AP African American Studies Unit 4 study guide

Interview of Martin Luther King Jr. during visit to newly independent Ghana on invitation from Kwame Nkrumah, 1957 (4.8)

-Kings voyage was symbolic of a growing global alliance of oppressed peoples. -King identified with Ghana's struggle; furthermore, he recognized a strong parallel between resistance against European colonialism in Africa and the struggle against racism in the United States.

Loïs Mailou Jones

-Long career began during the Harlem renaissance - Worked as an illustrator for some of the first Black history magazines published by W.E.B. Du Bois and Carter G. Woodson. -Completed Les Fétiches while in Paris, inspired by the négritude movement. The piece conveys strength, beauty, and protection in African ancestral heritage, and features five overlapping masks from different communities in Africa and a red religious fetish figure (figure believed to have magical powers or received devotion)

"The Ballot or the Bullet" by Malcolm X, 1964 (4.9)

-Malcolm X encouraged African Americans to relinquish names associated with slavery and its demise (e.g., Negro, colored) and to embrace ethnonyms such as Black or African American with a sense of pride. Ethnonyms: the name by which a people or ethnic group is known

How the African American population has grown and become more diverse since 2000.

-Since 2000, the number of Black college degree holders has more than doubled. -The number of Black immigrants in the U.S. has nearly doubled since 2000, driven primarily by immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean. As the Black population grows, the number of its members who identify as Black and Hispanic or otherwise multiracial has also grown. -Between 2000 and 2019, the Black-identifying population in the U.S. grew by 30% to approximately 47 million people, nearly 14% of the U.S. population.

Photos from 4.8

-The 1963 photo portrays prominent African American activists presenting a petition for support of the March on Washington and the end of apartheid in South Africa. -W.E.B. Du Bois is known as the father of modern pan-Africanism. Early advocates of pan-Africanism include 19th-century African American and Caribbean writers such as Martin Delany, Alexander Crummell, and Edward Blyden. -At the reception celebrating Ghana's independence in 1957, Martin Luther King Jr. famously told then Vice President Richard Nixon, "I want you to come visit us down in Alabama, where we are seeking the same kind of freedom the Gold Coast is celebrating." -Prime Minister of Ghana Kwame Nkrumah obtained degrees from Lincoln University and the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1930s and early 1940s, where he made connections with African American intellectuals.

How civil rights activism in the mid-20th century led to federal legislative achievements.

-The coordinated efforts of the civil rights movement resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation and prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, and religion. -The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed discriminatory barriers in voting.

"The Revolution Is at Hand" by John Lewis, 1963 (4.4)

In his speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963), SNCC leader John Lewis called for greater attention to the urgency of civil rights and African Americans' need for protection from racial violence.

Black Freedom Movement

The centuries-long struggle of blacks for freedom from oppression and social equality and justice since the days of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Still ongoing.

Coalitions that developed between African Americans, Whites, and other groups to advance civil rights:

-African American and White civil rights activists partnered as Freedom Riders to protest segregation in the U.S. South. Black and White Freedom Riders traveled on the same interstate buses to challenge segregated transportation practices in the U.S. South. The violence used against the Freedom Riders to enforce segregation generated national attention. -African American and White civil rights activists partnered as Freedom Riders to protest segregation in the U.S. South. Black and White Freedom Riders traveled on the same interstate buses to challenge segregated transportation practices in the U.S. South. The violence used against the Freedom Riders to enforce segregation generated national attention. -Bayard Rustin faced discrimination for being openly gay, but nonetheless was a significant advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. and leader of the civil rights movement. In addition to his work on the 1963 March, he was an organizer of the Montgomery bus boycott. Pioneering lawyer Pauli Murray, despite being denied admission to Harvard Law School for being a woman developed guidelines for desegregation that are widely cited as critical to Brown v. Board of Education and other decisions.

African Americans' contributions to scientific or technological advancements. (4.18)

-African American inventions and scientific discoveries have had a global impact, with significant contributions in the fields of agriculture, technology, medicine, science, and engineering. -African American historical contributions to science and technology are often unattributed or may still remain hidden. In recent years, more public recognition has been given to these figures and their innovations. New contributions continue to emerge. -African Americans have contributed in key ways to the American healthcare system, from... Providing free community-based care that encourages early diagnosis of illness to collaborate with local governments to establish America's first nonsegregated hospitals during the Black hospital movement in the mid-20th century. -African Americans supported training for Black medical professionals by establishing medical schools (e.g., at Meharry College, Howard University, Morehouse, and other HBCUs) and the National Medical Association (Black medical professionals were initially barred from entry into the American Medical Association). -African Americans have long contributed to advancements in medicine. Among many examples, contributions include the work of: Onesimus (1706), an enslaved man who brought awareness of variolation (vaccines) to the British American colonies, which helped curtail smallpox Daniel Hale Williams, who founded the first black-owned hospital in the United States and performed the world's first successful heart surgery, in 1893 Kizzmekia Corbett, who was central to the development of the Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.

How African-based musical elements and changing social conditions in the U.S. influenced the evolution of African American music. (4.17)

-African American music is a form of expression that blends African and European musical and performative elements. -African-based musical elements, such as improvisation, call and response, syncopation (a variety of rhythms played together), and the fusion of music with dance, shape the sounds, performances, and interpretations of African American music. These and other cultural elements unite various musical genres throughout the African diaspora. -The African American musical tradition has influenced and, in some cases, revolutionized international and American musical genres such as blues, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues (R&B), and hip-hop. -African Americans' changing social conditions, environments, and lived realities influence the evolution and innovations in Black music and performance styles. Contemporary genres, such as hip-hop and R&B, reflect the cultural, political, and economic developments within Black communities, just as earlier genres did. -Soul Train was a popular African American dance program modeled on American Bandstand. The show was created by Don Cornelius in 1971. The Soul Train Hall of Fame album features tracks from some luminaries of Black soul, including Clarence Carter, Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Delfonics, Joe Simon, and Sly and the Family Stone.

How the discipline of African American studies has contributed to interdisciplinary academic studies.

-African American studies emerged from Black artistic, intellectual, and political endeavors that predate its formalization as a field of study. In the 21st century, it continues to offer a lens for understanding contemporary Black freedom struggles within and beyond the academy. -African American studies remains a primary means to examine the global influence of Black expression and racial inequities. The field establishes frameworks for analyses of Black history, literature, politics, and other subjects not previously included in more traditional disciplines.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Founding Statement, 1960 [Excerpt] (4.5)

-Establishing that the SNCC is for nonviolence "nonviolence nurtures the atmosphere in which reconciliation and justice becomes actual possibilities

The impact of diasporic solidarity between African Americans and Africans in the 20th and 21st centuries.

-Africans and African Americans endured similar struggles against anti-Black racism and oppression. -The solidarity between Africans and African Americans brought international attention to Africa's decolonization -In 1960, also known as the "Year of Africa," 17 African nations declared their independence from European colonialism. -Diasporic solidarity bolstered the global reach of the Black Freedom movement, a period of activism from the mid-1940s to the 1970s marked by both the civil rights movement, which annulled Jim Crow laws and practices, and the Black Power movement, which heightened Black consciousness and pride. -In 2019, Ghana's government celebrated the Year of Return, an initiative to reunite African descendants in the diaspora to the continent

Wilfredo Lam (4.1)

-Afro-Cuban artist -Also had chinese heritage was one of the leading artists of the negrismo period -Lam's The Jungle" (1943) reflects on the legacies of slavery and colonialism in Cuba with faces that reference West and Central African art motifs (masks) set in a sugarcane field

How Afrofuturism envisions Black lives in futuristic environments.

-Afrofuturism is a cultural, aesthetic and political movement that blends Black experiences from the past with Afrocentric visions of a technologically advanced future that includes data science, forecasting, and AI. -Afrofuturism is a future-facing, boundless exploration of Black life through the lenses of Black people. It imagines new possibilities for Black people through the intersections of art, music, film, fashion, and literature. Additionally, it spans areas of economics, law, and policy development and implementation Afrofuturism explained... (Video Link) -Afrofuturist works date as far back as the early 1900s, though the movement's characteristic works emerged from the 1970s onward, including the Music of Sun-Ra and George Clinton, Novels by Octavia Butler and Samuel R. Delany, and... Films like Black Panther. -The influence of Afrofuturism can be found in the performances of artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Herbie Hancock, Janelle Monae, Missy Elliot, and Outkast. Edward John's 1904 novel, Light Ahead for the Negro, is considered one of the earliest Afrofuturist works.

Gwendolyn Brooks (4.13)

-Began writing poetry as a teenager in Chicago. Her poems document the richness of Black urban life. In 1950, Brooks became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize. -Published her only novel, Maud Martha. The novel is a collection of vignettes, including "We're the Only Colored People Here," which trace the experiences of Maud Martha Brown from youth to adulthood on Chicago's South Side. -Explore the lived experience of Black women and men and show how their race, gender, and social class can affect how they are perceived, their roles, and their economic opportunities. -"Maud Martha", depicts how African Americans negotiate the multiple dimensions of their identity and social class as they navigate spaces within and beyond their communities.

Mari Evans (4.13

-Best known as a poet, but her body of work also includes plays, children's literature, and literary criticism. -As a key figure of the Black Arts Movement, her poetry centers on race and identity and Black Power themes of freedom and self- determination. -Explored the lived experience of Black women and men and show how their race, gender, and social class can affect how they are perceived, their roles, and their economic opportunities. -Alluded to landmark moments in Black history to convey the distinctive perspective of being a Black woman.

Why many Black women became disillusioned with their roles in the fights for civil and women's rights.

-Black women played significant roles in civil rights organizations but were frustrated by the opportunities available to them. -Black women argued that while they played a substantial role in managing the day-to-day operations of the movement, they played limited-to-no role as leaders and decision makers. -Many Black lesbians, in particular, did not see or feel a space for them in the civil rights movement (mostly led by Black men) or the women's movement (mostly led by White women). -Drawing on earlier traditions of Black female leadership, women's movements such as the Combahee River Collective developed alternative approaches and advocated for greater inclusion in society.

Ways Black women leaders furthered the goals of the major civil rights organizations.

-Black women were central leaders in the work of civil rights, though they often faced sex discrimination within those organizations. -Leaders such as Ella Baker and Fannie Lou Hamer stressed the importance of addressing both racial and gender discrimination during the Black Freedom movement, building on a long tradition of Black women activists. -Ella Baker became known as the "mother of the civil rights movement" for her major impact on the NAACP, the SCLC, and the SNCC. She focused on grassroots organizing and encouraged young people to contribute to social justice efforts that fought both racism and sexism. -In her speech at SNCC's founding in 1960, Ella Baker emphasized the need for group- centered leadership over leader-centered groups in the civil rights movement. She also argued that peaceful sit-ins at lunch counters were about more than access to goods and services; they demonstrated the need for the full inclusion of African Americans in every aspect of American life. -Dorothy Height led the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years and routinely worked on civil rights projects with the Big Six leaders, including work on the March on Washington.

"Bigger Than a Hamburger" by Ella Baker, 1960 [Excerpt] (4.5)

-Challenged the "big 6" leaders of the civil rights movement -made it clear that the sit-ins and other demonstrations are concerned with something much bigger than a hamburger

How economic growth in Black communities has been hindered and promoted in the second half of the 20th century. (4.14)

-Despite the growth of the Black middle class, substantial disparities in wealth along racial lines remain. Discrimination and racial disparities in housing and employment stemming from the early 20th century limited Black communities' accumulation of generational wealth in the second half of the 20th century. -In 2016, the median (average) wealth for Black families was $17,150 compared to $171,000 for Whites. -Desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s expanded educational opportunities and gradually increased the number of Black college graduates. By 2019, 23% of African American adults had earned a bachelor's degree or higher. -Urbanization increased opportunities for employment and the growth of Black businesses. -Black entrepreneurs have long contributed to American society and the economy. -Black-owned businesses, such as restaurants, banks, and publishing houses, were established to serve Black communities. Took advantage of discrimination that denied access to many services -Charts on the Black middle class (e.g., where the Black middle class lives, occupations, home ownership) from Brookings Institution report by Andre M. Perry and Carl Romer, 2020 -Throughout history, racially biased policies; Jim Crow, redlining, stop and frisk—generated wealth for many white families while stifling growth for Black families.

SNCC Position Paper: Women in the Movement, 1964 [Excerpt] (4.5)

-Discusses the instances where the SNCC was openly sexist towards the women in the organization -Talks about how assumptions of male superiority are as bad as the assumptions of white supremacy

How artists, performers, poets, and musicians of African descent advocated for racial equality and brought international attention to the Black Freedom movement. (4.6)

-During the Black Freedom movement of the 20th century, Black artists contributed to the struggle for racial equality through various forms of expression. Their work brought African Americans' resistance to inequality to global audiences and strengthened similar efforts by Afro-descendants beyond the U.S. -Performers like Josephine Baker, an internationally known performer and civil rights activist, critiqued the double standards of an American democracy that maintained segregation while promoting ideals of equality domestically and abroad. -In their writings, poets such as Nicolás Guillén, a prominent negrismo Cuban poet of African descent, examined the connections between anti-Black racism in the United States and Latin America. Negrismo poets: emphasized the biological and cultural connection of AfroCaribbean people, centering on the performative aspects of poetry, such as AfroCuban dancers, singers, and percussionists. They denounced segregation and racial violence and brought Black-freedom struggles to the attention of audiences beyond the United States. -Musicians, such as jazz bassist Charles Mingus, composed protest songs reliant on African American musical traditions like call and response. Their music drew global attention to white supremacist responses to racial integration in the United States (e.g., the Little Rock Crisis, 1957). He composed "Fables of Faubus" as a protest song in response to the Little Rock Crisis. In 1959, Columbia Records refused to allow him to include the lyrics to the song, and it remained instrumental. In 1960, Mingus re-released the song as "Original Faubus Fables" with lyrics that used call and response to mock the foolishness of racial segregation through allusions to Governor Orval M. Faubus.

How Black Freedom movement strategies transitioned from civil rights to Black Power.

-During the mid-1960s, some African Americans believed the civil rights movement's focus on racial integration, equal rights, and nonviolent strategies did not sufficiently address the widespread disempowerment and lack of safety they faced in their daily lives. -Many embraced Black Power, a movement that promoted self-determination, defended violence as a viable strategy, and strove to transform Black consciousness by emphasizing cultural pride. -Malcolm X, a Muslim minister and activist, championed the principles of Black autonomy and encouraged African Americans to build their own social, economic, and political institutions instead of prioritizing integration. -He not only encouraged African Americans to exercise their right to vote but also to exercise the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms. He further urged African Americans to "defend themselves" if the government was "unwilling or unable to defend the lives and the property" of African Americans. His emphasis on self-defense, sense of dignity, and solidarity influenced the political groups that emerged during the Black Power movement. - His ideas evolved over his lifetime. Toward the end of his life, Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam to pursue an egalitarian (equal) and inclusive political agenda that promoted human rights and protested injustices internationally.

How faith and music inspired African Americans to combat continued discrimination during the civil rights movement.

-Faith and music were important elements of inspiration and community mobilization during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. -Many freedom songs emerged through the adaptation of hymns, spirituals, gospel songs, and labor union songs in Black churches, which had created space for organizing and adapting this broad range of musical genres. Freedom songs inspired African Americans, many of whom risked their lives as they pressed for equality and freedom. These songs unified and renewed activists' spirits, gave direction through lyrics, and communicated their hopes for a more just and inclusive future. -Martin Luther King Jr. described "We Shall Overcome" as an anthem of the civil rights movement. Activists often sang the song while marching, while protesting, when they were arrested, and while in jail. Exemplifying the role of freedom songs as an inspiration for political protest, the anthem served as a muse for King's 1966 speech of the same name. -Though Harry Belafonte and gospel singers like Mahalia Jackson sang iconic renditions of freedom songs, these songs were most often sung by a group and reflected the community stewardship fostered by Black church leaders and expressed in hymns and spirituals.

Examples of diasporic solidarity that emerged between African Americans and Africans in the 20th century. (4.8)

-In the 1950s and 1960s, African American writers, leaders, and activists visited Africa to express solidarity and support for Africa's decolonization. -Some embraced pan-Africanism and advocated for the political and cultural unity of all people of African descent. -The Republic of Ghana's independence from British colonial rule in 1957 inspired visits from African American activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, writer Maya Angelou, lawyer Pauli Murray, and historian and sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois.Ghana was called The Gold Coast while under British Rule -

Housing discrimination with African Americans

-In the 20th century, African Americans faced restrictions on their access to home ownership that in turn limited their ability to pass on wealth to their descendants. -Throughout the mid-20th century, mortgage lenders practiced redlining : the discriminatory practice of withholding mortgages to African Americans and other people of color within a defined geographical area under the pretense of "hazardous" financial risk posed by those communities. -Housing segregation was codified (made legal) in the Federal Housing Administration's Underwriting Manual (1938). -Restrictions made it illegal for African Americans to live in many communities in the United States. -The NAACP fought housing discrimination from 1914 through the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968. -African Americans who integrated into well-resourced neighborhoods across the country sometimes became targets of mob violence -Housing discrimination intensified preexisting disparities between African Americans and Whites. -Many African American communities had limited access to public transportation, clean water and air, recreational spaces, healthy food, and healthcare services, exacerbating health disparities along racial lines.

How religion and faith have played dynamic social, educational, and community-building roles in African American communities.

-In the early 21st century, two-thirds of African American adults identify as Protestant, while 20% do not affiliate with any religion. -Black religious leaders and faith communities have played substantial roles in Black civil rights and social justice advocacy by mobilizing their congregations to act on political and social issues, including those beyond Black communities. -The Black church has served as an institutional home for developing and debating core values within Black communities related to education, community improvement, race relations, cultural practices, vernacular, and the broader African diaspora.

The growth of Black political representation in American politics in the late 20th century.

-In the late 20th century, the growth of Black voting power and political representation occurred alongside the expansion of the Black middle class. Many African Americans achieved influential positions as members of Congress, local legislators, judges, and high-ranking officials in presidential administrations. -Between 1970 and 2006, the number of Black elected officials in the U.S. grew from about 1,500 to 9,000—a sixfold increase. -The largest annual increase occurred in 1971, reflecting the impact of the Black Freedom movement on Black political representation.

The unifying term "Black" (4.16)

-Indicates a community's shared African heritage and shared experiences. -Black communities in the U.S. include people with diverse ancestries and histories, including: -The descendants of those enslaved in the U.S. (who may use the ethnonym African American) -Recently arrived immigrants (who may identify by their race and nationality (e.g., Afro-Colombian), and people who identify as multiracial (e.g., with significant Black and White or other ancestry).

Excerpt from Condoleezza Rice's speech at the RNC, 2012 (4.15)

-Ones status at birth was not a permanent station in life -"You might not be able to control your circumstances, but you could control your response to your circumstances." - Your biggest ally is your education

Why proponents of négritude and negrismo critiqued colonialism.

-Proponents of négritude and negrismo, such as Aimé Césaire (Martinique), Frantz Fanon (Martinique), and Léopold Senghor (Senegal), rejected the notion that European colonialism civilized colonized subjects. -Argued that racial ideologies underpinned colonial exploitation, violent intervention, and systems of coerced labor. -During the anticolonial movement, Black activists in Africa, Europe, and the Americas condemned racism and colonialism as interrelated means of dehumanizing people of African descent.

Speech in St. Louis by Josephine Baker, 1952 [Excerpt] (4.6)

-She tells her story of why she left her hometown and the trauma she experienced with witnessing the racial violence in St Louis -Discusses how she wants equality and she stood against segregation

How the Black Is Beautiful and Black Arts movements influenced Black culture in the 1960s and 1970s.

-The Black Is Beautiful and Black Arts movements emerged in the 1960s. Both movements embraced Black beauty and well-being and encouraged African Americans to strengthen their connections to Africa. They rejected notions of inferiority and conformity to perceived standards of beauty. -The movement celebrated Afrocentric aesthetics in: natural hairstyles (e.g., the afro), fashion (e.g., dashikis and African head wraps), and celebrations like Kwanzaa (established in 1966). -Pride in Black heritage manifested in: Music (e.g., James Brown's "Say it Loud: I'm Black and I'm Proud," 1969)...click song title for video Television (e.g., Alex Haley's weeklong miniseries, Roots, 1977) and... The embrace of Akan adinkra symbols like the Sankofa bird -The Black Arts movement (1965-1975) galvanized (inspired to action) the work of Black artists, writers, musicians, and dramatists who envisioned art as a political tool to achieve Black liberation. They did not espouse a monolithic (singular) vision of what Black art should be, though they were unified by the notion that Black art was distinct in its inspiration, characteristics, and purposes. -Like the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, which proclaimed a new mentality for the "new negro," the Black Arts movement created a new political foundation for Black art. It emphasized the long tradition of Black cultural production by connecting contemporary writers and artists to their forerunners.

How the Black Panther Party pursued political, economic, and social reforms in the 20th century.

-The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was a revolutionary Black Power organization inspired by Malcolm X's arguments. The Party's Ten-Point Program called for freedom from oppression and imprisonment, and access to housing, healthcare, education, and employment opportunities. -The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was a revolutionary Black Power organization inspired by Malcolm X's arguments. The Party's Ten-Point Program called for freedom from oppression and imprisonment, and access to housing, healthcare, education, and employment opportunities. -Local Black Panther offices were frequently led by women, who made up about half of the party's membership. The organization quickly expanded, with chapters in dozens of U.S. cities, to advocate for other social reforms. To provide help for low-income communities, the Black Panther Party implemented what they termed "survival programs": Free Breakfast for School Children Program Legal aid offices, and Relief programs that offered free medical care and clothing. -The Black Panther Party was formed by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in Oakland, California, in the wake of the assassination of Malcolm X, the brutality experienced by nonviolent protesters, and police killings of unarmed African Americans. The Party functioned from 1966 through the 1980s.

How the Black Is Beautiful and Black Arts movements influenced the development of African American studies and ethnic studies.

-The Black is Beautiful movements rejection of cultural assimilation laid a foundation for later multicultural and ethnic studies movements. -The Black Arts movement inspired the creation of Black magazines, publishing houses, art houses, scholarly journals, and some of the earliest African American studies programs in universities. -The flourishing of Black cultural forms during this movement helped to establish African American studies as an interdisciplinary field.

African Americans' access to the benefits of the G.I. Bill.

-The G.I. Bill of 1944 was designed as a race-neutral gesture of gratitude toward American veterans returning from World War II, including 1.2 million Black veterans -Provided funds for college tuition, low-cost home mortgages, and low-interest business startup loans—major pillars of economic stability and mobility. -The G.I. Bill's funds were administered locally and subject to Jim Crow discriminatory practices, and as a result, they were often disproportionately disbursed to White veterans.

Civil Rights Organizations

-The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was formed in 1909 as an interracial organization that fought discrimination and racial violence primarily through legal campaigns. W.E.B. Du Bois and Ida B. Wells-Barnett were among the founders. Rosa Parks: a local NAACP secretary, helped to launch the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955). -The National Urban League was founded in New York City in 1910 as an interracial organization. The Urban League assisted African Americans migrating from the rural South during the Great Migration, helping them acclimate to northern urban life and secure housing and jobs. The Urban League would later support A. Philip Randolph's (threatened) 1941 March on Washington and work directly with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) during the civil rights movement. -The Congress of Racial Equality: (CORE) was a civil rights organization established by Black and White students in Chicago in 1942. CORE collaborated with other organizations to organize sit-ins, voter registration drives, and the Freedom Rides of 1961. -The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was established by its first president, Martin Luther King Jr. The SCLC coordinated the actions of churches and other local organizations to launch major protests, such as the Selma Voting Rights March (1965). -The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded in 1960 when Ella Baker assisted students interested in the SCLC's activism in founding their own organization after the students organized and staged the Greensboro sit-ins

Négritude and negrismo movements in the first half of the 20th century. (4.1)

-The emergence of the négritude and negrismo movements in the early to mid-20th century affirmed the influence of African heritage and cultural aesthetics on Afro-descendants throughout the African diaspora. -These movements reinforced each other, and both movements were influenced by the New Negro Renaissance in the United States -Négritude (meaning "blackness" in French) was a political, cultural, and literary movement of the 1930s through 1950s.Started with French-speaking Caribbean and African writers protesting colonialism and the assimilation of Black people into European culture. -Negrismo emerged in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean at the same time as the négritude movement. Negrismo was embraced by Black and mixed-race Latin Americans and celebrated African contributions to Latin American music, folklore, literature, and art. -The New Negro, négritude, and negrismo movements shared an emphasis on cultural pride and political liberation of Black people But they did not always envision blackness or relationships to Africa the same way, and not every Afro-descendant subscribed to these movements. -Langston Hughes played a pivotal role in connecting the New Negro, négritude, and negrismo movements by translating works from French and Spanish to English and from English to French and Spanish.

Elizabeth Catlett (4.11)

-The granddaughter of formerly enslaved people, was an African American artist who created paintings, sculptures, and prints that explored themes such as race, gender, class, and history. In the 1940s, she relocated to Mexico and later became a Mexican citizen. Her art reflects the influences of African, African American, and Mexican modernist traditions. - He print Negro es Bello II highlights the transnational and diasporic reach of the Black Is Beautiful and the Black Power movements and participates in their global circulation. The piece features two faces in the style of African masks and images of black panthers encircled with the phrase, "Black Is Beautiful."

How nonviolent resistance strategies mobilized the civil rights movement.

-The major civil rights organizations unified African Americans with different experiences and perspectives through a common desire to eliminate racial discrimination and inequality. -Together, these organizations launched a national movement built on the shared strategy of nonviolent, direct action, and racially inclusive protest -Local branches of the major civil rights organizations launched campaigns reliant on wide-ranging strategies, including marches, sit-ins, litigation, other forms of nonviolent civil disobedience, and the use of mass media. -Nonviolent forms of civil disobedience were often met with violence. -After the assassinations of Dr. King and members of CORE, some CORE and SNCC members began to lose faith in the effectiveness of nonviolent strategies. -Some members and leaders transitioned away from their commitment to nonviolence toward separatist, Black nationalist principles.

The enduring forms of segregation and discrimination in daily life that African Americans faced in the first half of the 20th century. (4.2)

-Through the mid-20th century, African Americans in the North and South continued to face racial discrimination, violence, and segregation in education, housing, transportation, and voting. -The civil rights movement emerged from the need to eradicate segregation and ensure federal protection of the rights guaranteed by the Reconstruction Amendments and the Civil Rights Act of 1875 (outlawed racial discrimination in public places). -1954, the Supreme Court ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional in the Brown v. Board of Education decision. -De facto segregation in public schools persisted despite the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education Some states cut funding for integrated schools while providing financial support to those that remained predominantly White. Many middle-class White families fled to the suburbs and private schools, shifting their investment into schools and neighborhoods that few African Americans could access. -Racially segregated transportation remained unequal. Predominantly Black areas often lacked sufficient infrastructure for public transportation. -African Americans responded by operating jitneys (small buses that provided taxi services) and starting their own bus companies.

The Black Panther Party's Ten-Point Program, 1966 (4.10)

1: We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our black and oppressed communities. 2: We want full employment for our people. 3:We want an end to the robbery by the capitalist of our black and oppressed communities. 4: We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings. 5:We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society. 6: We want completely free health care for all black and oppressed people. 7: We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people, other people of color, all oppressed people inside the United States. 8: We want an immediate end to all wars of aggression. 9: We want freedom for all black and poor oppressed people now held in U.S. federal, state, county, city and military prisons and jails. We want trials by a jury of peers for all persons charged with so-called crimes under the laws of this country. 10: We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people's community control of modern technology.

Kathleen Cleaver (4.11)

A legal scholar and was an activist of the Black Panther Party and the Black Power movement. She encouraged Black people to embrace their natural beauty and become comfortable in their own skin. In 2019, the California legislature passed the CROWN Act (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair), which prohibits discrimination based on hairstyle and hair texture.

"What the Black Woman Thinks About Women's Lib" by Toni Morrison, 1971 (4.12)

Across the trajectory of U.S. history, Black women played central roles in the struggle for freedom and equality. In the 18th and 19th centuries, activists such as Jarena Lee (first black female preacher in the AME church) Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman resisted injustice and oppression as enslaved and free people. -Morrison discusses images of black female beauty such as Nefertiti, that black women have begun to appropriate in response to the hegemony of white female images of beauty. She wonders, however, whether it might be"just as well" for black women "to remain useful" observing that beauty is "romanticism"

"Nonviolence and Racial Justice" by Martin Luther King Jr., 1957 [Excerpt] (4.4)

Explained the purpose and major characteristics of the strategy of nonviolent direct resistance as inspired by Christian principles and the example of Mahatma Gandhi.

Big Six Civil Rights leaders

Martin Luther King Jr. (SCLC) James Farmer (CORE) John Lewis(SNCC) Roy Wilkins (NAACP) A Philip Randolph (Brotherhood of sleeping car porters) Whitney Young (National Urban League)

Major advances in Black federal political leadership in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Shirley Chisholm: became the first Black woman in Congress in 1968. In 1971, she helped found the Congressional Black Caucus, a group of Black members of Congress that promotes the growth of Black political power by supporting Black candidates in local elections and lobbying for reforms in healthcare, employment, and social service programs. Colin Powell : became the first Black Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush. He founded the America's Promise Alliance, a cross-sector partnership of nonprofits that creates opportunities for America's youth. Powell was also the first Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-1993)He was succeeded as Secretary of State by Condoleezza Rice—the first Black woman to hold the position. The early 21st century saw historic precedents in Black executive branch political leadership: The elections of Barack Obama as president (2008), and Kamala Harris as vice president (2020). They are the first African Americans to hold these positions in U.S. history.