INS - roots of US civil rights movement

the history of slavery in the Americas

Discovery - 1492 - Columbus ‘discovers’ Americas

Atlantic slave trade - transported 10-12 mil enslaved Africans across Atlantic ocean to Americas from 16th-19th century

Colonization

• 1607 - fist permanent English settlement in America (Jamestown) = established in southeast Virginia

• slavery in America started in 1619 when Dutch ship brought 20 African slaves ashore to Jamestown

purpose of slavery - agriculture

• new American colonies had economies → relied on agriculture

• commodities like rice, sugar, cotton & tobacco = grown on plantations → high demand = cheap labor required

• plantation owners purchased African slaves (from Euro slave traders) → solved problem

RACIAL SUPERIORITY

• white ppl → saw themselves as superior to black

• organised religion, education & abilities w arms → used as justification → justified work without pay for slaves

New and divided nation

NEW NATION

• USA became independent country when declaration of independence was signed - 4th July 1776

• formally recognized by Great Britain in 1783

A NATION DIVIDED

• divide btwn northern industry states and southern agriculture states over qs of slavery

• North states - abolished slavery in 1804

• Southern states/eco depended on slavery

civil war - 1860s

what was it about - began over states rights to abolish fed laws they didn’t support (esp laws abt slavery)

The south - the confederacy - wanted to be it’s own country → independent from US. within 3 months - 7 southern states seceded to form the Confederate states of America → 4 more after Civil war

The north - the union → growing anti-slavery sentiment and self-emancipation of many African Americans who fled as Union troop swept through South. Every state where slavery was illegal supported union

abolishing slavery - Lincoln elected

• south states left union & formed confederates states

• war lasted 1861-1865 & was deadliest conflict ever in US

• north defeated south → this time is known as reconstruction period

abolishing slavery - emancipation proclamation

• issued by Lincoln

• freed slaves from bondage of owners

• took effect January 63

• amendments 13,14,15 → made to US constitution to abolish slavery

the reconstruction era - 1865-1877

• during this time - the nation transformed as it tried to recover from the impacts of the civil war → social changes → millions of newly freed black ppl

• amendments - changes to USA constitution

THREE ADMENDMENTS - SECOND FOUNDING

13th amendment - banning slavery (unless used as punishment for crime) → millions of slaves were freed

14th amendment - banning ppl from refusing black ppl rights as citizens → ppls rights were still infringed upon

15th amendment - every citizen has right to vote → attempted to protect black vote rights

sharecropping

• policies like sharecropping stopped former slaves from full y receiving rights after amendments

• former slaves struggled in the economy to own land bcs of restrictive and regressive contractual arrangements → fed gov didn’t help

• early 1870s → sharecropping system has dominated agriculture across South

→ under this - families would rent small plots of land/ shares to work themselves → in return they had to give a portion of their crop at the end of harvest

white supremacy

• reborn shortly after amendments → includes rise of racist organizations - eg: Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

• ws = racist ideology that believes in superiority of white people

• KKK justified this thru appeal to Christianity (claimed to defend ideology ) → defined American as white only → created fear of miscegenation and ruining of purity of white race

• KKK grew in 20th century → functioned as terrorist insurgency

Jim Crow Laws

• 13/14/15th amendments protected rights as citizens → BUT some states imposed restriction on daily lives of African Americans

• by end of 19thcentury → laws/informal practices that required af Americans to be segregated → called Jim Crow practices

• JCL - legalized racial segregations - existed for abt 100 yrs (1968)

• black communities and individuals - attempted to defy JCL often w violence and death

JC and segregrration

• JCL wasn’t a universal law → different states enforced segregation to different degrees

• many towns had designated white and black neighborhoods, others maintained residential segregation

• Black ppl - not allowed to vote by poll taxes, unfairly applied test & other barriers

• signs such as ‘whites only’ - at bus stations, water fountains, toilets, buildings, etc

• hotels, movies, arenas, night clubs, restaurants, churches, hospitals, schools = segregated + interracial marriages were outlawed.

• police maintained segregation as well

examples of JCL

Education

Mississippi - separate schools must be maintained for children of white & colored races

ENTERTAINMENT

Alabama - it’s unlawful to conduct a place where food is served at which white & colored ppl are served in the same room

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Mississippi - any person guilty of printing/publishing matter urging social equality or interracial marriage - guilty of misdemeanor

HEALTH CARE

Alabama - no corporation shall require a white female nurse to nurse wards/rooms in which black men are placed

HOUSING

Louisiana - any person who rents any part of a building that is in occupancy of a white person to black person/family is guilty of misdemeanor.

legalizing segregation - homer Plessy incident

• several states formed laws that segregated transportation

• who- Homer Plessy was a French-speaking American from Louisiana → 1/8th African America but appeared white

• what - decided to travel in a whites-only train on june 7th 1892 as a test of a court ruling which claimed segregation of trains was unconstitutional

→ was challenged by train conductor, and arrested

Plessy vs Ferguson

• Plessy tok his case to Supreme Court in 1896