Review Lecture Notes

Attacks on Voting Rights

• Despite efforts to register and vote, people faced major attacks.
• In a previous video, it was mentioned that 100 Black men, including soldiers, were killed.

Wilmington Race Riot (1898)

• Occurred two years after the Plessy decision.
• Alfred Wiles, a former Confederate, rallied support with money.
• Wilmington's local government had been operating biracially, with both Black and White officials.
• Alfred Waddle led a coup after losing an election, taking over city offices and appointing himself mayor.
• The Black section of town was burned, along with homes of White officials who sympathized with the Black officials.
• The federal government did not intervene.
• The South under Confederate control resembled the same bloc as during the Civil War.

Reconstruction and Civil Rights Laws

• Racial segregation violated existing Reconstruction civil rights laws and federal policies.
• African Americans developed strategies to maintain their rights during Reconstruction.

Homer Plessy and the 14th Amendment

• On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy challenged segregation laws in Louisiana by sitting in a White passenger car.
• Plessy's actions were a planned act of civil disobedience orchestrated by a group of Black Republicans to challenge the 14th Amendment in the Supreme Court.
• Plessy was chosen because of his light complexion, which made it difficult to distinguish him from Whites.
• The goal was to highlight the absurdity of determining someone's race based on appearance.
• Plessy was arrested after refusing to move to the Black car.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

• The Supreme Court upheld Louisiana's segregation law, establishing the "separate but equal" doctrine.
• This decision dealt a blow to Reconstruction and relegated African Americans to the margins of society.
• Black people began to live within the limitations set by federal and state governments, but the struggle for freedom continued.
• The Plessy decision violated the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
• The federal government's acceptance of "separate but equal" enabled events like the Wilmington Race Riot.

Continued Oppression

• The "Mississippi Plan" extended beyond Mississippi, impacting voting rights and economic opportunities also resulting in Jim Crow laws and unequal funding in schools.

Global Affairs and Imperialism

• The Spanish-American War ended in 1898, marking the U.S. government's move into global imperialism.
• In 1896, the scramble for Africa was confirmed as European powers sought to colonize and control African territories.
• The U.S. pursued consumer imperialism, using material goods and open trade to gain influence without direct territorial control.
• European nations, led by King Leopold of Belgium, sought resources like rubber and petroleum in Africa, leading to brutal exploitation in the Congo.
• The U.S. acquired territories like the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War, using them as testing grounds for consumer imperialism.
• American troops, including Buffalo Soldiers from the ninth and tenth cavalry, were involved in these territories.

Buffalo Soldiers and the American West

• The U.S. government aimed to establish new states and settle indigenous populations in the American West.
• The government targeted the buffalo to force indigenous tribes into submission, leading to the Dawes Act.
• The Dawes Act allowed Native Americans to swear an oath to the U.S. and receive land, but resulted in the loss of millions of acres.
• Black soldiers, known as Buffalo Soldiers, were stationed in the West and earned respect from indigenous populations due to their understanding of systemic racism.
• The U.S. government established "civilization schools" to assimilate indigenous children, suppressing their language and culture.

Global Connections and Migration

• Black soldiers' involvement in the Caribbean led to connections with figures like Marcus Garvey, who later migrated to the U.S.
• The Great Migration involved Black people moving from the South to urban areas, creating a cultural melting pot.

Black Women's Club Movement

• Black women formed nationwide organizations, evolving from mutual aid and church societies.
• Their motto was "lifting as we climb," emphasizing mutual support and advancement.
• This movement predated the NAACP, highlighting Black women's leadership in social justice.
• Many of the movement's leaders were formerly enslaved and lived through the Jim Crow era.
• The movement challenged stereotypes through respectable clothing and behavior.

Goals of Black Women's Organizations

• Anti-lynching campaigns to stop violence against Black people and their sympathizers.
• Education initiatives to improve racially segregated schools.
• Healthcare services due to racial segregation in hospitals.
• Advocacy for voting rights and against the disfranchisement of Black men since only men could vote at that time.
• Emphasis on "morals and manners" or double consciousness as a way to deal with racist expectations in predominantly white spaces.

Morals and Manners: Double Consciousness

• "Morals and manners" involved adjusting behavior in predominantly White spaces to ensure physical safety.
• This concept relates to Du Bois's double consciousness, adjusting one's behavior to fit in different environments.
• Etiquette norms, such as avoiding physical contact or stepping off the curb, were crucial for survival.
• The story of Emmett Till illustrates how violating these norms could lead to violence.

Later Organizations and Leaders

• The National Council of Negro Women focused on education, self-help, and advocacy, laying the foundation for the civil rights movement.
• Local auxiliaries of women's organizations were named after historic Black women to honor their contributions.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

• Ida B. Wells-Barnett, born into slavery, became a teacher and journalist.
• She was the nation's first anti-lynching crusader, researching and challenging lynching practices.
• Her book, Southern Horrors, Lynch Laws in All Its Phases, identified economic and sexual anxiety as primary causes of lynching.
• Economic anxiety: the idea that African Americans are stepping out of their place, gaining too much wealth.
• Sexual anxiety: Stereotype of how white women are being pursued by black men who are inherently criminal and sexually deviant which then unleashes the stereotype of the black male rapist.

Thomas Moss and the People's Grocery

• Thomas Moss, a Black grocery store owner, was lynched due to competition from a White business.
• His last words, "tell my people to go west," inspired Ida B. Wells to fight against lynching.

Ida B. Wells's Activism

• Ida B. Wells left the South and relocated to Chicago, becoming part of the Great Migration.
• She wrote for the Chicago Defender, which published information about lynchings and opportunities outside the South.
• The Chicago Defender was distributed by members of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first Black labor union.
• Wells cofounded the NAACP, which focused on lobbying, lawsuits, and legislation to achieve integration and equality.

The Clansman and Birth of a Nation

• The Clansman, a novel by Thomas Dixon Junior, promoted the Lost Cause ideology and portrayed the KKK positively.
• Birth of a Nation, a film adaptation of The Clansman, became the first motion picture in U.S. history.
• It depicted Black people in a negative light and glorified the KKK, leading to further racial segregation and discrimination.
• Actors in white face paint depicted black characters enforcing and enhancing stereotypes.
• The film was shown in the White House by President Woodrow Wilson, who then racially segregated the White House and DC by law.