer himself, working for newspapers like the St. Kitts Daily Express. He was seen as a promising writer and was offered a scholarship to study journalism at a university. However, he decided not to take it. Instead, he moved to the United States in July 1905 to join his mother, who had already moved there.
Starting a writing career
We don't know much about Briggs' first seven years in America. He didn't write much about this time in his short notes.
Briggs got his first writing job in America in 1912 at the Amsterdam News, a newspaper.
In 1917, Briggs started the African Blood Brotherhood (ABB). This was one of the most important groups for African Americans at the time. His main goals were to stop lynching (when a mob kills someone, often by hanging, without a legal trial) and racial discrimination (treating people unfairly because of their race). He also wanted to make sure African Americans in the South had the right to vote and other civil rights. He also called for black self-determination, meaning African Americans should have control over their own communities and futures. The group was initially against America joining the First World War.
Leading the African Blood Brotherhood
In 1918, the ABB launched a magazine called The Crusader. This magazine supported the ideas of the Socialist Party of America. It also helped to show the public how lynchings were happening in the South and how discrimination was present in the North. Briggs hoped that President Woodrow Wilson would support voting rights for African Americans after they served in the war. However, politicians from the Southern Democratic Party in the United States Congress were against any changes.
Briggs became disappointed with the efforts of Socialist groups. In 1921, he joined the Communist Party of America. Because of this, his leadership of the ABB started to include Marxist ideas. Marxism is a way of thinking about society where workers should control the factories and farms where they work. Briggs believed that African-American workers should control the businesses that employed them.
Briggs became a strong supporter of racial separatism. This idea meant that African Americans should have their own separate communities and governments. Briggs believed that racism in America came from white people thinking that some races were better than others. He said that this belief made white people think they were superior and should rule. Briggs also pointed out that Black people often disliked white people because of this unfair treatment.
He suggested that African Americans needed "independent, separate existence." This meant "Government of the (Negro) people, for the (Negro) people and by the (Negro) people."
Briggs's Marxist ideas about a separate government caused disagreements with Marcus Garvey. Garvey was the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Even though the ABB was against Garvey's nationalist movement, they did not see "Africa for the Africans" as a way to create capitalist businesses. Briggs wrote that "Socialism and Communism [were] in practical application in Africa for centuries before they were even advanced as theories in the European world."
Garvey believed that Briggs was trying to harm the government and filed lawsuits against him.
Briggs also supported the Irish War of Independence. He said that the Irish fight for freedom was a great story and that everyone who loved freedom should support it.
Joining the Communist Party
Briggs joined the Communist Party of America (CPA) in 1921. He was asked to join by Rose Pastor Stokes and Robert Minor, who were leaders in the communist movement. Briggs later explained that he joined because he liked how Soviet Russia treated its different groups of people. He also liked that the Soviet state was against imperialism.
Briggs made it clear that the African Blood Brotherhood started before he had any connection with the Communist movement. He said the Communists did not inspire the ABB's goals.
Briggs remained an active member of the Communist Party, USA (CPUSA) throughout the 1920s. In 1925, the African Blood Brotherhood was closed down. It was replaced by a new group called the American Negro Labor Congress, which was supported by the Communist Party. Briggs was chosen to be the national secretary of this new organization.
In 1929, Briggs became a member of the Communist Party's main governing group, the Central Committee. He was an important person in the party until the "Popular Front" period began. The Popular Front was a time when the Communist Party tried to work with other groups. Briggs was eventually removed from the CPUSA in the late 1930s. He was accused of still thinking in a "Negro nationalist way," which went against the party's new idea of integration (mixing different groups).
Briggs was allowed to rejoin the CPUSA in 1948. He remained active in the organization for the rest of his life, taking part in its activities on the west coast of the United States.
Later life and legacy
Cyril Briggs passed away on October 18, 1966, in Los Angeles, California.
See also
In Spanish: Cyril Briggs para niños
