What was lacking were the instruments of
leadership. Money, power, and the press, for the most part, were
in the hands of whites who had concluded that the ex-slave would
have to solve his own problems. What this meant was that the
Whites wanted to be left in peace. Dozens of Afro-Americans,
however, were not content to accept the degrading position which
had been assigned to them. Utilizing the limited resources within
their own community, new leadership evolved and began to debate
the issues of the day. Before Emancipation the problems had
seemed simple. All attention was focused on the abolition of
slavery, and the only point of controversy centered on the means
by which it should be achieved. But segregation and
discrimination were not so easily defined and attacked. The
debates which ensued widened to include disagreement over both
means and ends. A vocal minority, discouraged by the emasculating
effects of discrimination, believed that they should withdraw
from white society altogether. Some of them wanted to return to
Africa and to assist its inhabitants in their liberation from
European imperialism.
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