Civil Rights in the USA - African American - Turning Points

AA - Turning Points - Social - (1865 - 1915)

Civil Rights Act (1875)

Aimed to give equal rights in public areas, but it didn't in practise due to the Jim Crow laws.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1865 - 1915)

Jim Crow Laws

Developed from 1887-91 introduced formal segregation in the south in all public places and this was enforced by white supremacist groups such as the KKK and the Knights of the White Camelia.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1865 - 1915)

Plessey v Ferguson (1896)

The SC decision allowed segregation to occur on the basis that it was "separate but equal".

AA - Turning Points - Social (1865 - 1915)

Transport

The 13th Amendment (1865) gave the right to travel freely, however AA generally couldn't do this due to the cost.

The Jim Crow Laws (developed from 1887-91) introduced formal segregation in the south on trains.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1865 - 1915)

Education

By 1876 there were 70,000 AA at school in the south, compared to none in 1860.

By 1890, 65% of AA school-aged children in the south were still unable to write, compared with 15% of white children

AA - Turning Points - Social (1865 - 1915)

Booker T Washington Tuskegee Institute

Established in 1861

Provided vocational education and training for some AA.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1865 - 1915)

Freedman's Bureau

Up until 1872

Attempted to aid AA in education matters, however it didn't have much impact.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1865 - 1915)

Housing

40k freed slaves in Georgia and South Carolina briefly acquired their own land but then lost it to whites again shortly after the end of Reconstruction.

By 1910, 20% of AA farmers owned their land and their standard of living was rising.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1865 - 1915)

Lynchings

It was estimated 184 AA were lynched in 1885.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1865 - 1915)

Slaughterhouse Case (1873)

Decided that rights of citizens were under state control, leading to Jim Crow being implemented.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1865 - 1915)

Klan Act (1871)

The act was supposed to give protection from the KKK, however lynching's still occurred in practise.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1865 - 1915)

White supremacists groups

They used intimidation and violence against AA's, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camelia.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1865 - 1915)

Ida B Wells

She publicly opposed lynching by speaking to branches of the National Association of Coloured Women (est. 1896), but she failed to get federal backing.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1865 - 1915)

Spring field Riot (1908)

An 84 year old AA man was lynched for being married to a white woman for 32 years.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1865 - 1915)

Convict leasing

Bankrupt state governments would lease out AA convicts to businessmen to be used as cheap labour in terrible conditions (known as convict leasing).

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1865 - 1915)

Black codes

Developed between 1865 - 6

Barred AA from giving evidence against a white person or serving on juries.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1865 - 1915)

14th Amendment (1868)

Was intended to give equal protection under the law, however it didn't in practise.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1915 - 1950)

WW1

The equal treatment by French soldiers raised some awareness of racial equality, but little changed afterwards.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1915 - 1950)

WW2

The irony of fighting the Nazis and the experience of more equal treatment of AA by the English widened awareness of civil rights.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1915 - 1950)

Double V Campaign

During and after the Second World War tried to illustrate the hypocrisy of fighting the Nazis abroad whilst there was still segregation in America.

AA - Turning Points - Social (1915 - 1950)

Education

3.8% of the male AA population had a high-school diploma in 1940, compared to 13% of white males

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1915 - 1950)

Illiteracy rate

In 1952, the illiteracy rate for AA 14 years of age or older (10.2%) was more than five times that of whites (1.8%).

More than a quarter of AA males (28%) completed no more than four years of schooling, compared with less than 9% of white males.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1915 - 1950)

Higher education

2% of AA were college graduates in 1950.

Gaines v Canada (1938), brought to the Supreme Court by the NAACP, promoted university rights for AA.

President Truman set up the Higher Education Commission in 1947 which aimed to end discrimination at colleges and universities

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1915 - 1950)

Home Ownership

In 1940, the percentage home ownership amongst AA was 20.5%, compared with 42.1% for whites.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

Segregation

By the end of 1962, 810 towns and cities had desegregated public areas.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1915 - 1950)

Clarendon County

South Carolina,

In 1949 in Clarendon County, South Carolina, an average of $179 was spent on every white child in school, compared to $43 on each AA child.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1915 - 1950)

Truman's Urban Renewal Programme

In the late 1940s led to more AA being homeless, for example 7000 apartments were torn down in New York to build only 4400 new apartments.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1915 - 1950)

KKK

The KKK was revived in 1915 and at its height in 1924 there were mass parades, burnings of crosses, intimidations, beatings, mutilations and murders, although it had reduced in significant by 1930.

In 1915 it was estimated that 69 AA were lynched.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1915 - 1950)

"The Birth of a Nation"

D.W. Griffith's film "The Birth of a Nation" in 1915 was successful in glorifying the old KKK and presenting a brutal stereotype of AA.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

White Citizens' Councils

Were created and the KKK was revived in order to retain segregation in the 1950s and 1960s.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

Campaigns

SNCC's sit-ins at lunch counters in 1960 led to desegregation of public facilities.

The campaign in Birmingham (1963) and the March on Washington (1963), along with the mass media attention gained by CR movement, pressured Congress to act in favour of civil rights.

President Johnson pushed the CRA of 1964 through Congress, which sped up desegregation.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965)

Aimed to improve AA education.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

Housing

In 1960, half of the housing in Harlem pre-dated 1900 and a dozen people might share one small apartment.

By 1992, 56% of AA rented their homes, compared to 31% of whites.

There were a few integrated middle-class housing areas by the 1990s, like Philadelphia's Mount Airy

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

MLK Chicago Campaign

(1966)

Highlighted the housing problems in the city but did little to solve them

.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

March on Cicero

Illinois

(1966),

Raised attention for the poor housing conditions of AA in Chicago but achieved little apart from this.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

Education

End of the 1960s the percentage of AA with a High School diploma went up 40-60%.

In 1969, 3.6% of AA aged over 14 were illiterate, compared to 0.7% of whites aged >14, however the figure for AA had decreased to 1.6% by 1979, although the figure for whites had also decreased to 0.4%.

In 1990 the AA school dropout rate was 13%, compared to 9% for whites.

In 1992, 76% of AA graduated, which was 6% under whites.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

Ten Point Programme

The Black Panthers (1966-82) included better education for AA, but they didn't make much of an impact on this.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

Brown v Board of Education

(1954) Brought to the Supreme Court by the NAACP, outlawed segregation in education.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

Higher Education

In 1992, 12% of AA had a bachelor's degree, compared to 22% of whites.

Green v Connally (1970) ruled federal funds could be withdrawn from discriminating universities

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

Transport

The Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-6 led to the Supreme Court outlawing segregation on buses in Browder v Gayle (1956).

The Freedom Rides in 1961 pressured the Supreme Court into desegregating interstate and intrastate transportation facilities in Bailey v Patterson (1962).

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

Lynching

14 year old Emmet Till was murdered in 1955 for speaking to a white woman.

Lynching were rarer by 1992, however attacks on AA still occurred, such as the beating of Rodney King by the police in 1991.

The media raised awareness for racial violence after the murder of Emmett Till in 1955, Little Rock in 1957, Birmingham in 1963 and the beating of Rodney King by policemen in 1991.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

Legal rights

In 1950, 35% of those in prison were AA or other non-whites, which had increased to 38% by 1960.

23% of young AA men were in prison, on parole or on probation in 1992.

AA - Turning Points - Political

(1865 - 1915)

15th Amendment

(1870)

Gave AA the right to vote, but it wasn't enforced meaning that very few AA actually managed to register to vote due to voting conditions created by the states

AA - Turning Points - Political

(1865 - 1915)

State

The states introduced grandfather clauses, poll taxes, property qualifications, literacy tests and white-only primaries prevented AA from voting.

Mississippi v Williams (1898) allowed state legislation that excluded AA from the voting register

AA - Turning Points - Political

(1865 - 1915)

AA in politics

1870s, 22 AA were elected to Congress.

Over 600 of AA sat on state legislatures during Reconstruction, 90% of whom came from the south.

From 1881-1969 there were no AA Senators and from 1901-1929 there were no AA Congressmen.

In 1869 Abram Colby, AA member of the Georgia legislature, targeted by the KKK & near whipped to death.

An AA member of the Mississippi state senate, Charles Caldwell, was shot >30 times by whites and killed on Christmas day 1875.

AA - Turning Points - Political

(1950 - 1992)

Mississippi Freedom

The Mississippi Freedom Ballot in 1963 and the Mississippi Freedom Summer in 1964 demonstrated that AA would vote if they could, leading to more pressure on the federal government to pass legislation on voting rights.

AA - Turning Points - Political

(1950 - 1992)

Selma - Montgomery March

The march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 pressured Congress into passing the Voting Rights Act 1965, which made conditions on voting illegal.

AA - Turning Points - Political

(1950 - 1992)

Kennedy

Appointed 5 AA federal judges during his Presidency from 1961-63.

AA - Turning Points - Political

(1950 - 1992)

Turnout at elections

Only around 54% of AA voted in 1992, which was around 8% lower than the average for all citizens.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1865 - 1915)

Pay

In 1900, male AA workers earned an average of 45% the pay of male white workers.

AA - Turning Points - Social

(1950 - 1992)

Ten Point Programme

The Black Panthers plan included fairer juries for AA, but they didn't make much of an impact on this. They also patrolled the streets to help reduce incidences of police misconduct towards AA.

AA - Turning Points - Political

(1865 - 1915)

Right to vote

Following the Civil War, over 700,000 AA men were enrolled to vote.

It was estimated that of the 181,000 AA males of voting age in Alabama in 1900 only 3,000 were registered to vote.

AA - Turning Points - Political

(1915 - 1950)

Right to vote

In 1947, 12% of AA were registered to vote.

The number of AA registered to vote in the USA rose from 2% in 1940 to 12% in 1947 and to 20% in 1952.

The NAACP used the courts to get political rights, such as in Smith v Allright (1944) which outlawed all kinds of white primary in Texas.

AA - Turning Points - Political

(1915 - 1950)

AA in politics

By 1947, there were only 2 AA Congressmen out of 535, which was 0.37%.

By the late 1940s, 25 AA were elected to state legislatures, although none in the Deep South.

President Woodrow Wilson dismissed AA advisors from the federal government (1913-21).

AA - Turning Points - Political

(1950 - 1992)

Right to vote

The percentage of registered AA voters in Mississippi increased dramatically from 6.7% in 1964 to 67.5% in 1968.

AA - Turning Points - Political

(1950 - 1992)

AA in politics

As of 1991, there were only 26 AA Congressmen out of 535, which was only 4.9%.

The number of AA in public office increased from 100 in 1964 to 8,000 in 1992.

From 1989-93, Bush only had only one AA cabinet member, Louis Wade Sullivan.

AA - Turning Points - Political

(1950 - 1992)

Jesse Jackson

Unsuccessful bids to win the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 as part of the Rainbow Coalition helped to unite AA amongst themselves and with other groups.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1865 - 1915)

Jobs

By 1890 three in four AA farmers were either tenants or sharecroppers, compared to one in three whites.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1865 - 1915)

Booker T Washington

Spoke about the importance of AA economic improvement. He established the Tuskegee Institute in 1861 and the Negro Business League in 1900. He also gained the backing and support of influential white philanthropic entrepreneurs, such as Andrew Carnegie. However, Washington didn't have much impact in practise.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1915 - 1950)

Jobs

Even though the numbers of AAs in Fed employment increased from 50k in 1933 to 200k in 1946, the majority of these were in low-level, unskilled occupations.

During the New Deal and WW2, there was a 25% increase in the number of AAs working in the iron and steel industries.

In 1940, only 10% of defence contractors employed AAs.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1865 - 1915)

AA businesses

By 1900, 150 AA newspapers existed across the country.

By 1915 there were 30,000 businesses owned by AAs in the south.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1865 - 1915)

AA Trade Unions

Many white trade unions saw AAs as a threat and so refused them membership.

The National Negro Labour Union (est. 1869) was unsuccessful in affiliating with white skilled unions.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1915 - 1950)

Philip Randolph

Campaigned to end discrimination in federal employment in the 1940s drew attention to AA economic rights.

AA - Turning Points - Political (1950 - 1992)

Registered to vote

Alabama - 1964 -19.3% AA's

1968 - 61.3% AA's

Georgia - 1964 -27.4% AA's

1968 -60.4% AA's

Mississippi - 1964 -6.7% AA's

1968 - 67.5% AA's

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1915 - 1950)

Pay

In 1949, the median yearly earned income of full-time white male workers was $3,150, whereas this was only $1,950 for full-time AA male workers.

The Fair Labour Standards Act (1938) set a new minimum wage, but AA wages were still lower than whites' wages.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1950 - 1992)

Affirmative action

By 1968 affirmative action had increased AA in the construction industry from 1% to 12%.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1950 - 1992)

Apprenticeships

Held only about 3% of apprenticeships in 1969.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1950 - 1992)

Bush

In 1990 Bush vetoed a Civil Rights Bill which could have made it easier to challenge job discrimination.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1950 - 1992)

Promotions

By 1992, 14% of AA men worked in managerial and professional jobs, compared to 27% of white men.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1950 - 1992)

Poverty line

In 1965, 30% of AA lived below the poverty line, compared to 8% of whites.

In 1966, four-in-ten (41.8%) of African-Americans were classed as poor and AA constituted nearly a third (31.1%) of all poor Americans.

In 1980, nearly 70% of the urban poor were AA, compared to 10% white.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1915 - 1950)

AA Trade Unions

The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids (est. 1925) initially was rejected by the Pullman Company but was recognised in 1935.

White trade unions began accepting AA, such as the Congress of Industrial Organisations (est. 1937).

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1950 - 1992)

Welfare benefits

During Reagan's Presidency (1981-89) AA made up 11.7% of the population, but received high levels of aid, such as 43% of housing subsidies and 35% of housing stamps.

By the mid-1980s, 40% of African American families had acquired middle class lifestyles.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1950 - 1992)

AA Trade Unions

The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (est. 1972) represented 37 national unions and promoted African American labour rights.

By 1992, nearly all white unions accepted AA.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1915 - 1950)

WW2

Were employed in aircraft factories for the first time.

More AA gained better jobs and managed to retain them at the end of the war.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1915 - 1950)

WW1

During the First World War more AA were in employment, however they generally lost their jobs at the end of the war.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1915 - 1950)

Fair Employment Act (1941)

Promoted equality in employment, but it didn't have much impact.

Set up the Fair Employment Practise Committee to investigate discrimination in employment, but it didn't have much impact.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1915 - 1950)

Promotions

In Mobile, Alabama, 50 people were injured in riots after 12 AA welders were promoted in May 1943.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1950 - 1992)

Unemployment

The 1992 AA unemployment rate was nearly twice the national average (14.2% compared to 7.8%).

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1950 - 1992)

Operation Breadbasket

(1962-72),

Which AA only bought products from companies that were owned by or employed AA, was largely successful in several

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1950 - 1992)

Pay

In 1978 female-headed AA families earned a median income of under $6000.

In 1991, the median earning of year-round, full-time AA male works was 73% that of comparable white males.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1915 - 1950)

Welfare Benefits

By 1992, 14% of AA men worked in managerial and professional jobs, compared to 27% of white men.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1915 - 1950)

AA Businesses

Marcus Garvey's Black Eagle Star Steamship Line and his ideas about AA businesses gave hope to working class AA that there could be economic equality, but he soon ran into financial difficulties and was discredited.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1950 - 1992)

Cold War

Brought about anti-communist feelings, so whites were less likely to support welfare programmes and other socialist-like policies.

AA - Turning Points - Economic (1950 - 1992)

Johnson's Great Society

In the 1960s helped some poor inner-city AA, this did not help AA across the whole country and was damaged by the Vietnam War.