“The Negro Has Always Wanted the Four Freedoms” by Charles H. Wesley is an examination of the fight for equality that African-Americans have had historically, and an analysis by Wesley into the overall conditions that they have experienced as a result. The piece’s emphasis comes in the form of the re-invigoration of the struggle for equality that African-Americans have faced historically, placing the period during World War II in the forefront of the examination.
This book in which it was contained What a Negro Wants was published in 1944, and it is a prominent collection of essays and thoughts from fourteen distinguished African-American leaders of the time. Essentially every single one of the people who contributed to the book called for some level of voting rights throughout the South, as these individuals believed that the right to actively engage in the voting process would provide a solid platform for obtaining further rights and representation. As a result, this book is used as a catalyst for attempting to end segregation, and furthermore, they attempt to propagate a level of access to the standards of living that most other Americans had at the time.
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"Analysis of “The Negro Has Always Wanted the Four Freedoms” by Charles H. Wesley".
Many of these essays are directly linked to the movements that black people have made in countries such as Africa and Asia, demanding an end to the propagation of European imperialism and interventionism. Wesley essentially asserts throughout the course of this book that blacks have been denied the essential Four Freedoms, and goes on to state that the war had provided a catalyst for the development and integration of black internationalism. These Four Freedoms are inspired by those that were outlined by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, including the freedom of worship, the freedom of speech, freedom from want and the freedom from fear. Wesley reverberates the notion that African-Americans wish to have proper status as citizens and to also to be considered for distribution of the same four freedoms that white Americans had experienced.
This perspective is one which is founded upon the belief that these rights belong to all. As Wesley states, “They have wanted freedom of speech, [but] they were supposed to be silently acquiescent in all aspects of life.” (Wesley, 206) Yet, as was evident in the treatment of minorities in this period of American history, it was largely the case that these rights were not typically afforded to these individuals and their voices and opinions were silenced by the government and the society around them. This book is an essential collection of thoughts pertaining to the struggles that were relevant in this era and those that are still relevant in modern American culture. Wesley’s ability to encapsulate the perspectives of the black community at large is utilized well as he argues that the African-American population simply want peace and representation at home, if they are sacrificing themselves at war and for their countries. The potency of this analysis by Wesley is in the perspective that he brings and the reliance on propagating peace and equality.
As such, these stories that Wesley provides and compiles are able to summarize the struggles faced by African-Americans historically in a way that advocates for their resolution through effective implementation of thought and perspective. Wesley understands the notion that the African-American people have sacrificed and given to the United States willingly in many ways, and have yet to have these actions fundamentally rectified for a significant portion of this service. As he argues, during the World War II era, this was especially true given the fact that many were forced into servitude and had to to sacrifice much for a country that they believed were not concerned for their welfare in the same regard.
