African American History Exam Notes

John Carroll University - SC 2350 51: African Americans Historical and Contemporary Experiences

Course Information

• University: John Carroll University, University Heights, Ohio (Spring 2022)
• Course Number: CRN# 11065, SC 2350 51
• Title: African Americans Historical and Contemporary Experiences
• Schedule: Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays, 11:30 AM - 12:20 PM
• Location: St Ignatius Hall – Rm #34
• Dates: 1/18/2025 - 5/13/2025

Final Exam

• Date: 05/07
• Time: 10:00 AM – 11:50 AM
• Material:
  • Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans
  • Ch 17 - The African-American Odyssey. 7th Edition. Prentice Hall.
  • Ch 19 - The African-American Odyssey. 7th Edition. Prentice Hall.
  • Ch 6 - White Flight (Group #6)
  • Ch 7 - IRS Support and Compliant Regulators (Group #7)
  • Ch 8 - Local Tactics (Group #8)
  • Ch 9 - State-Sanctioned Violence (Group #9)
  • Ch 10 - Suppressed Incomes (Group #10)
  • (1964) Black Like Me James Whitmore (Actor) Carl Lerner (Director)
  • Ch 23 - The African-American Odyssey. 7th Edition. Prentice Hall.

Chapter 23: Black Politics and President Barack Obama 1980–2016

• Key Topics:
  • Jesse Jackson’s rise to prominence within the Democratic Party.
  • Presidents Reagan and Bush to dismantle the “Great Society” and to diminish social welfare programs.
  • Key roles that black conservatives played in the Republican Party from the 1990s to the present.
  • Major differences between the “old” and the “new” civil rights.
  • Focal points of black activism during the Reagan and Bush presidencies.
  • General white perceptions of young black men affected trends in criminal justice during the closing decade of the twentieth century and the opening decades of the twenty-first century.
  • African Americans support of Bill Clinton’s presidency and sustained loyalty to the Democratic Party.
  • The significance of 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina, and the election of President Barack Obama on black political consciousness

Jesse Jackson's Run for the Presidency (1984)

• Slogan: MAKE YOUR VOICE BE HEARD
• Key Message: VOTE TO STOP THE ARMS RACE. VOTE TO PUT AMERICA BACK TO WORK
• Urging people to vote for Jesse Jackson, emphasizing that their voice is their vote.
• Authorized by The Jesse Jackson for President Committee, Emma Chapelle, Treasurer

Jesse Jackson and PUSH

• After MLK Jr.’s death, Jackson founded People United to Serve Humanity (PUSH).
• PUSH induced corporations with markets in the black community to adopt affirmative action programs.
• Rainbow Coalition: Included people marginalized and underrepresented.
• PUSH/Excel: Focused on education and ran voter registration drives.
• Black voters favored the Democratic ticket, but Ronald Reagan won in a landslide.
• New voters retained the House for Democrats and gained a majority in the Senate two years later.
• Jackson ran again in 1988 primaries.
• Won 15 primaries and caucuses and 7 million votes.
• Campaign strategies were a precursor for Barack Obama in 2008 election.

The Rainbow Coalition

• Founded by Jesse Jackson in 1984.
• Sought to unite diverse groups of Americans, including African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals.
• Advocated for social programs, voting rights, and affirmative action for marginalized communities.
• Critical of the economic policies of the Reagan administration.

Key Aspects of the Rainbow Coalition

• Inclusivity: Unity and solidarity among diverse groups, drawing on the nation’s racial, religious, and economic diversity.
• Advocacy for Social Justice: Policies that addressed social inequality, including social programs, voting rights, and affirmative action.
• Focus on Economic Issues: Unemployment, job creation, and the need for investment in urban areas.
• Impact on the Democratic Party: Mobilized voters and winning delegates influenced the Democratic Party’s platform and policies.
• Legacy of Social Change: Demonstrated the power of inclusive movements and the importance of addressing social inequalities.

Ronald Reagan

• Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) - 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989.
• Republican: An important figure in the American conservative movement.
• Reaganomics: Neoliberal economic policies focusing mainly on supply-side economics – aka "trickle-down economics."
  • Tax cuts and economic benefits for the wealthy will eventually benefit everyone else in the economy, through job creation, investment, and increased economic growth.

1980s Politics

• White conservatives in the 1980s:
  • Mobilized a base of disillusioned southerners, alienated northerners, and wealthy elites.
  • Reversed liberal-progressive policies.
  • Consolidated Republican Party power.
• By the 1990s, Black voters put their hopes in the Democratic Party.
• Fractures along class lines in the black community.
  • Urban black poor swelled; middle and upper class gained a greater share of educational, social, and political institutions.

MLK Holiday

• African Americans saw the symbolic importance of making Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday a national holiday.
• Reagan resisted but gave in to pressure.
  • January 20, 1985: First observation
• 2011: President Obama unveiled a statue of King, the first African-American monument on the Mall.

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

• Essentially a civil rights watchdog.
• Issued reports critical of Reagan’s civil rights policies.
• Reagan responded by replacing the chairman.
• Vice chair, Mary Frances Berry, a respected civil rights activist, clashed with the president.
• Reagan tried to remove her, but Berry sued to retain her position and she won.
• Mary Frances Berry served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1980 to 2004, including a period as Chair from 1993 to 2004.
• She was also a professor of American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Berry is known for her activism, scholarship, and public service related to civil rights, gender equality, and social justice.

George H.W. Bush Presidency

• George H. W. Bush won the 1988 election as a Republican.
• The Republican Party was southern-dominated and fought to roll back civil rights progress of the 1950s and 1960s.
• Civil Rights Act Vetoed
  • President Bush vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1990, stating that the bill would “introduce the destructive force of quotas into our nation’s employment system.”

Bush's Appointments of Black Conservatives

• Bush hid intentions by appointing black conservatives to key positions.
• Clarence Thomas, an opponent of affirmative action.
• Clarence Thomas has a complex and sometimes contradictory relationship with affirmative action.
• While he has stated that he benefited from it, he has also expressed strong opposition to its use, particularly in college admissions.
• He has argued that affirmative action is divisive, harmful, and unconstitutional, arguing that it stigmatizes minorities and violates the principle of equal rights.

Clarence Thomas Supreme Court Nomination

• 1991: George H. W. Bush nominated black conservative Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.
• Thomas’s credentials were questioned:
  • Only 15 months as an appellate court judge.
• Anita Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment when she worked for him.
  • She had participated in a confidential investigation.
  • Answers leaked to the press; she agreed to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
  • Senators questioned her integrity, and Thomas denied accusations.
• Despite opposition, Thomas was confirmed with a narrow margin.
• Justice Thomas is an archconservative and adamantly opposes affirmative action.
• Black women opposed Thomas’s confirmation to the Supreme Court because of his sexist and racist treatment of Anita Hill.
• They thought that Thomas’s placement on the Court would create a conservative majority, which would imperil the working class and elderly and possibly lead to the dismantling of affirmative action and social welfare programs.
• The women were affronted by Thomas’s claim of “high tech” lynching because they felt Thomas had trivialized a painful part of African-American history.
• They also thought he had used the lynching comment to shelter himself from Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment.

Affirmative Action

• Affirmative action in the United States is the active effort to improve employment, educational, and other opportunities for members of groups that have been subjected to discrimination.
• Criteria for affirmative action include race, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, and age.

Debate Surrounding Affirmative Action

• Centers on whether race should be considered in college admissions and employment.
  • Proponents argue it's necessary to counteract historical and ongoing discrimination, promoting diversity and equal opportunity.
  • Opponents claim it's reverse discrimination, unfairly disadvantaging qualified individuals and perpetuating racial tensions.

1990s and African Americans

• 1990s: African Americans an indispensable base of the Democratic Party.
• Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988:
  • Authorized withholding federal funds from an institution if any program discriminated against women, minorities, aged, or disabled.
• Fair Housing Act of 1988: Housing complaints could be investigated.
• Civil Rights Act of 1991
• Reparations:
  • African Americans focused on issues for slavery and the spread of HIV/AIDS in the United States and Africa.
• 2000: Randall Robinson published The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks.
  • Said that African Americans were due financial indemnification for slavery.
  • Some proposed more investment in education for African Americans.

Mass Incarceration

• Young black men and increased police brutality and racial profiling.
• 2000 election disputed; made the black community more aware of the adverse consequences of mass incarceration.
• Many states prohibit felons from voting.
  • 1.8 million felons and former felons in the United States are black and can’t vote.

Perceptions of Young Black Men

• After George Bush was reelected to the presidency, there was an increase in white people’s perceptions of young black men as criminals.
• In addition, high-profile cases, such as the Rodney King beating, enhanced white people’s view of the police as maintaining law and order, while black people saw only police brutality and racism.
• The white perception of young black men as criminals was a factor in an increase in police brutality and racial profiling toward black men and led to an upward trend in the incarceration of African Americans.

Policing the Black Community

• Rodney King victim of police beating after high-speed chase.
  • Incident captured on videotape; television news broadcast repeatedly.
• 1997: Haitian immigrant beaten and sodomized in custody at Brooklyn police station.
• 1999: New York police shot West African immigrant 41 times as he reached for his wallet; thought he had a gun.

The Million Man March

• A massive gathering of African American men in Washington, D.C. on October 16, 1995.
• Organized by Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam.
• Focused on promoting African American unity, family values, and responsibility.
• Estimated 400,000 to 1.1 million participants, making it one of the largest demonstrations in American history.

Welfare Queen Stereotype

• "Welfare queen" is a derogatory term used in the United States to describe individuals who are perceived to misuse or abuse the welfare system, often through fraudulent means, child endangerment, or manipulation.
• "Welfare queen" has remained a stigmatizing label and has at times been disproportionately associated with black, single mothers.
• This stereotype implies that these women intentionally have multiple children to maximize their welfare benefits, avoid seeking employment, and live extravagantly at the expense of taxpayers.
• As a result, it has been widely criticized as racist by many observers and overlooks the fact that many White, Latino, Asian, and Arab Americans are welfare recipients.

TransAfrica and Black Internationalism

• Randall Robinson sought to link African-American liberation struggles with those of South Africans and elsewhere.
• Founded TransAfrica to lobby for black political prisoners in South Africa, such as Nelson Mandela.
• The antiapartheid movement was a major priority.
• 1990: South African president ended Mandela’s incarceration.
• South Africa became a multiracial democracy with Mandela elected president.

Bill Clinton’s Presidency

• Seen as a friend to African Americans, but their hopes were not entirely fulfilled.
• 2000 and 2004: Conservative triumph made black political leaders reassess strategies.
• New generation of black politicians: centrists
  • Barack Obama of Illinois
  • Deval Patrick of Massachusetts
• Obama’s 2008 victory was a triumph of Rainbow Coalition building.
• Clinton helped elect Obama to the presidency.
• Obama successfully mobilized black and Latino voters and was supported by a majority of racial minority, women, and gay voters.

Clinton's Relationship with the Black Community

• Most black people considered Clinton the best president on race issues since Lyndon Johnson.
• Clinton appointed many black women to upper-level positions in the White House and federal bureaucracy.
• Worshiped in black churches.
• Included his black friends on his transition team and in cabinet.
• Appointed many African-American officials and judges.

Clinton's Economic Policies

• Focused on the economy:
  • Increased taxes of higher-income Americans.
  • Pushed for an extension of the earned income tax credit.
  • College student-aid program increased federal loan benefits.
• Left office in 2001: The country had the lowest poverty rate in 20 years.
• His economic programs were supported by moderate Republicans and the Congressional Black Caucus.
• Unemployment dropped from $7.2$ percent to $4.0$ percent.
• American businesses created 10 million new jobs.
• The federal deficit was cut in half.

Cumulative Real GDP Growth

• Graph illustrating the cumulative real GDP growth % by quarter of the presidency for Carter, Clinton, Reagan, Obama, Bush 43, Bush 41, and Trump.

Impact of 9/11

• 9/11 had a profound and multifaceted impact on Black Americans
• Education Reform: The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
  • Aimed to improve education for all students, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Appointed several African Americans to prominent positions
  • Colin Powell as the first Black Secretary of State
  • Condoleezza Rice, the first Black woman Secretary of State

2008 Financial Crisis

• Housing crisis had a devastating impact on Black communities, leading to significant job losses and foreclosures.
• Black and Latino households lost between $44-48$ percent of their wealth during this recession, compared to about 25 percent for white households.
• Opposed affirmative action policies
  • Asserted they were unconstitutional
  • Supported race-neutral programs, such as the "top 10 percent" plan as alternatives to affirmative action

Expanded Surveillance Programs

• The Patriot Act disproportionately affected communities of color, including Black Americans.
• Increased police militarization: police forces, often justified under the guise of national security, led to increased police presence and scrutiny in Black communities.
• "War on Terror": The language and policies contributed to a climate of fear and suspicion that extended to Black communities.
• Islamophobia and its effects
  • For Black Muslims, the post-9/11 surge in Islamophobia led to increased discrimination, scrutiny, and fear of hate crimes.
• Misidentification and profiling: Black individuals, regardless of their religious affiliation, may have been subjected to misidentification and profiling due to perceived connections with Arab or Muslim communities.
• Shared experiences of discrimination: Black Muslims experienced the intersection of anti-Black racism and Islamophobia, adding complexity to their post-9/11 experiences.

Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell

• Rice: Soviet expert on the United States National Security Council. Bush relied heavily on her advice in his dealings with Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin.
  • First female, first African-American, and youngest provost in Stanford’s history.
• Powell: The 15th national security advisor from 1987 to 1989, and the 12th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993.
  • A professional soldier for thirty-five years, holding a variety of command and staff positions and rising to the rank of general.

Obama in 2009

• Faced a severe economic crisis: the Great Recession
• The Iraq War and the Afghanistan War, along with the ongoing "War on Terror."
• Post-Bush administration’s policies
• The bailout of the banking industry and the auto industry

The Biggest Bailout in U.S. History

• Image showing that taxpayers have paid nearly $200 billion$ for the bailout of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac.
  • The PATH Act ends the taxpayer-funded bailout of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, phasing them out within five years.

Economic Stabilization Acts

• "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008" and the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)"
• The 2008 act, also known as the "bailout," involved a $700 billion$ program to stabilize the financial system and improve liquidity.
• The ARRA or "stimulus package" was an $800 billion$ program aimed at saving and creating jobs, providing temporary relief, and investing in infrastructure, education, and renewable energy.

Affordable Care Act (ACA)

• Enacted in 2010 aimed at expanding health insurance coverage and reforming the healthcare system.
• Mandated most citizens obtain health insurance, with subsidies available for lower-income individuals and families.
• ACA also prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage or charging higher premiums based on pre-existing conditions.

Key Features of the Affordable Care Act

• Expanded Medicaid: Helped states to expand their Medicaid programs to cover more low-income individuals and families, including adult individuals.
• Employer Mandate: Large employers (those with 50 or more employees) are generally required to offer health coverage to their full-time employees or face a penalty
• Cost-Sharing Reductions: Provides cost-sharing reductions for individuals with incomes between 150% and 400% of the FPL, which helps lower their out-of-pocket costs for healthcare services
• Coverage of Essential Health Benefits: Compliant health plans must cover a wide range of essential health benefits, including preventive care, prescription drugs, and mental health services
• Elimination of Pre-Existing Condition Exclusion: Prohibits health insurers from denying coverage or charging higher premiums to individuals with pre-existing medical conditions
• Guarantee of Insurance Coverage: Requires insurers to offer coverage to all applicants, regardless of their health status.

Obama Initiatives

• Initiative to Improve Educational Outcomes for African Americans
  • President Obama's remarks on the My Brother's Keeper initiative
• The Middle-Class Tax Cuts’ Impact on African-American Families

The American Jobs Act

• The American Jobs Act – Obama’s commitment to strengthen the recovery and help increase access to jobs for all Americans
• African-Americans unemployment rate of $16.7$ percent – and 1.4 million African-Americans out of work
• The plan is to increase job creation, expand opportunities for long-term employment, and provide incentives for businesses to hire via making investments in revitalizing schools, infrastructure, and neighborhoods.