African American History (Until Midterm)

What did Africa look like before the rise of the transatlantic slave trade?

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Why did transatlantic slavery start?

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How did slavery change in character as it took on new roots and routes?

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What new “roots and routes” does the study of the transatlantic slave trade reveal?

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Egypt

known for its complex religious and mathematical frameworks/hieroglyphic writing system/advanced social structures, comprised of Africans as well as peoples from the mediterranean region, had a significant impact on greek culture and western civilization

West African kingdoms

where the majority of slaves that came to the US came from, modern day Ghana and Mali, Ghana and Mali were impressive empires in the 1000s-1400s, Mali’s most famous ruler was Musa I who came into power in 1312, these kingdom’s interacted with those of northern Africa and were known for their wealth/military power/trade acumen, interacted with northern eastern and southern African kingdoms too, emphasizing these two regions in particular because they have a direct connection to transatlantic slave trade,

African Peoples

grouping African peoples according to linguistic/ethnic/religious groupings, some researchers categorize in the following ways:

1. afro-asiatic family of north america

2. nilo-saharan peoples around the nile river valley

3. congo-kordofanian groups of west and central africa

4. khoisan family of southern and parts of east africa

*one type of categorization

slavery in West Africa

very different from how we think about it today, slaves were typically people who were captured in war/who could not pay off their debts/individuals convicted of certain crimes, most retained some rights including the right to marry/inherit property/take part of social and cultural needs, many could also expect to earn their freedom in their lifetime,

how did transatlantic slavery start?

unification of European countries, expansion of existing forms of slavery in Europe and Africa, decline of the indigenous population in the Americas, a lot of ways you could enter slavery and a lot of ways you can exit it, no indication that you’re a slave based off of your skin color (because that wasn’t what determined it)

Portugal and Spain: leaders in the transatlantic trade

in 1441 prince Henry the navigator commissions voyages along Africa’s coast to find a route for obtaining gold, his captains abduct a small number of slaves and auction off in Lisbon, in 1459 Portugal agrees to supply Spain with slaves for labor within Spain, in 1482 the Portuguese set up Elmma Casle (in present day Ghana) in order to more easily trade in slaves/gold/goods

Hispaniola - first american colony

now Haiti and Dominican Republic, established in 1492, began enslaving native Americans under the encomienda system, Spanish importing and enslaving Africans around 1503, people Haiti and Dominican Republic practiced Catholicism and used it to decide who continues to be a slave??

the middle passage

called the middle passage bc it goes from Europe to Africa to USA, triangle trade — the middle way that you go is the middle passage

life in Spanish and Portuguese colonies

Spanish colonies were governed by the Siete Partidas which was a set of laws that limited slave mistreatment and granted enslaved peoples right to marry and own property, Portuguese colonies governed by different local laws, slaves initially brought for gold and silver mining, colonizers eventually imported slaves for textile and sugar cultivation, sugar became a turning point — year-round backbreaking work and made larger plantations — changed the geography of slavery

slaves make a new world, how they held onto their humanity

enslaved peoples brought their religious and cultural traditions from different ethnic groups in Africa, also joined the Catholic church, married within and across ethnic groups and created new social and religious traditions

revolt and struggle for freedom

slaves revolted as soon as they arrived, individual acts of revolt included work/stoppage/machine sabotage, larger numbers of slaves developed maroon societies, notable maroon community in Mount Orizaba Mexico: had nearly 500 members/formally recognized as San Lorenzo de los Negros in 1617

factors that led to slave society

english servant labor became more scarce, British colonists could not exploit indigenous populations at the same rate as their Spanish and Portuguese counterparts, upper class colonists feared insurrection or defection of white indentured servants, rise of transatlantic slave trade gave British colonists unending supply of African slaves (endless supply of people who don’t know the terrain or speak the language and no knowledge that they were supposed to be free, become perfect group for British)

making slaves through law and culture

from 1640 to 1700 Virginian colonists established laws and cultural norms that made slavery a racial system, made slavery hereditary, curtailed the liberties of free Africnas

1619—32 Africans arrive at Jamestown, 1640—black man sentenced to servitude for life, 1643-1650—levy tax on free black women in the colony, 1662—assembly that decides a child’s status follows that of their mother, 1680—”negro and slave” become interchangeable in laws

the charter generation

Africans who arrived and lived in “societies with slaves”, slavery was fluid—could own property and have free-born children

the plantation generation—1700s

occupied four main areas: new england, carolina low country, chesapeake, mississippi valley

experience marked by growth of plantations, rise of stable crop economy, large influx of slaves from different ethnic groups, degradation of black life

“making slaves”

dehumanizing a person and forcing them to comply, the idea that people had to leave their homes and being seen as people and their homes to become chattel, unnatural and dehumanizing and not something we were born to do

Phillis Wheatley

poet, pre-revolutionary America, hoped her poem would get Dartmouth to smooth things over with America, she was the first African American to publish a book of poetry, purchased by John Wheatley—very religious and he saw her as intelligent, english was second language, they continue to educate her, one of the most educated women in the time (white or black) because her master allowed her to learn and be educated, free from her master when he died?, died at 31 — she lived in a time with a lot of turmoil and when America was forming

American Revolution

1764 Sugar Act—put a duty on sugar, 1765 Stamp Act—put a tax on newspapers and pamphlets and written material which makes it harder to read ideas/information it discourages learning same idea as not letting slaves read or write, 1773 Tea Act—dumped the tea in the harbor to fit the idea of taxation without representation, form the continental congress and demand an end to all oppressive legislation, understand that American revolution wasn’t something that was inevitable it could’ve been avoided, if any other race tried to do what the british did it would not be seen as brave and victorious they wouldn’t be celebrated but colonial oppressors are, takeaway is that black people had a loyalty to a set of principles rather than liked British people or Americans more

Enlightenment and the Great Awakening

Enlightenment ideas revived by humanists like John Locke and Thomas Paine in the late 1600s, thinkers argued that human beings had natural rights and that governments should protect these rights, Great Awakening furthered these ideas by preaching that all people were equal and deserving of God’s salvation, these ideological and religious movements helped foster the first publicly recognized African American intellectuals, black people overhear that they’re being used when white people are talking about it and they’re thinking about it, Great Awakening brings music and preaching and black people can start to create parallels with their own west African traditions

Black Patriots (America)

Peter Salem Crispus Attucks and other fought for the colonists in the Battle of Bunker Hill and Lexington of Concord, trying to figure out which is the lesser of two evils (being enslaved or fighting for them), black people were usually segregated even if they were fighting

Black Loyalists (British)

others like Boston King joined the British loyalists after hearing of Lord Dunmore’s 1775 promise to liberate slaves who fought for the crown—born in South Carolina in 1760s and worked on a plantation for most of his childhood and he came with his master to Charlotte and wrote a memoir?, you’re going to fight for whichever side is more likely to let you be free—the result of the war doesn’t really affect you as a black person

slavery anew

the American Revolution transformed slavery in every region, North—ended remnants of slave society and initiated transformation of region in free states, Chesapeake/upper south—more free African American societies and better conditions for the enslaved but slavery is still a steady system, low country/Mississippi valley—ravaged by fighting and slaves took advantage of divisions and asserted their freedom through escape but slavery remained entrenched

Africanization of America

American Revolution produced record numbers of free people of color across the country, members of these communities began to reconstruct black life and culture in the post revolutionary war era, adopted new names to identify free status—freeman, they created new community institutions including social clubs and churches to establish themselves as communities in the newly free America

Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation

he said that if people crossed the line and fought for the British they would be freed,

Ethopia

important place, mentioned in Bible, physical place in Africa that’s desirable, looming large in black American history, was never fully colonized, always seen as a free black nation, the place where black people are perpetually free

timeline exercise

have to decide what’s important enough to include so authors of timelines may obscure history/events based on what they choose to include

our timeline: the journey to Sierra Leone

1775: enslaved people began running away after learning about unalienable rights, 1783: 3,000 slaves evacuated New York with Harry Washington with letters of freedom from a British general, 1788: received land in Nova Scotia, 1789: famine in winter in Nova Scotia, 1792: traveled with Harry Washington from Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone

what was life like for African Americans immediately after the revolutionary war?

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why did slavery survive in the United States?

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how did enslaved and free blacks define and assert freedom in the post-revolutionary war?

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Elizabeth Freeman and the end of northern slavery

known as Mum Bet, born into slavery, sued and won her freedom in the Massachusetts state court, after the revolutionary war the north and upper south favored emancipation and the end of slavery, northern states began to abolish slavery in 1770s and 1780s each taking a different approach, Connecticut adopted gradual emancipation plans that freed the children of slaves gradually, New York Pennsylvania and New Jersey created gradual manumission laws that freed enslaved men and women once they reached a certain age

US constitution and the status of slavery in the new nation

US constitution was a major force in propelling the expansion of slavery

included clauses to: continue the transatlantic slave trade until 1808, create a national militia with the power to put down slave revolts and capture runaway slaves, augment slave holders’ representation in the house of representatives and electoral college

constitution doesn’t state “slavery” or “slave”, just implies it with the clauses, implies to take anyone who is black and take them as a slave

legislating slavery

transatlantic slave trade: northern states and upper south in favor of banning slave trade, southern states want it to continue due to labor shortage after revolutionary war, congress postpones the end of the trade until 1808

fugitive slave act 1793: allowed masters and their agents to pursue slaves across state lines

3/5th clause 1787: slaved continued as 3/5ths of a person in determining a state’s representation in the house of representatives

Gabriel Prosser and the expansion of slavery

1800: enslaved blacksmith in the Richmond organized a revolt to capture the city and state and abolish slavery, another slave betrayed the rebels before they could complete the revolt, by the early 1800s slavery was expanding into the lower south and the Louisiana territory, slave owners forced slaves into the backbreaking work of cotton sugar hemp and indigo cultivation across the upper and lower south

Haitian revolution 1791-1804

French colony of Saint Domingue was divided into slave holding whites free people of color and slaves, slaved seized upon the rhetoric of the french revolution and the universal rights of man, rose up in 1791, former well educated slave Toussaint L’Ouverture led the slave revolt until he was captured and taken to France, his general Jean-Jacques Dessalines took over the rebellion and declared the island as the free country of Haiti on January 1 1804

James Forten and free black communities

sailor and revolutionary war veteran, amassed fortune as nautical company owner, anti-slavery and women’s rights advocate, helped create the vibrant free black community in Philadelphia, free black communities developed in the north and south after the revolutionary war, members created mutual aid societies churches and schools, most notable were the free African society and the AME church

1812-1820 solidification of slavery and sectionalism

war of 1812: massive military struggle between France and Britain, many Americans saw it as a second war for independence and a chance to expel European powers from the continent for good, pushed issue of slavery to back burner while colonists joined forces to defeat British again

Missouri compromise 1820: north and south divided over whether to admit Missouri territory to union as slave or free state, Henry Clay proposes that Missouri be admitted as a slave state but Maine be admitted as a free state to hold balance, also banned slavery north of the 30/36 line of latitude in the LA territory

takeaways from class on 9/17

you cannot isolate revolution, glimpse of freedom, black people creating black communities,

What words have you been told to use to talk about slavery? Do you feel like you have the vocab to talk about that experience?

Can people have agency when they’re enslaved? what words should we use to talk about that agency?

-”enslaved people” vs. slaves

-I think we all need to be educated more about how to talk about slavery

-yes, not by law, but they have some degree of it — can form communities and build relationships and during task system one black person was appointed to a higher position

-unsure

Which countries were involved in the Age of Revolutions we have been talking about over the past few weeks? 

US, France, Haiti

notion from class 9/19

slaves are thought of as dirty yet they were responsible for breastfeeding the mistress’s babies, intimate psychology, messes with your mind

men were more likely to run away

men could be “hired out” — slaveholder could rent you out to a different slaveholder so you would leave your plantation, men had less familial attachment because they couldn’t feed the baby and they wouldn’t really run away with a baby

cuffy/fancy trade

light-skinned black women, internal trade, also called “fancies”, “white passing”, so white slaveowners could pull up to a hotel with them without people batting an eye, sex slave/trafficking, not their wives, would be hired out to other slaveowners for sexual activities

quiz on tuesday first quiz

image that you analyze, give examples from text , short answer -- examples 6 sentences specificty is better, id or offer examples from class — textbook or lecture or primary source but more specific the better

what was life like for free blacks before the civil war? How did they navigate the rising conflict over slavery?

keep in mind for class

life for free African Americans in the 1800s

following the Missouri compromise there were approximately 235,000 free African Americans in the USA, by comparison there were approximately 1.5 million slaves, free blacks were mostly men located in the north and upper south, severely limited by “black laws” — led to segregation and disenfranchisement, one of the first places we see black laws is public transportation like railroads — do this first to limit their movement, upholds white supremacy

pseudoscience

a set of arguments that relied on “scientific” ideas to claim that some racial groups were naturally superior than others, Samuel Morten—Crania Americana 1839, Dr. Samuel Cartwright—"Diseases and peculiarities of the negro race” 1851, bigger the skull the smarter you are, very popular and widespread, coming up with a medical reason to make racism ok and moral, science like laws create the basis of white supremacy

minstrel show

putting on blackface and doing exaggerated things to undermine or mock them, the thing that binds American culture together — literally like the tik tok of the time, defined by racist caricatures of black people, even black people wore black face, demeaning, necessary for some black people’s careers—it allowed them to get on stage and gain popularity, even judy garland does it, before the civil war to the 1950s and 60s

Maria Stewart and abolition

born free in Hartford Connecticut in 1803, orator and abolitionist working in Boston area, member of the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) the most significant abolitionist organization of the time, used the AASS tactic of “moral suasion” to convince others that slavery was a religious and moral sin

aggressive abolitionism

David Walker: 1829, former slave that fled to Charleston and made a new life, published “appeal to the colored citizens of the world”, appeal - called on blacks around the world to rise up against slavery and adopt violent means if necessary

Nat Turner’s revolt: 1831, slave revolt in Virginia that killed 60 white slave owners, participants eventually captured and executed

manifest destiny

doctrine that defined political and economic progress in racial terms that God intended the US to expand its territory by war if necessary

Mexican American War from 1846-1848: US waged war with republic of Mexico for western territory, Texas separates from Mexico—applied to be admitted to US as a slave state

Wilmot Proviso 1846: failed law that attempted to prohibit slavery in land acquired from Mexico

gold rush and slavery: California wants to enter the union as a free state, this upset balance of slave/non-slave holding powers in Congress

watch politics wondering what comes next, everyday feels like there is something new that pops up that changes the racial state

Compromise of 1850 and Fugitive Slave Act

Compromise of 1850: package of 5 bills developed by Henry Clay — admit California as a free state, eliminate slave trade (but not slavery) in DC, Utah and New Mexico admitted with the option of slavery in the future, stronger Fugitive Slave Laws

Fugitive Slave Act 1850: replaced 1793 Fugitive Slave Act, endorsed sending any enslaved person back to their owner, made all citizens legally responsible for helping capturing runaways, lowered legal standard for slave catchers to prove slave status

Kansas Nebraska Act and Dred Scott

Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854: created territories of Kansas and Nebraska, included a “popular sovereignty” clause (people on the ground can choose if they’re free or slave state rather than government) — allowed residents to choose slave or free state status, caused outbreak of fighting among pro/anti-slavery farmers and settlers

Dred Scott decision 1857: Scott was born a slave but taken to non-slavery territory, he argued that crossing into free territory made him a free man, supreme court led by Justice Taney said that no African American was a citizen that the black man has “no rights that the white man is bound to respect'“

factors that led to Civil War

legislation, geography, culture, Dred Scott v Sanford, balance of power, pseudoscience, election of Lincoln, sectionalism, global revolutions, political violence

class activity 9/26

slaves: before they faced slavery and harsh treatment, turning point was emancipation proclamation, after was freedom

free black people: before they faced segregation, turning point was emancipation proclamation, after was hopes for end of segregation

slave holders: before was wealth power and political strength, turning point was emancipation proclamation and succession, after was financial downturn

white northerners: before was industrial work, turning point was fighting alongside black soldiers, after was new people and economic competition

the reconstruction era

“the slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery” WEB Du Bois

main question: did the reconstruction era elevate the status of African Americans?

end of civil war

January 1863: emancipation proclamation goes into effect, April 9 1865 war ends with battle of Appomattox, April 14 1865 Booth assassinates Lincoln (in theater , December 1865 13th amendment which abolished slavery is ratified

reconstruction on the ground

African Americans asserted their freedom in many ways including: reuniting families (used newspaper ads, juxtaposition to runaway slave ads it’s like the inverse), obtaining land, obtaining an education (all ages in a room because everyone was denied an education, bottom of churches, etc.), finding stable and fair work, elite blacks engaged in American politics

presidential reconstruction 1865-1867

Andrew Johnson (interested in everyone reuniting but not particularly interested in black rights) leads reconstruction efforts, his plan:

blanket amnesty and pardons for ex-confederates and wealthy planters, force confederate states to swear oath to union and ratify 13th amendment, appoint former confederates to state governing posts

southerners revert to old governing structure: exclude newly freed African Americans create “black codes” — list of things black people can and can’t do in states like segregation and limits on where black people can be and what jobs they can have and where they can walk on the sidewalk

radical reconstruction 1868-1877

mitlant republications take over congress in the 1868 election. pass a number of bills to advance civil rights:

veto and impeachment: Johnson vetoes radical republican bills, congress impeaches him in 1868, one vote short of removing him from office, he becomes a lame duck president

radical reconstruction

14th amendment granted African Americans citizenship, 15th amendment granted African American men the right to vote, reconstruction acts 1877: removed confederates from power, divided south into 5 federally-controlled military districts, required southern states write new inclusive constitutions, for freedman’s bureau just because someone is a union army soldier doesn’t mean that it always works out that way on the ground

white backlash — rise of the KKK

KKK created in Pulaski TN by former confederate college students and war veterans, first time KKK rose up but then it rose up a second time in 1920, disorganized at first, their goal was to create fear and intimidate freedman by wearing disguises like hoods and hiding their identities, some klan groups escalated their terrorist tactics to brutal floggings (beatings) and lynchings (hangings)

presidential election of 1876

Rutherford B. Hays (republican) — won electoral vote, Samuel Tilden (democrat)

the compromise of 1877: an end to reconstruction

Tilden won the popular vote by more than 200,000 but Hayes won the electoral vote, Hayes becomes president in exchange for ending federal intervention into south during reconstruction, democrats take control of all former confederate states, end of reconstruction is 1877, 1865-1877 (end of civil war to end of reconstruction), short span — people could’ve lived through slavery and this period of success and then back to the way it was before

in-class activity 10/3

“creating a new society”, decide on 3 areas of focus (we chose education, disenfranchisement, and economic insecurity), develop a plan on how to develop each strategy like how it’ll be funded implemented and enforced, we talked about reparations from former owners, founding Black grade schools and HBCUs, and 15th amendment

grandfather clause

if your grandfather could vote so could you

promise and failure of reconstrcution

13th, 14th, 15th amendment, civil rights act 1875 (outlawed segregation on public accommodations), federal troops to enforce acts in south—5 districts, election of 1877 (dem Sam Tilden wins popular vote but rep. Rutherford Hayes wins electoral vote and becomes president), compromise of 1877 (Hayes becomes president in exchange for pulling out military in the south)

disenfranchisement 1880s-1890s

white legislators attempt to circumvent the 15th amendment through literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, congressional republicans tried to protect black voting rights through the federal elections bill: this bill called for federal supervision in congressional districts where voter fraud and intimidation were alleged, passed in house but failed in the senate after a 33-day democratic filibuster, *this was the last significant effort on behalf of congress to ensure black voting rights until the voting rights act of 1965, 1870s-1960s (almost a century)— united states congress was unwilling or unable to pass legislation to get all black people to vote — didn’t uphold, this voting rights act was obliterated in 2016

lynching

between 1889 and 1932 3,745 people were lynched, majority were black men lynched for allegedly raping white women, economic success, and “talking back” to white people

Ida. B Wells: anti-lynching advocate, born a slave, educated at Shaw University an HBCU, became a journalist and wrote Southern Horrors and Red Record in which she documented the lynchings of black men and women, one of the first women to sue for being segregated on public transportation—she won and used that money to buy a newspaper in Memphis and become the editor and journalist, uses her own newspaper to write about the racial violence that black people are experiencing

Jim Crow laws and segregation

term came from “jumping Jim Crow’ minstrelsy show, started with segregated train cars, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) — suit brought by Homer Ferguson who was a black man in Louisiana — supreme court decides that “separate but equal” does not violate African American civil rights, segregation proliferates to every walk of life, Plessy is “white-passing”, all transportation should be desegregated, violation of 14th amendment (citizenship and due process), separate but equal (make a black-only space for every white-only place) — doesn’t work out that way

migration to Liberia

African Americans who thought it was impossible to gain equality in the U.S. tried to go back to Africa, in the 1870s black leaders in South Carolina organized trips and raised money to take migrants to Liberia, some immigrants prospered and orthers returned to the U.S.

exodusters (migration)

groups of African Americans who made the “exodus” to western territories like Kansas and Oklahoma, founded many black cities, by 1900 African Americans possessed 1.5 million acres in Oklahoma

southern cities (migration)

some black farmers moved to urban areas like Richmond Atlanta and Nashville, found menial work, black women fared better as domestics in urban areas

nadir

era after reconstruction, within Jim Crow (after reconstruction through the 1950s)

midterm

20 mpc. 1 not optional short asnwer and one choice between two questons, first day until now, primary sources on the sylabus, textbook, lecture slides, ella baker book, some facts some about sources. topic sentence 2 examples and conclusion, 6-7 sentences, 2 pt each multiple choice, 20 pt each for short answer, key figures from lecture and book, reconstruction amendments, emphasis on ella baker book , what is the author arguing

lynching review as we go into talking about the new negro period

lynching was extrajudicial, meant to keep black people in check, sometimes immigrants were also lynched

the new negro and the harlem renaissance: 1915: 1930

questions: how did racial discourses change in the 1920s and 1930s? in what ways did African Americans define and enact the “New Negro” as a response to racist practices?

scientific racism

supported ideas that US was under “siege” from immigrants and African Americans, “psuedo-scholars” warned about the threat that these populations imposed, influenced Congress decision to restrict immigration — emergency quota act 1921 (restricted immigrant percent to 3% from any country) + immigration act of 1924 (went to 2%, excluded Asia all together)

racism in popular culture

D.W. Griffith’s a birth of a nation, based on a book called the klansman, two clips in class we watched — black men in politics portrayed as unprofessional and ill-mannered (didn’t wear shoes, drank alcohol, etc.), voting on interracial bill which showed them as a danger to the white women and threat to white men — shows them as villains who choose to first vote on women raher than reuniting families etc., second clip shows black man chasing after white woman to the point where she chooses to jump off of a cliff over facing him — he runs very animalistically and looks almost possessed,

the rebirth of the KKK

resurfaced after Birth of a Nation film—moment when the KKK reasserted itself, 20th century, women’s and children’s KKK wings, anti-immigration, anti-black; christian, vowed to uphold white womanhood

WWI and migration

World War 1: 1914-1918, African Americans supported war effort but they faced discrimination, served in segregated army units, often relegated to service jobs

migration: Black press (black-owned newspapers) played a big role in encouraging African Americans to migrate, the Chicago Defender newspaper was most vocal proponent of migration,

W.E.B. Du Bois and NAACP

W.E.B Du Bois went to Harvard, born in MA with educated parents, life-long radical, started NAACP—National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909, integrationist organization, integration of schools and general education of Black people, still around today

Politics: UNIA

founded in Jamaica in 1914 with the slogan “One God, One Aim, One Destiny”, Garvey relocated to Harlem in 1918 and established UNIA headquarters, Garvey preached black nationalist goals of self-determination race pride and African redemption, UNIA had thousands of members and newspaper: the Negro World, Universal Negro Improvement Association

Politics: Brotherhood Sleeping Car Porters

invested in class politics, Pullman Railroad Company was biggest employer of black men in 1920s, A. Phillip Randolph a black socialist organized black porters into a union, they collectively bartered for better wages and treatment, have a lot of power because railroad is how everyone gets around like how we use airlines

Harlem Renaissance: history and academics

1915—Carter G Woodson creats:

The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, scholarly journal — The Journal of Negro History, Negro History Week —> eventually becomes Black History Month, Association Journal and History Month still exist today but they changed '“Negro” to “African Americans”

Harlem Renaissance: literature and poetry

poems and novels that focused on the black experience, some thought it should be “uplift” literature, others thought it should portray black people’s lived experiences, writers included — Claude Mckay “If We Mus Die” 1919 poem, Alain Locke “Enter the New Negro” 1925 essay, Nella Larson “Passing” 1929 novel

Harlem Renaissance: music

blues originated in Mississippi Delta, famous artists were Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, jazz originated in New Orleans, famous artists were Duke Ellington Orchestra - house band at Cotton Club

Harlem Renaissance: art

common themes are black experience and life and African culture, artists include Aaron Douglas and Lois Mailou Jones, Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery through Reconstruction

Depression and New Deal

depression hit African Americans the hardest, oversupply of food kept black farmers poor, blacks in urban centers pushed out of service jobs, FDR elected in 1932, creates new deal - programs/legislation aimed at softening economic hardship, originally New Deal programs discriminate against blacks, with help of “black cabinet” - they become more equal in their distribution of funds, programs include agricultural adjustment act, works progress administration - employs artists like Langston Hughes and Aaron Douglass,

communist party, labor, and Scottsboro

communist party garners significant black membership due to their support of the “Black Belt Thesis” and the Scottsboro Boys (9 black 8-18 year olds, arrested for raping white women, sentenced to life in jail / death), party also supports black working class more than other groups, Victoria and Ruby Bates (women who claimed they were raped by the boys)

WW2 main questions

what was life like for African Americans during WW2? How did the war transform the black experience in America?

Ethiopia review and how it relates to WW2

Ethiopia has never been colonized! perpetually free black nation, ex for black people that it is possible to maintain an African country and stay there, so when a European power tries to take it over and invade it black people are more engaged in the war and go to fight — segregation during war (separate barracks, separate units, less respect than white soldiers)

pre-war protest strategies

double v campaign — declare victory against fascism abroad and racism at home

march on washington movement (first one, there were two) — A. Phillip Randolph organizes march to end discrimination in armed forces, potential participant numbers reach 100,000, this forces FDR to sign executive order 8802, 8802 bans discrimination in armed forces and defense training, There were 2 march on Washington planned

discrimination in the military in WW2

African American men excluded from most combat jobs, primarily work in service transportation and engineering corps, despite their service they were still treated as second class citizens when off duty or home on leave, the fight to desegregate was going on within the wartime as much as we were fighting against fascism abroad — war looked different for black people because of that, Dorie Miller was a seaman who cooked food but a lot of the trained white soldiers die during pearl harbor so he grabs a gun and fires — saves lives and seen as a war hero for a period of time and then goes back to being a cook

desegregating the military

the Negro Solider directed by frank. capra 1944: audience is black and white americans — if you have that mentality then you have the mentality of Nazis, portrayed as respectable and religious black people who don’t support the Nazis,

tuskegee airmen: trained Black pilots who couldn’t fly for their country but eventually they were permitted to

black women in the military

allow white women into the auxiliary, then there was a quota system where they would take a small amount of women into the military but not too many, served as nurses teletypers mail deliverers, better than being a domestic worker — you get a skill set, video clip of the black women’s experience

transition to peacetime

wartime: offered new opportunities to see the world and different racial politics, allowed blacks to gain new skills, allowed black women entry into new jobs and workforce

peacetime: many gains black men and women made erased, discrimination in distribution of veteran benefits, GI bill — gives money and benefits to veterans like college education and loans for houses and to start businesses — mostly white men very few black men

black soldiers march in parade after returning home