APUSH: Changes in slavery & African-American Rights

Booker T. Washington

(1856-1915) Nation's best known African American leader. Wrote about the power of literacy for former slaves. Adjust to segregation rather than challenge the law/custom. Wanted blacks to create economic foundations for themselves. the Atlanta Compromise Privately provided funds for court challenges of segregation and lynchings. Born as a slave and lived in Alabama.

Ida B. Wells

(1862-1931) Challenged lynchings that maintained segregation. Her Memphis Free Press printing press was destroyed by a white mob. Organized legal challenges to segregation and lynchings. Most effective national spokesperson for antilynching crusade.

W.E.B Du Bois

(1868-1963) Harsh critic of Booker T. Washington Wrote about the "double consciousness" or "twoness" of African Americans that lived in a supposedly free country but were excluded by law. The Niagara Movement Fought for full end to segregation. Born in North and educated- generation younger than Booker T. Washington

Woodrow Wilson and African Americans

(1913-1921) Allowed segregation in federal gov't offices & showed the movie Birth of a Nation (glorified KKK) at the White House African Americans deeply disappointed- WEB DuBois had endorsed him but Wilson only spoke vaguely about investigating race and ultimately segregated federal buildings.

What was the significance of the Enforcement Acts, the Klu Klux Klan Act of 1871, and the establishment of the US Department of Justice?

- major expansion of federal power - crimes against individuals could now be prosecuted by federal govt (especially if states did not step in) Grant used the legislation forcefully- sent federal troops into South Carolina (1871) to arrest Klan leaders--> by the end of 1872 the Klan as an organization had been virtually destroyed until the 1920s

Gabriel Prosser

1800 led over 1,000 slaves in an attack on Richmond, VA

Denmark Vesey

1822 planned to burn military & financial center of Charleston, SC, murder whites, and seize weapons + gold sail to Haiti purchased his own freedom led Bible class for African Methodist Episcopal Church- latter-day Mosses influenced by success of Haitian slave revolt plot was betrayed frightened white community

Sojourner Truth

1851 freed by NY Emancipation Act of 1827 nationally recognized traveled across nation and demanded freedom for African Americans black women were often reluctant to join the integrated societies of reformers b/c white women claimed all the leadership roles

The Freedmen's Bureau

1865 Agency established by Congress in March to provide social, educational, and economic services as well as advice & protection to former slaves authorized by Lincoln

Blanche K. Bruce

1874 Mississippi Senator last African-American senator until Edward Brook form MA in 1966 opposed to Chinese exclusion

Joel Chandler Harris & the portrayal of African Americas/slavery in post-civil war southern literature

1880s Believed in the Lost Cause of the South Wrote stories about Uncle Remus (slave) and his rabbit alter ego Brer Rabbit. Portrayed slaves as simple and content in slavery.

Supreme Court Ruling on the Civil Rights Act of 1875 (the Enforcement Act)

1883 ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 (also called the Enforcement Act) was unconstitutional b/c the Fourteenth Amendment only gave congress the right to outlaw state gov't actions not discrimination by individuals (which was a state issue)

The Niagara Movement

1905 W.E.B. Du Bois Black leaders met on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Organized to promote racial integration, civil and political rights, and equal access to economic opportunity. Movement later helped organize the NAACP.

Alston v. School Board of the City of Norfolk

1940 NAACP (Marshall & Houston) Separate salary schedules for black and white teachers violated the 14th amendment.

What percentage of African Americans lived in the north by 1960?

50% of the African American population lived in the North by 1960, mostly in segregated urban neighborhoods.

What percent of African Americans were not allowed to vote in the Deep South in 1965?

90% of Southern black eligible voters not allowed to register. Literacy tests, violence.

Why had Civil Rights activists blocked federal aid to education?

Activists feared $ would only go to segregated schools. (Solved by the Civil Rights Act of 1964)

Who were the lawyers in charge of the NAACP legal effort and what were they trying to do?

Charles Hamilton Houston & Thurgood Marshall. NAACP began to challenge state "separate but equal" laws by bypassing state legislatures/governors with federal court cases. Aimed to chip away at segregation. won cases like Alston v. School Board of the City of Norfolk (1940), Sweatt v. Painter & McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950). The court cases were making it more expensive for states to maintain segregation.

The Reconstruction Act of 1867

Congress declared all southern state gov'ts (already recognized by Johnson) to be inoperative & divided into 5 military districts ordered military to oversee writing new constitutions for states guaranteeing universal male suffrage in order for a state to be represented in Congress *required new constitutions to include funding for public education led to the creation of Union Leagues and increased black participation in southern politics Ironically, Johnson had power over the districts as commander-in-chief

The Fair Employment Practices Committee

Created by Executive Order 8802 (FDR 1941) Federal agency established to curb racial discrimination in war production jobs and govt employment. Caused white workers to strike at Western Electric factory in Baltimore for segregated restrooms. Riots in Detroit & NYC 1943

What did African Americans in the South focus on during the Civil Rights Movement?

Ending the brutal segregation and winning the right to vote. MLK Jr.

African Americans during WWII

Excluded by southern draft boards. 3 out of 4 black americans lived in the rural south & majority were sharecroppers. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters' leaders A. Philip Randolph and Walter White met w/ FDR to demand ending discrimination in the armed forces, but war industries refused. 1940 War Department announced a policy of segregation- Randolph proposed a march on Washington DC. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 and the march disbanded

The Nation of Islam

Founded by Elijah Muhammad (1931) Mixed Muslim religious teachings with a campaign for African-American separatism, pride, and self- determination. Detroit Temple Number One. Grew during the religious movement of the 1950s. Malcom X was a member for a while (eventually left and then was assassinated by Nation of Islam followers)

JFK and Civil Rights

JFK had been slow to act on civil rights but didn't want bad publicity in the Cold War. Civil Rights bill in 1963. Supported by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin's March on Washington

Affirmative Action

Johnson-era. Originally designed as remediation for economic disadvantages created by slavery. Meant to be temporary. The Bakke Decision

The Department of Justice

June, 1870 created by Congress to enforce Reconstruction provided the US Attorney General with an agency to lead

Executive Order #8802

June, 1941 FDR Appeased the Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters and A. Philip Randolph's march on Washington. To protect against discrimination b/c off race, origen, religion etc. and to create the Fair Employment Practices Committee.

Why was land important to former slaves?

Land provided economic freedom and opportunity that was key to being independent and supporting a family

The Civil Rights Act of 1964

Lyndon B. Johnson July 1964 (out of JFK's Civil Rights Bill) Most sweeping civil rights bill since Reconstruction. Equal access & opportunity. Forbade discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. Banned segregation in public accommodations. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce. Made it illegal for any federal aid to go to a segregated institution- (solved issue of Civil Rights activists blocking federal aid to education b/c of fear of it going to segregated schools only)

Race riot in Tennessee (Reconstruction)

Memphis, TN (1866) riot began after a black and a white carriage collided black schools, churches, & homes burned 48 (mostly black) ppl killed

George H. White

North Carolina Congressmen 1901 last black representative in any branch of Congress

Where did runaway slaves go?

Northern states or Canada (Britain had abolished slavery in al its dominions in 1833 so it was illegal for slave hunters to catch slaves in Canada)

Truman and Civil Rights

President's Committee on Civil Rights (1947) Desegregation of the armed forces (1948) - overruled the military authorities

Vagrancy Laws

Presidential Reconstruction laws passed in the south that made it a crime to be without a job forced former slaves to take whatever job was offered or go to jail landowners often only hired their former slaves so black families ended up working on the same plantations as "wage slaves" for minimal pay wanted land of their own or at least a share in the profits

Nixon's Southern Strategy

Second campaign Attorney General John Mitchell developed it to win over Wallace voters. Slowed enforcement of guidelines for school desegregation, tried to make sure justice dept. did as little as possible to enforce desegregation

How did the media receive the Bus Boycott?

The Boycott got favorable media attention and fundraising became easier over the year. MLK became a national celebrity. 1956 US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Parks.

Other white supremacy organizations similar to the KKK in the south (Reconstruction/"Redemption")

The Knights of the White Camellia (Louisiana) The White Line (Mississippi)

Thurgood Marshall

Worked w/ Charles Hamilton Houston challenging state "separate but equal" laws for the NAACP 1938 Marshall became the NAACP chief council. Later appointed as a federal judge and then from 1967-91 the first appointed African American Justice of the Supreme Court

Clifton Taulbert

Wrote the book The Last Train North describing longing for things left behind in the Great Migration to the unfamiliar North.

Oberlin Abolitionism

emerged from the revivals led by Charles Grandison Finney in the Burned Over District of upstate NY during the Second Great Awakening (1820s) after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 American Anti-Slavery Society campaigned to evangelize the nation for abolitionism antislavery revivalists collected funds to preach the sin of slavery and need for repentance Theodore Dwight Weld commissioned to choose the preachers

What did Southern states do to limit black rights and try to ignore the 13th Amendment during Presidential Reconstruction?

the Black Codes new urban police forces terrorized African Americans who refused to sign long term labor contracts w/ former masters

What branch of Congress elected the most African Americans in the late 1860s?

the House of Representatives had more African-American members than the Senate

What increased the value of individual slaves? (mid-1800s)

the new demand for cotton due to technological advancements like the cotton gin and developments in transportation after the War of 1812 industrialized agriculture led to a new ethical rationale for slavery

The Underground Railroad (mid 1800s)

the route to freedom in the North support system set up by anti-slavey groups in the upper south & the North to assist fugitive slaves in escaping symbol for many, reality for only a few "conductors" = former slaves who had run away, or free ppl (white and black)

Slaves on small farms in the mid 1800s

worked alongside owners and shared meals hard to maintain connection w/ other slaves if economy was bad- slaves' food & clothes rations were cut

Slaves on large plantations in the mid 1800s

working conditions could be much harsher than on small farms more opportunity to create community & cultural identity routines more regular controlled by overseer= a poor white hired to get maximum work & profit from slaves overseers and slaves had to have a slightly good relationship for work to get done overseers had total legal control over slaves but could be fired if slaves rebelled & did not work

African Americans in the Civil War

"contraband of war" fought in Indian territory alongside Creeks and Seminoles against other tribes Union officers in Kansas and coast of South Carolina recruited black troops (quietly approved by Secretary of War Stanton) early in the war Lincoln was not ready to make escaped slaves behind Union lines officially free After the Emancipation Proclamation- slavery became a military issue and slaves were allowed to be included in the armed services Grant encouraged full inclusion of blacks in the army Massachussetts 54th Regimet recruited free blacks from across the north- from lowest parts of economy , showed bravery in battle at Fort Wagner- won support of white soldiers Militia Act of 1862 overturned in 1864 when Congress approved equal pay and enlistment bounties for black and equal rights in military courts/testifying in trials during last months blacks could be promoted to officer Lincoln suspended the exchange of prisoners of war until early 1865 when Confederates refused to include black troops in exchanges blacks treated worse when captured

The Stono Rebellion

(1739) largest slave uprising in the colonies pre-American Revolution Carolina slaves attempted to get freedom in Spanish Fl led by Cato & group of slaves from South Carolina rice plantations burned buildings of slave owners & killed any white person in their way South Carolina Militia battled the slaves @ Stono, SC planter gov't temporarily restricted more imports of slaves & banned slaves from assembling

Marcus Garvey

(1887-1940) Leader for lower class african americans in the 1920s Universal Negro Improvement and Conservation Association & the African Communities League in Jamaica (1914) Rejected integration with white America & focused on self help, self determination, and African nationalism. the Negro Declaration of Rights 1920 Shipping company the Black Star Line to ship goods b/tween US and Caribbean/ Africa- WEB DuBois attacked the line's finances & Garvey arrested for fraud then deported to Jamaica.

Theodore Roosevelt and African Americans

(1901-1909) Invited Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House. Mixed record on African American rights More symbolic support than action- no intervention in south. Gov't integrated in civil service

Effect of World War One on African Americans

(1920s) African-American soldiers didn't want to return to segregation & those who had moved north for war effort jobs didn't want to go back to the south. Stagnant wages due to war inflation led to strikes in 1919.

The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

(MFDP) A separate democratic delegation, launched as a result of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's Mississippi Freedom Summer voting registration campaign, that challenged the right of the all-white delegation to represent Mississippi at the 1964 Democratic convention. Did not get seated at the national convention but raised awareness about denial of voting rights. Made Fannie Lou Hamer a national voice. Delegates were sharecroppers, domestic workers, and farmers. Most serious challenge to LBJ's 1964 nomination b/c he didn't want southern delegates to walk out and cost the democrats their hold on the south.

Malcom X

(Northern urban black community) Pride, self-sufficiency, and self-determination. Born Malcom Little. Early life of crime- convicted for burglary (1946) and experienced religious conversion to Islam. Joined the Nation of Islam (or the "Black Muslims") Became assistant minister Detroit Temple Number One. Nation of Islam rejected traditional last names (slave names) Preached separation from white ppl- hated integration and the Southern Civil Rights movement. Had doubts about Elijah Muhammad and broke w/ Nation of Islam in 1964. Pilgrimage to Mecca- returned as a traditional devout Muslim and stopped preaching separation for its own sake. Willing to join interracial coalitions to achieve immediate goals but not to adopt King's nonviolence. Black people needed to defend themselves. Established Muslim Mosque Incorporated to preach truer Islam than the Black Muslims taught. Established the Organization of Afro-American Unity. New sense of pride in northern African Americans, Challenged quality of education, led demonstrations against police violence. Had a vision of African Americans making an international alliance with the ppl of newly independent African nations and the Muslim world. Assassinated by Nation of Islam followers in 1965.

The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee

(SNCC) 1960 Group of students who gathered at Shaw University in North Carolina. Ella Baker & James Lawson. Formed their own organization rather than affiliate with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference or the NAACP. Rejected "conventional, middle class" methods for dealing with segregation. Focused on a missive student led campaign for the vote. (Some ppl appreciated the legal work of the NAACP but felt that the vote took priority over integration.)

African Americans in Vietnam

12.6% of troops were black 24% of deaths Believed they were being sent on most dangerous missions- angry at fellow troops, officers, and the war. Civil Rights groups didn't want to risk breaking w/ Johnson but SNCC was among the first of them to oppose the war (1966). 1967 MLK preached that the war was sending poor black men to fight for freedoms they themselves didn't have at home.

Nat Turner

1831 led a revolt more successful than Vesey's turner's forces killed over 60 slaveowners revolt defeated by state & federal troops Turner tried and killed- his court appointed attorney Thomas Gray published the Confessions of Nat Turner religious man Turner was convinced he was destined for a great purpose by God and had to free the slaves in aftermath- Southern fears increased & more repressive laws passed- illegal for slaves to be taught to read/write (to prevent them from studying the Bible)

The Post Civil War Democratic Party

1860s-1870s virtually no black Democrats in the South party of "white only" gov't wanted to limit black rights as much as possible segregationist

The two stages of political exclusion in the South (Post-Civil War)

1860s-70s: First step in end of Reconstruction--Black legislators and their white Republican supporters defeated by Democratic segregationists. Violent elections w/ intimidation. Virginia first (1869) Florida and Louisiana last (1877) as part of the compromise that elected Hayes 1890s: new state constitutions to completely exclude blacks Removed all remaining blacks still in office. (Whites objected to black postmasters because they could interact w/ white women) Republicans in the White House in 1888 caused fear of a second reconstruction. New generation of southerners tired of having to use violence (KKK) to exclude blacks from the vote- decided to put exclusion in law instead. Response to the Populist movement that split the Democratic party and gave black delegates the tie breaking votes. "The solid south" = solidly white democrat Lynchings & new violence

The Emancipation Proclamation

1863 the Battle of Antietam enabled Lincoln to fulfill his promise to God that if the Confederates were forced out of Maryland he would act on the issue of slavery military strategy & aimed to build northern support for the war (especially black and abolitionist support) freed slaves in all states in active rebellion as of January 1st- kept slave border states like Kentucky happy and got Tennessee and southern Louisiana to vote to shift support for the union in order to keep their slaves while it technically freed all Confederate slaves, the Union had no power to enforce it until they invaded a particular state military should recognize and maintain their freedom black soldiers and sailors could be organized in the armed service of the US (union) resolved issue of contraband slaves, made abolishing slavery a military goal, & fundamentally changed the civil war--> no longer just about keeping the Union together, now the north officially was fighting over slavery as well attacked by Northern Democrats in Congress- opposed any widening of the War's goals Peace Democrats

Slaves' reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation

1863 the Union Army became the army of freedom some left the south, others stayed to work as wage earning employees for the first time some slaves refused to work unless they were paid searched for family started their own schools/ universities & became teachers after the war & the Thirteenth Amendment men could vote and hold office

The Fourteenth Amendment

1866 Guaranteed the rights of citizenship to former slaves and others born or naturalized in the US "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United states" - due process & equal protection of the law - any state that limited the voting rights of male inhabitants would have its seats in Congress reduced - no one who participated in a rebellion against gov't could hold public office - Confederate debts null and void Congress refused to seat members of the House or Senate until the state had ratified the 14th amendment

The Fifteenth Amendment

1869 Gave voting rights to all male citizens including former slaves and children of Chinese immigrants lacked the right to hold office b/c California did not want large Chinese immigrant population to be in gov't also did not protect against literacy tests, property & tax qualifications b/c MA & CT used literacy test to limit foreign born citizens voting, and Pennsylvania & RI had property + tax qualifications failure to ban tests & qualifications allowed southern gov'ts to keep black citizens from voting

The Enforcement Acts

1870 (same time the 15th Amendment was ratified) made the denial of the right to vote because of race through force, fraud, bribery, or intimidation a federal crime took protecting voting rights out of state hands into federal jurisdiction two other Enforcement Acts gave the gov't the right to intervene when elections were unfair

The "Lost Cause"

1870s/1900s A part of the generational tensions in the post-civil war south. Older confederate veterans looked back on ante-bellum south as glorious and the civil war as a righteous fight. Romantic stories-- the "plantation school" of writing that told of a chivalrous past and glorified slavery. Joel Chandler Harris (Brer Rabbit)

The New South

1870s/1900s An ideology developed by some elite Southerners that declared an end to the nostalgia for slavery and plantation life and a beginning for the economic development of the South while protecting the growing racial segregation of the region. born out of deferral in war & end of slavery. No apologies Building railroads and industrializing. Northern & European investment in railroads brought southerners jobs & provided connections to the outside word.

United States v. Cruikshank

1876 Supreme Court William J. Cruikshank= white participant at attack on Colfax, Louisiana (1873) indicted for violating civil rights of the black citizens he killed ruling: the charges were unconstitutional b/c protecting individual rights was a state, not a federal duty- took away one of most important federal enforcement powers (power to bring federal charges against civil rights violators)

Exodusters

1879 First general movement of African-Americans post-civil war. former slaves who moved west to Kansas (especially to Nicodemus). Reasons for move: Southern Jim Crow/ violence Expansion of railroads Economic oppression of sharecropping in south.

The Colored Farmers' National Alliance and Cooperative Union

1886 An organization of Southern black farmers in Texas in response to the Southern Farmers' Alliance's racial exclusion. Organized mostly through black churches. Had more members than the Farmer's Alliance but less resources. Helped launch Populist party.

Grandfather clauses

1890s Voting restriction enacted in many of the new southern constitutions to keep African Americans from voting. Anyone whose grandfather had voted was exempt from voting restrictions (i.e. literacy tests). Made sure poor whites would not be excluded by the restrictions like property qualifications while excluding African Americans (b/c grandparents had been slaves and not able to vote)

What was the effect of new State Constitutions in the South in the 1890s?

1890s the second step in political exclusion of black citizens. Constitutions had to create more complex obstacles to black suffrage than literacy tests or property qualifications because those also excluded poor whites. In order to vote a citizen had to have lived in stat for 2 yrs and election district for 1 (hurt sharecroppers who moved for better work) "grandfather clause" Voters could not have been convicted of petty crimes like arson or theft (blacks often charged with unjustly) Tested by state appointed registrars to see whether or not he could understand & interpret state constitution correctly

The Atlanta Compromise

1895 Booker T. Washington's speech at the Cotton States and International Exposition. African Americans would accept segregation in return for being able to develop economically.

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 Supreme Court decision "Separate but equal" facilities were constitutional supported Jim Crow segregation

Williams v. Mississippi

1898 Supreme Court ruling that declared literacy tests and poll taxes to be constitutional. Supported the state constitutions of the "solid south" enacted to legalize exclusion of black citizens from voting.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

1910 (Grew out of the Niagara Movement) Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary Church Terrell, Mary McLeod Bethune, along w/ white reformers like Jane Addams, John Dewey & Clarence Darrow An interracial organization dedicated to restoring African American political and social rights. Full enforcement of Fourteenth & Fifteenth Amendments. Brought public exposure/legal challenges to unpunished lynchings & challenged "separate but equal"

The Great Migration

1920s (In the beginning of 1920 90% of black Americans lived in south) Began to move away from rural poverty and segregation in rural south to new opportunities in Southern cities/ industrial cities of North. Mass movement of African-Americans from rural south to industrial North, spurred by new job opportunities that began in WWI and the 20s. Height of the Migration took place in the 40s but it began in the 20s after WWI.

Eugenics

1920s A movement that claimed scientific basis to apply Darwinian theory to the "natural selection" of the "fittest" ppl to reproduce and improve the human race. Some ethnic groups more highly evolved than others. Began in England in 1880s by Francis Galton. A "scientific" justification for segregation. Efforts to limit ability of disabled ppl to have children. Henry Goddard's intelligence testing on Ellis Island. IQ tests Interest faded in the 1930s as Hitler embraced the idea.

The Harlem Renaissance

1920s A new African-American cultural awareness that flourished in art, literature, and music. Alain Locke's The New Negro (1925)

Opposition to the Great Migration

1920s Cotton planters tried to stop northern movement of black workers. Opposed anything more than a basic education for African Americans so they would not have any skills to take north. Some (LeRoy Percy) opposed the KKK because they feared violence would just lead to more movement north. North not always welcoming- whites wanted to reclaim industrial jobs after WWI. Tension between long-time urban blacks and newcomers from south who arrived after 1917

Richard Wright

1927 African American novelist. Described early migrant experience in Native Son and autobiography Black Boy.

Oscar DePriest

1928 Chicago congresmen First black man elected to Congress since Reconstruction. Helped defeat candidates who opposed anti-lynching bills.

The Southern Tenant Farmers' Union

1930s African American sharecroppers demanded payments from the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA).

The Black Cabinet

1933-1945 An informal network of high-level African American officials and advisors to FDR. Worked together to influence policy. Size and power enlarged by Elenor Roosevelt and Harold. L Ickes (secretary of the Interior) Members: Robert L. Vann William H. Hastie Robert C. Weaver Mary McLeod Bethune

How did The International Harvester Cotton Picking Machine affect African Americans? (especially in the south)

1944 Howell Hopson's machine that could pick cotton at a far faster and cheaper rate than African American sharecroppers. Destroyed sharecropping in the South & contributed to the Great Migration of the post-war years.

The President's Committee on Civil Rights

1947 Truman's attempt to help Civil Rights plus get African-American votes. Reported on Civil Rights violations. Led Truman to propose an antilynching law, permanent fair employment commission, and laws against poll taxes/ transportation discrimination. Congress refused to pass legislation- Truman called them "the do-nothing Congress"

How did the growth of suburbia after WWII affect African Americans?

1950s (Complacency & Conformity theme) Excluded from many developments like Levittown. Had to stay in cities that were quickly loosing money due to white families moving to suburbs--> services & schools declined. Housing in North= more segregated than south. Detroit= mostly black city, Dearborn suburb= almost entirely white

R.R. Morton High School Strike

1951 Students at R.R. Morton High School in FarmVille, VA (all black high school) went on strike to protest the unequal conditions. NAACP would only support the strike and take the case if the challenge was for completely integrated schools- the students agreed. Launched one of the 5 cases that was consolidated into Brown v. Board of Education

Brown v. Board of Education

1954 Chief Justice Earl Warren. 5 cases consolidated into one. Supreme Court decision in 1954 declaring that "separate but equal" schools for children of different races was unconstitutional. Unanimous decision.

Rosa Parks

1955 Sat in the "black" section of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama but refused to get up for a white passenger- she was arrested and her case became an NAACP test case against segregated transportation. E.D. Nixon , Virginia & Clifford Durr bailed her out of jail and convinced her to push the case. Hired Fred Gray as her lawyer. Ministers including Martin Luther King Jr. and Jo Ann Gibson Robinson also heard about Parks. WPC's Bus Boycott. Civil rights activism was not new to Rosa Parks: in 1943 she was barred from voting due to the literacy test so she hand-copied every question to prepare to challenge the authorities and show she was literate. They eventually allowed her to vote.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference

1957 Replaced the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) after Parks won her case. Based in Atlanta, GA. Created a permanent national organization to organize passive resistance to segregation and a long term platform for MLK Jr.

The Little Rock Nine

1957 The nine black students, including Elizabeth Eckford, who were chosen for the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to stop them from enrolling. Eisenhower didn't advocate integration but was adamant that the Supreme Court's decision be upheld. Sent in riot-trained units of the 101st Airborne to secure the high school.

The Nashville Sit-ins

1960 Inspired by the Greensboro sit in. 500 African American college students sat at lunch counters in all the major stores. Police allowed a mob to beat them and jailed 60 demonstrators. Mayor agreed to a biracial committee to look at segregation in the stores. Lunch counters desegregated in July. NAACP defense fund not willing to defend those arrested but MLK supported them.

Boynton v. Virginia

1960 Supreme Court ruling declaring that any segregation in interstate transportation was unconstitutional.

Robert Kennedy and Civil Rights

1961 As Attorney General he convinced the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to order that any bus/train crossing state lines (thus coming under federal jurisdiction) could not use any segregated facilities.

Freedom Rides

1961 James Farmer and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Testing Boynton v. Virginia decision an hastening integration of interstate bus terminals and service throughout the south. Beaten and one of the busses burned . 328 freedom riders arrested. FBI and federal gov't did nothing.

James Meredith

1962 First black man to enroll in the University of Mississippi, backed by federal court order. Governor Ross Barnett resisted and gathered a crowd of 3,000 whites who threw rocs and shot until John F. Kennedy sent in federal marshals and troops .

The struggle to desegregate Birmingham, AL

1963 MLK began trying to desegregate Birmingham (most segregated southern city). MLK arrested & wrote "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Police Chief "Bull" Connor arrested 3,000 protesting children and used fire hoses & attack dogs on protestors. TV coverage brought international outcry - criticism by Soviet Union (how could a supposedly democratic and free country claim the ideological high ground when it was allowing its own citizens to be abused.

The Mississippi Freedom Summer

1963-64 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's plan to bring 1000 mostly white college students to Mississippi to help with the voter registration effort and get national attention on the denial of rights in MS. Some feared so many whites would undermine the strength of the black community. Demonstrated to the nation what an interracial coalition looked like. 3 white volunteers killed.

The Voting Rights Act

1965 Great Society Legislation. (Civil Rights Act did not address right to vote) After Selma, Alabama. Gave US. Dept. of Justice right to intervene in any county where 50% or fewer of eligible voters were registered- almost all of Deep South. Agents to monitor literacy tests and appoint new federal registrars. Signed in same room where Lincoln had signed Emancipation Proclamation.

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense

1966 Huey Newton and Bobby Seale (California) Urban police forces had become occupying armies in black communities. Armed patrol of Oakland, CA. Remained a tiny fringe group but represented a move away from self-sacrificing nonviolence of King to more militant stance.

The Bakke Decision

1978 Allan Bakke rejected by med school at UC Davis- sued claiming denied due to university's race quota. US Supreme Curt ruled that an individual could not be excluded on the basis of race but race could be a consideration (no more quotas) Divided court

The Tuskegee Airmen

African American unit that became famous in WWII

How did voting demographics shift during the Great Depression?

African American voters (especially in south) began to vote for Democrats rather than for Republicans (party of Lincoln) because of FDR and his efforts to help black community. Black politicians began to win state legislature seats.

The Klu Klux Klan Act of 1871

April, 1871 made conspiracies to deprive citizens of the right to vote a punishable federal offense

The March on Washington (#2)

August, 1963 A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin. Support of JFK's civil rights bill. 100 years after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Over 200,000 marched into DC and listened to speeches at the Lincoln Memorial- MLK's "I have a dream" speech (many thought such hopes for change and equality foolish and empty)

The continuation of the Great Migration

Began during WWI, continued through 1920s, slowed during 1930s Depression, exploded in the post WWII years. The movement of African-Americans from the rural south to the industrial, urban North. By 1960 50% of African Americans lived in Northern cities. Pull: industrial jobs Push: southern segregation, violence & disappearance of sharecropping 5 million African Americans moved north b/tween 1940-1960 Racial discrimination no longer seen as just a southern issue- became a national problem. Housing in North= more segregated than south. Detroit= mostly black city, Dearborn suburb= almost entirely white New freedoms & opportunities: voting, jobs

How did the Selective Service System (draft) affect African Americans in WWII and post-war?

Boards in the south often kept black men out because they didn't want to give them guns and training- had to draft more white men. As a result, less black men were able to benefit from the GI Bill of Rights and get a federally funded education b/c not veterans.

The American Antislavery Society

Boston 1833 William Lloyd Garrison committed to the total abolition of slavery everywhere in the US

Race Riots & the Red Summer of 1919

Chicago 1919 City-wide strike increased tensions. Sign posted in an African-American neighborhood saying "We will get you july 4th" Fear of communists and expanded rights for black citizens merged. Black boy beaten to death after swimming across a line separating the races at a beach. Armed whites attacked Chicago's black neighborhoods but black community struck back. other race riots in Charleston, SC & Texas Washington Post published story about black crime exacerbated tensions. US Army had to bring order to Omaha, Nebraska after a wave of lynchings.

"The Jazz Age"

Coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The era after WWI before the stock market crash of 1929. Many Americans wanted to forget about the troubles of the rest of the world. Prosperity for white middle class but suffering for many African Americans/ farmers.

The Blues

Early 1900s Created from gospel, ragtime, and jazz on back porches, town bars, and dance halls in the Mississippi Delta Hard lives in the South (John Hurt & Bill Broonzy) 1920s Blues moved North as the Great Migration began- more songs about moving to places like Detroit

The Progressive Party

Election of 1912 Nominee: Theodore Roosevelt First major convention to include female delegates. Also included African Americans. Labor unions, conservation, women's suffrage, old age insurance, workmen's compensation. Jane Addams gave 1st convention speech by a woman. Governmental oversight of monopolies (as opposed to socialist ownership)

What did African Americans in the North focus on during the Civil Rights movement?

Ending segregated housing, poor quality schooling, and economic marginalization. Malcom X.

African American farmers in the agricultural reaction to the Gilded Age

Farmer's Alliance (1870s) = segregated Knights of Labor (most powerful union after 1877 Railroad Strike) = included skilled & unskilled workers regardless of race or gender. The Colored Farmers' National Alliance and Cooperative Union (1886): response to the Southern Farmers' Alliance's racial exclusion.

Student Sit-Ins at Woolworth's in Greensboro, NC

February, 1960 (Greensboro, North Carolina) 4 African American freshmen at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College sat down at the white-only counter at Woolworth's store. Began a sit in after the store did not serve them their coffee. Joined by more than 300 people by the fourth day. Not well planned but spread student sit ins across the south.

African American's roles in the strikes of the Gilded Age (late nineteenth- early twentieth century)

Great Railroad Strike of 1877= racially integrated.

Opportunities for African Americans in the 1970s

Growing black middle class- more African Americans could go to college (+affirmative action). Exodus of white families to suburbs left spots open for black mayors.

Changes in the South in the 1970s

Growth of the sunbelt (south & southwest) due to the unemployment in the Rustbelt made south more diverse. No longer rigidly racially segregated. South more racially integrated than the north. Tanya Tucker's song "The South is Gonna Rise Again" (1974) Wages in South stayed lower than in the north b/c of opposition to gov't intrusion.

Effect of the Great Depression on African Americans

Hit African-Americans particularly hard. Bottom of economic ladder in northern cities after Great Migration- first to be fired. 38% of black workers out of work by 1934 compared to 17% of white workers. Most New Deal policies designed to apply to both races, but discrimination sometimes built in and implemented by ppl in charge. NRA set low minimum salaries win laundry services, tobacco/ other jobs w/ a lot of black workers. Agricultural Administration loans to landlords did not trickle down to tenants or sharecroppers. CCC segregated work camps. Federal Housing Authority claimed black ppl were high risks and denied them loans.

Racial tensions on railroads in the late 1800s

In the late 1800s white south was developing a fear of contact b/tween black men and white women. Black passengers could normally ride in first class on rail cars just like whites if they could pay, but violence increased throughout the late 1800s as white passengers increasingly tried to force African Americans out of first class cars. State legislatures took action. Tennessee was first state to declare that railroads had to have separate cars or partitioned cars to divide races. A decade before Plessy v. Ferguson upheld "separate but equal" in 1896

The Montgomery Improvement Association

MIA Martin Luther King Jr. elected president after Rosa Parks arrested 1955. Temporary organization to run the Montgomery Bus Boycott. the boycott was not yet challenging segregation itself, just the humiliating enforcement. Boycott lasted a year. organized taxis and car pools. Replaced by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957)

Martin Luther King jr.'s murder

March, 1968 MLK Jr. shot while supporting strike by garbage collectors in Memphis, TN. Damaged cause of nonviolence. Riots across US- 46 ppl killed- deep anger in black community.

"Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Martin Luther King Jr. 1963 During his campaign to desegregate Birmingham, AL, when he was arrested. One of his most famous publications.

Mary McLeod Bethune

Most influential member of FDR's Black Cabinet. Friend of Elenor Roosevelt. Head of school for girls in Daytona, FL - became Bethune-Cookman College. 1920s- president of National Association of Colored Women (advocated for federal antilynching bill & support of black women attending training programs/college) Launched aggressive National Council of Negro Women 1935 (NACW not aggressive enough) Director of Negro Division of National Youth Administration- created jobs for black youth. Used connection w/ Elenor Roosevelt to create Federal Council of Negro Affairs - organized black citizens in and out of the administration

Pattern of slavery in the US during the 1800s/ the rise of the cotton economy

North- declining steadily (abolition) Maryland, Virginia, Carolinas- stabilized or declined Black Belt/ Old Southwest- increased rapidly internal slave trade to inland states in the south w/ cotton plantations slaves sold to interior - severed connections w/ family & friends- used as punishment men sold more often than women- better for cotton plantations slave coffles New Orleans= largest slave-trading center in US by 1820 rebellions gender divide on plantations- men plowed, women and children hoed most cotton grown on relatively small farms

How did the national black leadership feel about the Montgomery bus boycott?

Not enthusiastic about Montgomery because it was a spontaneous outburst that they had not had a part in organizing. Thurgood Marshall criticized MLK for not sticking to court cases.

The rise of the "Second" Klu Klux Klan in the 20s

Opponent of immigration, Black rights, and support of Prohibition. White, Protestant native- born American values. 1915 William Joseph Simmons resurrected the Klan & Hiram Wesley Evans turned it into a successful hate organization. Had as many as 5 million members and a female auxiliary that became the Women of the Klu Klux Klan. "One Flag, One School, One Bible" Cabinet level Department of Education to ensure that all children taught 100% "Americanism" Demanded Catholic & Jewish teachers be fired. Wanted to outlaw private/parochial schools. Maintained rigid segregation. The Women of the KKK launched boycotts of black, Catholic, or Jewish stores Henry Ford's anti-Semitic Dearborn Independent. Provided entertainment in small towns- rallies etc. Strong in Midwest/South

Lincoln's perspective on the issue of free black men voting

Post-Civil War while he felt that freed black soldiers who had fought in the Union army had won the right to vote, he also thought that the Constitution gave states the right to determine who voted not ready to use force to make the former Confederacy grant black men voting rights felt that the Confederacy had never actually left Union b/c they lost the war

The new form of violence in the South (late 1800s)

Public lynchings spread across the south. African Americans, often young men. accused with little/no evidence of raping white women and then hanged. Most of the time lynching was a punishment for a small failure to observe a custom like stepping out of the way for a white person to pass on the street or some other stupid shit. Terrorized black community.

Union Leagues

Republican party organization led by African Americans which became an important organizing device after 1865 base for political action and mutual support in black community helped former slaves gain experience in political process

African Americans in the Religious revivals of the 1950s

Revivals separate from white communities. National Baptist Convention, African Methodist Episcopal, & African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AME) = the three largest black churches. Pentecostalism grew in African American communities in North (had flourished in the rural south for decades) Elijah Muhammad- the Nation of Islam.

South Carolina's Reconstruction gov't and The Promised Land town

SC had a strong reconstruction gov't legislature established a land commission and gave grants to 14000 black families created town of Promised Land= a black led community still in existence today

Jim Crow Segregation

Segregation laws that spread in the south during the 1890s named for minstrel show character portrayed satirically by racist white actors in blackface name applied to the whole era of racial segregation from 1870s to the 1960s schools, public facilities, transportation, and every aspect of life were segregated African Americans lost right to vote sharecropping became only option for most in south lynching controlled through fear and intimidation cornerstone of Jim Crow = Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Bloody Sunday

Selma voting rights protests March 7th, 1965 As marchers crossed the Edmund Pettis Bridge, sheriff's deputies clubbed them. Pictures circulated worldwide.

Selma

Selma, Alabama Martin Luther King Jr. & Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) confrontation about voting rights. (LBJ didn't have more civil rights legislation planned as 1965 began but Civil Rights leaders were like 'joke's on you Johnson, we're not just going to let you go focus on the other parts of your Great Society or whatever') Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) agreed to join. Segregation rigid in Selma. Bloody Sunday. March to state capital (Montgomery) under protection of National Guard ordered by Johnson. KKK killed Viola Liuzzo after the march. 1 week after Bloody Sunday- Johnson's most memorable speech "we shall overcome"- used civil rights' movement hymn's words to call for the Voting Rights Act.

African American religion in the New South

Southern African Americans established their own churches post war (African Methodist Episcopal & AME Zion) Black churches were placed in segregated shout where African Americans could have some safety and build community.

Why was JFK sometimes slow to act on Civil Rights?

Southern senators made it difficult to get legislation passed. Many white voters uninterested/opposed. Did not want to divide the Democratic party more (still needed the Solid South). J. Edgar Hoover had tapes to prove JFK had affairs - Hoover hated MLK- made the Kennedys reluctant to upset Hoover.

Colonization

The Civil War a proposed compromise on the issue of slavery in which feed slaves could leave the US for Central America or even Africa no other nation was interested freed slaves did not want to be resettled in foreign countries

Contraband of War

The Civil War escaped slaves who sought refuge behind union lines acceptable under international law to seize goods and property meant to help the enemy wage war when General Benjamin F. Butler created an unofficial policy of giving escaped slaves protection and work in his fort, Lincoln was not ready to make his policy official, but allowed Butler to continue

The Dixiecrats

The Election of 1948 Democrats who split off from the party after Truman supported civil rights in his platform at the Democratic convention. 35 southern delegates walked out and nominated J. Strom Thurmond. Only got support of Deep South.

The Chicago Defender

The most widely read black newspaper Encouraged black movement north in the Great Migration in the 1920s especially to job-rich Chicago Branded as subversive by plantation owners

Segregation in the South in 1880s-1890s

The south was not as rigidly segregated in the 80s-90s as it would be in 1900s. Churches segregated by custom. Schools, hospitals, and hotels by law. The workplace , political gatherings, and travel mostly NOT segregated. Segregated rail cars seen as TOO EXPENSIVE.

Was the WWII US army segregated?

US Army was segregated racially & by gender in WWII

The Slaughterhouse Cases of 1873

US Supreme Court (anti-Reconstruction) restricted power of 14th Amendment when New Orleans butchers challenged the right of legislature to grant monopoly to a meatpacking company b/c it violated 14th Amendment rights to due process and citizenship rights ruling: the Fourteenth Amendment did not include citizenship rights and due process for the butchers in state matters (it only applied to federal actions like national elections, allowing states to pass Jim Crow laws later in the 1880s & 90s)- made it more difficult to bring other suits about abuse of citizens' rights

The Women's Political Caucus

WPC Lead by Jo Ann Gibson Robinson Called the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 after Rosa Parks was arrested. Distributed leaflets that got printed in the white Montgomery Advertiser to warn the white community (which only helped spread the news more)

Sherman's Special Field Order #15

William T. Sherman (Union General) during the Civil War in 1864 gave 40 acres to black families in Savanah, GA taken from plantation owners (also gave many families a mule) "40 acres and a mule"= symbol of freedom President Johnson ended redistribution of land and gave it back to the plantation owners

The Thirteenth Amendment

added to Constitution by the House of Representatives on January 31, 1865 before Lee's surrender @ Appomattox made slavery illegal in all of the US

The beginning of Sharecropping

began in Louisiana sugar plantations a labor system that evolved during and after Reconstruction whereby land owners gave black families a house, farm animals, tools, and advanced credit in return for a share of the laborer's crop kept black families in debt and tied to the land for generations could only buy goods from the overpriced plantation store in the credit system plantation owners often cheated illiterate laborers crops mortgaged before they were harvested by 1870s sharecropping was the primary means of agricultural organization in the south

The beginning of the Klu Klux Klan

founded as a "social club" among Confederate veterans in Tennessee in 1866 largest of the secret & violent white supremacy organizations terrorized black people and Republicans in the south wanted to end Reconstruction and return South to white rule assassinated Republican Congressmen (including James M.Hinds) and legislators used political organizing & violence to get racist Democrat leaders in power (Lucius Quintus Lamar) (Later the Second Klu Klux Klan would rise again in the 1920s out of the nativist reaction to WWI)

the slave population in the US after 1830

from 1.5 million in 1820 to 4 million in 1860 after 1808 it was illegal to import new slaves from abroad- most growth was due to internal slave trade seen as a sign of "better" treatment

The new "ethical rationale" for slavery (mid-1800s)

in the past Southerners saw slavery as a "necessary evil"- unfortunate necessity after 1830 a new generation of slaveholders described it as a positive good "Christianized heathens" form Africa provided slaves food, shelter and ordered life contrasted w/ work in northern factories- didn't fire slaves in tough economic times or when thy got old changing views of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney after 1830- Southern states made it more difficult to set slaves free and for free blacks to stay in south

Why did Congress not want to guarantee voting rights to all citizens in their 1866 amendment to the Constitution?

most members of Congress wanted to punish any state that withheld the vote from black men but all states withheld the vote from women and many northern states + California used voting qualifications/literacy tests to keep immigrants from voting

The destruction of Congressional Reconstruction

once Hayes was President in 1877 he did not immediately withdraw troops but made sure they did not intervene in any matters in the South angered Republicans blacks, carpetbagger, and scalawags slowly excluded from offices (some stayed until 1890s) blacks excluded from voting education budgets cut regulation of sharecropping shifted even more to favor white landowners white rule in the south was assured & "Redemption" began

The Black Codes

passed during Presidential Reconstruction b/c of Johnson's leniency laws denying many rights of citizenship to free blacks, including right to vote, hunt, fish & free graze livestock) to control black labor, mobility, & employment either made black gun ownership illegal or heavily taxed guns

Religion in slavery (1820s)

plantation owners organized religious services for slaves focused on virtues of submission/obedience slaves had their own secret congregations that meant @night effective preaching involved knowing the Bible, often from memory (illegal for slaves to read) preach w/ passion about freedom in next life & possibly gaining earthly freedom as well cathartic emotional release/renewal, singing, dancing southern govt blocked growth of independent churches b/c feared rebellion Northern free African Americans formed own congregations- Richard Allen founded the Bethel Church in Philadelphia (1794)--> African Methodist Episcopal Church

Slavery in the early 1600s

pre 1680s not codified as a permanent life-long status not associated solely w/ race indentured servants and poor farmers worked alongside slaves some bought their freedom- Anthony Johnson in Jamestown

The Civil Rights Bill of 1866

proposed by Senator Lyman Trumbull defined all ppl born in US (except Native Americans) as citizens permanently ended Dred Scott distinctions b/tween whites and blacks did not mention voting rights guaranteed right to make contracts, bring lawsuits, & equal benefit of laws authorized federal authorities to prosecute violations in federal court (Johnson vetoed bill)

Education for African Americans during Congressional Reconstruction

public school systems established by new state constitutions and the Reconstruction Act of 1867 most teachers who went south to teach were white women African Americans also wanted teachers from own communities- Freedmen's Bureau and Northern missionaries founded black colleges (Atlanta, Fisk, & Hampton) to train black teachers

Harriet Tubman

slave who returned to South after escape and guided b/tween 200-300 other slaves along the underground railroad responsible for freeing more slaves than any other person head was hit by a weight when she was 14 thrown by an overseer at another slave married a free black- John Tubman escaped to Philadelphia 1849 worked, raised money and then made trip south to free groups of slaves after 1850 Fugitive Save Law- led slaves to Canada supported by northern abolitionists

The effect of the growing value of individual slaves after the 1830s

somewhat better treatment- lives had economic value new laws against murder/ abuse nutrition & medical care also improved slightly individual family cabins instead of cramped quarters vegetable gardens had Sunday off gave slavery defenders proof that slaves' lives better than Northern factory workers' still had horrible lives- spouses separated, abuse of slave women, not allowed to testify in court

The Middle Passage (1600s/1700s)

the transit of slaves from Africa to the Americas 7 weeks 25% died on voyage branded w/ company's mark revolts aboard ships not uncommon forced to eat later generations of slaves who had been captured farther and farther inland had not had much experience w/ trade w/ Europeans (unlike costal Africans of the first generations of slaves who were generally familiar w/ European culture)- inland slaves unfamiliar w/ European culture names= way to break slave's spirits slave marriages not recognized by law

What was the primary economic opportunity for former slaves after the Civil War?

to return to the plantations they had been slaves on and work for wages neither plantation owners, who disliked their lack of control, nor freedmen supported the idea railroads offered some new jobs

Jackson State College Shootings

two days after Kent State (1970) Local police killed 2 protesting students at historically black Jackson State in mississippi