Yet the public censure of black rights movements has a long and storied history in the United States, especially by moderates who claim to prioritize peace and prudence above all. Countless black activists—including lionized ones like Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr.—have long been lauded for having the right idea, but chastised for going about it the wrong way.

In 1853, The New York Herald reported on a speech Frederick Douglass delivered in the state capital. While the paper applauded the “extraordinary” and “eloquent” lecture, it regretted that Douglass’ rhetoric was “a little too fierce on the slavery question.” Years later, this time after emancipation, an Indiana paper came to the same judgment. The publication was “unfeignedly glad” for Douglass’ message, but beckoned him to change his tone, arguing he “will certainly do harm,” with “demands, however just, if arrogantly made.”

Douglass was all too familiar with this breed of criticism. The ideas were good, but the execution was off. “Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation,” he said in 1857, “are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.”