AAS 225 - Quiz 1
" The Ghetto"
- " ghetto " originated in Venice, Italy from the copper foundry or ghetto, that existed in the are before arrival of Jews. Circa 1516
- Prior to creation of the Ghettos, Jewish merchants were allowed to operate but not live in Venice for more than 15 days
- Jewish people were forced to wear identifying insignia, typically a yellow hat badge
- The mixture and the interaction with other communities and intellectuals in Venice, made the Ghetto a cultural hub
- In 1797 Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Venice, eliminating all gates in the city, freeing Jews to live in other areas
- Ruled by Nazi Regime during the Holocaust, 1933-1945
- Transitional holding pen for Jews until a "final solution" was created
- 2 goals * Cause the death of Jews through persecution, hard labor, malnutrition, overcrowding and substandard sanitation conditions * Use the labor of Jews to benefit the Deutsches Reich or German Greater Reich
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“The Venetian Ghetto” (Old World)
- dates back to the 14th century
- results of negotiations between Venice and Jews
- both exclusionary and inclusionary
- cultural and intellectual hub
- synagogues and congregations established
- Jews were allowed to practice professions that Christians couldn’t such as banking and lending
- ended with the destruction of being free to live in Venice
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“The New Ghetto” (New World)
- created during World War II
- results of racist, anti-Semitic Germans
- persecuted and tortured Jews
- meant to be temporary
- designed to house Jews until the “final solution” was implemented
- ended with the death of 6M Jews
People who left the community and protection of it were called Renegade
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Jewish Ghetto vs Black Ghetto
Jewish Ghetto pre-dates formal isolation, main barrier to exit: religion, and economically, politically, and independence. Black ghetto came into existence during the great migration (industrialization), main barrier to exit: race, and economically, politically, and dependent. Both were institutionalized, involuntary, and cultural hubs.
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"Enslavement to Emancipation"
- after 1620, a series: of bills/ laws called " slave codes " stopped blacks from having government, relationship with family. property. etc.
- fight for emancipation was a fight for freedom throughout the US
- 1833 American anti - slavery was founded in Delaware * demanded to end the slave trade
- May 26, 1836: the House of Representatives made the "Gag Rules" which automatically postpone or table any petition on the over 100k anti - slavery petitions that were sent to the House of Representatives.
- President Adams, 70, began a 9 year repel against the Gag Rule which was finally repealed in 1844.
- underground railroad --> *Harriett Tubman* * Anthony Bowen, 1805, Maryland but later moved to DC and bought his freedom in 1830 for $ 425; sheltered people and it was a stomping ground for the underground railroad
- 1853, Bowen organized the nation's first African American YMCA in Washington
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The Snow Riot of 1835
- people were hit and killed if found. trying to escape
- a group of runaway slaves killed about 50 white people with axes.
- August of 1853: confrontation between 18 - year - old Arthur Bowen, slave, and 60 -year - old white socialite Anna Marie Thornton * he walked in her house and "attacked " her and her kids with an axe
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The Pearl Escape
- 1000 slaves ran away/escaped
- 1848, District of Columbia: * Population → 37k * Free slaves → 8k * Slaves → 4k
some tried to buy their freedom
others ran away with the help of the underground railroad
- 76 slaves slipped down to the ship (The Pearl Escape) and got on - board * broken down ship * April 15, 1848
Men, women, children.
Slave owners realized next morning and sailed out on a steamy
- Sisters: Mary & * a bystander supposedly asked her, "aren't you ashamed to run away and make all this trouble for everybody" to which she replied, "no, sir, we are not and if we had, to go through it again, we'd do the same thing.
- slaves were returned to their owners and/or sold but the sisters who were most famous slaves * Sisters and their brothers were shipped to the New Orleans slave-trade and the brothers were sold but not the sisters because they were young, beautiful, and could sing * however, an illness terrorized NOLA so they were shipped to Baltimore and then Alexandria * they were freed and educated by white people Reverend Ward Beacher and his sister, Harriett Beacher-Stone) Appalachians
Mary died young and Emily became an Appalachians and worked with Fredrick Douglas
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Civil War
Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts.
President Ulysses S. Grant
- District of Columbia: Emancipated Act of 1861. Signed into the law on April 16, 1862
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Civil War: The United States of America -Colored Troops
- a quarter of 1M slaves fighting
- 40k killed in battle
- 13th amendment - abolished slavery
- 14th amendment - Citizenship
- 15th amendment - all men have right to vote
President Lincoln convinced slaves to fight by saying they could fight and win their freedom for themselves and families - emancipated.
- Massachusetts 54th Regiment was the first Black union to be formed
- Fredrick Douglas wrote an announcement to blacks about the chance to fight in the war than recruited his sons, Lewis H. (eldest) and Charles R. Douglas who enlisted in the 54th Regiment when it was first, organized in February of 1863 * Lead drill segreant: Lewis H. Douglas 9
- slaves weren't treated fairly during the war
- "The union wouldn't have won without the slaves " - Abe Lincoln
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Early Emancipation Day Celebrations
- 1st celebration of the emancipation was celebrated 4 years after the actual day of emancipation
- celebration days always saw rain and people were there
- John Merer Longstan
statue of black man breaking free from chains with Lincoln handing him the emancipation
- slaves, even free, were still slaves politically
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Reconstruction in the Freedmen's Bureau
- war ended in 1865, and ratification of the 13th 14th, 15th amendments, Black people had rights
- Radical Republicans/Freedom Bureau - 1865 * provided education and housing
*Henry Wilson* Vice President
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The New African American Community in the District - post-Civil War
- 1867-1871: Post Civil War but Pre-Congress
- Howard University
- 1871 made many moves for equality
- 1874 - territorial government was eliminated
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The Rise of Jim Crow
- 1876: prevention of election for a new president because blacks could vote
- 1896: Plessy versus Ferguson * 1/8 black * he was ejected from first class * Blacks got together at Niagara Fall and then a year later at Harper Ferry * Blacks met with liberal whites and named it the NAACP - National Association of the Advancement of Colored People
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The Politics of Race
- lose of voting rights.
- President Woodrow Wilson - 1913-1921 * "separate but " equal "
- Red Summer - 1919
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Mid - Century
- 1930s - Delford Lawson
- "Jim Crow " Law
- New Negro Alliance; black men & women
- Negro renaissance
- 1954 - separate but equal was voted unconstitutional
- 60 & 70s is special for black history, especially in DC • 1969 - Blacks were majority of the population in DC
- 1975 - over 70 % of blacks in DC
Struggle of for Freedom, Justice, and Equality
- Black United Front - '61
- MLK
- President Johnson - Home Room Act
- Reverend Walter F ~ Member of Black United Front
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African American Civil War Museum
opened in 2000 under the leadership of Dr. Frank Smith Jr, Founder
OUR fore fathers
Freedom Fighters
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Definition of “Ghetto”
- a quarter of a city in which Jews were formerly required to live
- a quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure
- an isolated group; a situation that resembles a ghetto specially in conferring inferior status or limiting opportunity
- an impoverished, neglected, or otherwise disadvantaged residential area of a city, usually troubled by a disproportionately large amount of crime
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Urban Dictionary of Ghetto
- When someone is to be described as "ghetto" - it is used to describe that persons STATE OF MIND. "Ghetto" can be both a noun and an adjective. So, in this case, it is used as an adjective where white and Asian people can be just as "ghetto" as black people. Normally, this results from the poor living and upbringing conditions. "Ghetto" is a derogatory term used towards individuals who lack the standards of manners and ethics.
- For some reason, "ghetto" is normally directed towards black individuals. However, it is believed and has been proven that other individuals of a different color can and have acted just as poorly.
- "Ghetto" is NOT black or being black. "Ghetto" is how an individual looks at the world and acts accordingly to the "ghetto" belief. "Ghetto" is how one presents themselves in how they dress, act, and speak that acquires itself from the poor conditionings of a "ghetto" (noun) up-bringing.
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OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS
- Ghettoization
- Industrialization – the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organization of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing
- Urbanization - the process of making an area more urban
- Urban - (1) relating to, or characteristic of a town or city. * "Urbanized Areas" have a population of 50,000 or more * "Urban Clusters" have a population of at least 2,500 and less than 50,000
(2) denoting or relating to popular dance music associated with black performers.
- Suburban - A suburb is a mixed-use or residential area, existing either as part of a city or urban area or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city
- Rural - any population, housing, or territory NOT in an urban area
- Slum - a squalid and overcrowded urban street or district inhabited by very poor people
- Race - each of the major groupings into which humankind is considered (in various theories or contexts) to be divided on the basis of physical characteristics or shared ancestry
- Ethnicity - the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition
- Nationality - the status of belonging to a particular nation.
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“Ghetto” by Louis Wirth
- The ghetto, the modern Jewish immigrant settlement in the Western world, has arisen out of the medieval European urban institution by means of which the Jews were effectually separated from the rest of the population. It represents a case study in isolation and accommodation, and indicates the processes involved in the formation and development of local communities in city life.
- The natural history of this institution shows that it developed as a gradual and undesigned adaptation to a strange habitat and culture, and its disintegration proceeds independent of legal enactment.
- The Jews, in so far as they are a separate ethnic group, are a product of ghetto life, which accounts for the reappearance of the ghetto wherever Jews settle in large numbers.
- The modern ghetto in its location and structure is determined by the unique status of the Jew and by his traditions. His neighbors in the new world tend to be the same as in the old. Eastern ghettos differ from those of the West in that the latter generally have as many local areas of settlement as there are waves of immigrants.
- As the Jew becomes conscious of his subordinate position in the ghetto he flees, but he is pursued by fellow-Jew until his new habitat assumes the atmosphere of the ghetto itself. In the course of his migration, his personality changes as the culture of his group fuses with that of the larger world outside.
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