African Americans Flashcards
Position of African Americans in 1865 (good)
13th Amendment in February: neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States -> freed 4 million AA slaves
‘sharecropping’ allowed former slaves to work land in return for considerable share of what was produced
freedom to move, enjoy personal liberty, no longer separated from partners and children
Position of African Americans in 1865 (bad)
did not mean they immediately gained rights as former white owners
suggested that all former slaves should leave USA, but Lincoln ruled it out as impractical
another idea = ensure AAs had some status as whites -> would cause formidable problems in the south as they viewed AAs more akin to property than citizens. Even in N, a minority saw total equality as undesirable
former slaves = caught between being legally free & not seen as equal
no means of making a living
shardcropping = not v diff from slaves
violence in aftermath of war for any supposed lack of respect to whites and any attempts to make use of their rights given to them
segregation increased markedly
fear of AAs increased therefore violence and segregation intensified
uncertainty:
- gov -> what to do with problem of millions of freed slaves, as well as the southern rebels whom they had defeated
- whites -> how far to go with measures for greater equality
- AAs -> their role/ status in post-war America and how far to press for equality
The US government and the development of civil rights
1865: Southern states not readmitted to the Union and under mil. role
-> congress had opportunity to promote CR -> Congressional Reconstruction
-> more radical changes than during any other period in 1960s
Congressional Reconstruction (good)
VP Johnson took office in April 1865
Once southerners had sworn oath of loyalty to Union, they could elect state assemblies which would ratify the 13th Amendment
Radical Republicans = persuasive and influential advocates for change; helped by Congress establishing a federal institution in March 1865 -> Freedmen’s Bureau, to help emancipated slaves
Joint Congressional Committees of 15 established in December 1865 which pushed through 14th and 15th Amendments ; sanctioned military support for the recon. measures -> federal force not used again in this way until 1950s
1886-7 Congressional measures had opposition from Johnson, leading to him being impeached ; his successor, Grant, worked more closely with Congress and used troops to support legislation
-> unity between pressure and Congressional = remarkable changes 1868-75
Congressional Reconstruction (bad)
Johnson = concerned with Union not the rights of AAs
sympathetic President allowed states confidence to pass Black Codes
Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow Laws = discriminatory measures passed by southern states
-> gradually, segregation became legalised
Tennessee segregated rail travel in 1881; soon spread through south
segregation affected: transports, waiting room, sports, hospitals, orphanages, prisons, funeral homes, cemeteries, education
attempts to designate separate residential areas -> Supreme Court objected
-> but, possible to achieve in practice due to intimidation
South able to remove AA representatives by intimidation
Measures against voting
Could vote in theory due to changes made after 1866 but states established qualifications e.g literacy tests or ‘grandfather clauses’ (man’s family had voted before a certain date) or voter registration tests
-> 13,000 AA voters in Louisiana 1896 fell to 5000 in 1900
Violence and intimidation (no action taken to end it)
By 1890s, an AA was brutally killed every 2 days -> lynching = almost institutionalised
Violence = common during slavery ; grew during CW; grew after it
-> w/o federal forces to suppress it; it became a regular way of life into 1950s
State gov = major role in restricting CR
Congress = major role in extending CR
Courts as a barrier to CR
1883 United States v. Harris
-> SC ruled that 1875 CR Act = unconstitutional
-> held that private discrimination did not fall under federal jurisdiction
Wilkins v. Mississippi 1898
- Court ruled that discriminatory voter reg. laws were not unconstitutional as there was no specific mention of race in voting qualification
-technically true but obvious that the intention = disenfranchise AAs
1896 Plessy v. Ferguson
-in 1890 Louisiana passed a JC law segr. railway trains
-Homer Plessy, an AA, challenged law by trav. in a whites-only carriage
-he was punished in New Orleans Court and appealed to SC, who ruled 7-1 that Louisiana was not going against constitution
-> est. legal basis for segregation
- separation did not imply inferior treatment -> ‘separate but equal’ = enshrined in legal ruling
-AA schools and homes were far from equal
1896 = legal backing to segregation
Court as a promoter of CR
Gradual change in legal rulings 1890-1944
-1944 Smith v Allwright
-> ruled that it was unconstitutional for black voters to be excluded from party primary voting
-1954 Brown v. Topeka Board of Education
-> segregation = illegal
-1951: parents, with help of NAACPs, sued board for not providing appropriate education
-leader, Oliver Brown, said that his daughter had to walk a mile to a segregated school when a white school was far nearer
-District Court ruled against them, quoting Plessy v Ferguson took decision to SC, who ruled unanimously for the ending of legal basis for segregation
-most significant federal intervention in CR since CR; led to violence in south and Federal forces to enforce it
-greatly encouraged AA pol. participation
-1960 Boynton v. Virginia
-> confirmed segregation on interstate buses -> Freedom Rides
-1971 Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenberg Board of Education
-> enforced desegregation busing children from white suburbs into inner-city areas w/ more black children
-1956 = legal backing to integration
The role of the executive: progress 1877-1960
Most progress made when different elements of gov. acted together
i) Reconstruction
ii) Period after 1963
In 1960, most elements of post-1877 period remained:
- AAs faced barriers when registering to vote
-segregation
-racial prejudice and violent outbreaks
-southern congressmen, state gov. + legislatures = against changes
- income, housing, opportunities = far better for whites
-AA facilities = inferior
-pol. participation by 1960 = worse than 1869
Presidents and civil rights
(positive)
-most radical administration since Reconstruction = Roosevelt + New Deal
-> increased aid for black and white people w/o official discrimination
-> creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933-7 provide unemployed w/ work
-Oscar De Priest -> single representative in Congress for 11 million AA (ONLY ONE)
Presidents and civil rights
(negative)
-Presidents spoke of AA achievements but there was no serious challenge to segregation
-> otherwise progressive Woodraw Wilson = white supremacist
AA benefited from Fair Labour Standards Act but did not cover agr. or domestic service
The impact of WWII (positive)
intense mobilisation raised issues of equal treatment
Roosevelt, Executive Order 8587 in 1940 -> prohibited discrimiation on basis of race, colour, creed
E.O 8802 in 1941 prevented discrimination in defence industries
The impact of WWII (negative)
none of this legislation had objective of increasing equality ; pressure to ensure supply of labour for defence + 100,000 strong ‘March on Washington’
- 1.5 million AA in armed froces 1942-5 (seg. units) - war for freedom and democracy but segregation remained
Desegregation (positive)
Truman: EO 9981 in 1948 ended segregation in the armed forces but the war was over
Eisenhower nevertheless gave federal support and for the desegregation of schools
1957: AA right to vote set down in law - Civil Rights Act
- Justice Dept. now had a CR Dept.
Attorney general given powers to intervene where rights were threatened
Desegregation (negative)
Truman praised by AA activists for open support but no comprehensive c.r legislation to return to position of early 1870s.
Eisenhower = against ending of ‘seperate buy equal’
In South, local juries did not enforce law
By 1960, only 28% of Southern AAs of voting age = registered
Why was there such limited progress?
-Issue of c.r = peripheral in comparison with the other issues e.g WWII, Depression, Cold War
-Influence of the Southern Demo Senators/representatives = barrier to passing effective cr legislation
Limited electoral support for c.r as so many AA could not vote -> issue not popular in N until 60s
c.r action would have meant a great deal of intervention in south, where racism = supported by state and local governments. Presidents faced revival of CW hatreds and issues of state rights
North: influx of AA from 1915 made racial hatred common
Liberalisation involved in c.r legislation opened administration to change of being ‘Communist’ or subverting tradition tradition
even a conservative southerner like Truman was criticised by cons. Demo.s for expressing c.r concerns and condemning lynching and violence
What had changed by the 1960s?
violence and discrimination gave ammo to Communist bloc in Cold War
-> saw USA as defending a rotten capitliast system
better communications, esp. TV, brought radical violence home to Americans nationally
Murder of Emmet Till 1955 -> acquitted of killers by all-white jury; his crime was talking ‘fresh’ to a white woman
Little Rock 1957 -> images of the mobs = bad for USA ; 101 Airborne Division
By 1960s AAs = better organised + more skilful in making demands
Kennedy administration (good)
Saw itself as a modernising government (sympathetic speeches and appointment of more AA to positions of authority)
Submitted a general cr bill to congress in June 1963
TP: by 1963, c.r = forced to forefront of national politics
-> partly due to increased effective campaigning by c.r organisations
March on Washington = 250,000 people
Kennedy administration (bad)
slow to make c.r key element of admin
taking decisive action = difficult to influence of S white bloc in Congress
violence, eemplified by murder of c.r leader Medgar Evans 1962
Johnson administration
assassination of Kennedy in Nov. 1963 made change possible - Johnson = vigorous
c.r legislation = more extensive and effective than at any time since Recon. :
Jan 1964 - 24th Amendment (rights should not be denied by failure to pay tax)
Jul 1964 - C.R Act - Federal courts hear cases involving discr
Aug 1965 - C.R Act - 13th Ammendment - right to vote
-> power to electorate
Fed gov.’s dismantling of restrictive laws = ley feature of Jonson administration
1960 - SC banned parades, processions and pub. demos in Birminghman to be unconstitutional
discr. in pub. areas and housing = banned
Economic inequality
Nixon’s E.O 11578 required all employers w/ fed. contracts to draft affirmative action pol.s to actively promote AAs
1972 Act extended equal empl.t leg to all fed, state, local gov
CR Act 1991 (Emp): businesses had to show that any discr in emp was not based on racial discr but was genuine requirement of company
The situation by the early 90s
high unemp, poverty, poor schools and housing
race riots in summer 1965 (LA - 34 dead) -> reemergence of riots triggered events of Rodney King [show failure of fed. gov. to address underlying causes of racial tension]
1989: graduation from high school = W: 77% AA: 63%
college: W: 21% AA: 11%
1989: unemp. 5% higher than W (higher than 1950s)
1987: income gap = $5000
lower hourly wage ($6.26 v $7.69)
retreat of middle class AA to suburbs left social gap bet. cities and suburbs
“harsh economic conditions” “brought disillusion to more and more blacks and disillusion with the pol. realm w/ declining turnout in elections”
Choices facing AA leaders after Reconstruction period
1) resit white violence and hope to regain political influence of 1865
- Colored Farmer’s Association
- Ida B. Wells (gun)
- Black Power & Panthers
2) withdraw from all attempts @ equality, accept segregation and male progress w/o antagonising white America
3) work within legal system and use courts to challenge the denial of rights
- E.J Waring
4) attempt to establish a separate state within a state
- Marcus Garvey
- NOI, BP
- could not be equal but could be separate on own terms
Why was their opposition to civil rights?
sudden change in status of AA in 1865 along w/ bitterness of civil war meant that many AA faced opposition in south
-> face of congresional reconstruction and military rule - Southerners made secret organisatins and turned to guerilla warfare
Ku Klux Klan origins
Secret society formed in Tennessee in December 1865. Overall coordination attempted in 1867
ideology of white suprenacy and political aim = to undermine Republican domination in south
strongest characteristic = localised groups of people with a varity of grievances, pursuing personal grudges and indulging in racist violence and intimidation
Ku Klux Klan methods
intimidation - white hoods, flaming crosses and secret oaths
portrayed white women in danger (sexual element) of having sex w/ AA
Freedmen’s Bureau members targeted in 1860s and again in 1950s/60s when cr. workers were killed
stopped AA from registering to vote -> later institutionalised as JC laws
attacked AA to stop them from attending desegrgated schools
physically attacked, beat, lynched and murdered AAs, destroying their property and on occasion setting off bombs
What did the Ku Klux Klan actually achieve?
JC laws introduced
set formidible precedent for white oppositin to civil rights
2000 deaths/injuries in Louisiana alone in run up to 1868 election
Grant = prepared to suspend habeas corpus (right to only be detained by law for arrest) and used federal troops to supress violence e.g in S Carolina in 1871
Ku Klux Klan failures
Republicans and AAs united against them
effective indictments by federal courts had their effect by 1870s and the KKK was not strong enough to resist federal powers
state legislatures turned against KKK
KKK withered away, but individual acts of terrorism continued
The revival of the Ku Klux Klan
reborn in 1915 on basis of myth -> ‘Birth of a Nation’ film portrayed Klan as part of a heroic struggle against N. domination and black control
a group in Georgia revived the costumes and attracetd anti-urban, anti-immigrant Protestant racists
enemies = not limited to AAs and included Jews, Catholics, foreigners, opponents of prohibition
Failrues of the KKK revival
targets were more widespread - effects on AA c.r = less
by mid-1920s, Klan was in decline; racial attacks continued but violence = sporadic
membership: 1920 = 4 million, 1930 = 30,000
Attitudes and actions of state governments
from 1877, opposition mainly came from activities of legally constituted state gov.s, the indifference of congress and the administration and judgement of the SC
1882: legislation against KKK declared unconstitutional
-> in south, official restrictions on AA pol. rights (JC laws and voting qualifications)
local/state authorities did little to control lynchings
situation reverted to pre-civi lwar period where south = allowed to regulate its affairs with regard to race - segregation and sharecropping and legal inequality and localised violence
(KKK bcame inactive because there was no reason for it to exist)
Resitance to civil rights
cr activists faced resistance from mant sources
- state gov legislatures, senators, representatives - the Republicans did not penetrate the ‘solid south’ and the Democrats pol. dominance = built on defence of segregation + presented a formidable barrier even to strong presidents like Truman and Kennedy
- vestiges of Klan and similar organisations and the tradition of violence and lynchings among the white population. Access to weapons = easy and white juries unwilling to convict iin matter of racial crime. CR often seen a N interference, much as abolitionism and carpet ‘begging’ had been seen before and after CW
Revivial of political violence in the south
bombing of prosporous AA homes in Brimingham Alabama
sympathies of police chief ‘Bull’ Connor allowed attacks w/o investigation : Connor allowed Klan members to attack Freedom Riders for 15 mins w/o taking action
attacks on homes of NAACP members in Florida in 1951
assassination of cr leader Medgar Evers in 1963 not isolated
1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham not isolated
Revivial of political violence in the south
bombing of prosporous AA homes in Brimingham Alabama
sympathies of police chief ‘Bull’ Connor allowed attacks w/o investigation : Connor allowed Klan members to attack Freedom Riders for 15 mins w/o taking action
attacks on homes of NAACP members in Florida in 1951
assassination of cr leader Medgar Evers in 1963 not isolated
1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham not isolated
Impact of continuous violence
changed public opinion and, as in 1870s, greater energy was put into law enforcement and revulsion at impact on USA’s international reputation
murder of 3 cr workers in Mississippi showed failure of radical white opposition to appreciate change in opinion
Preventing violence
proved impossible to prevent acts of violence which continued sporadically in 70s/80s
Turning point in opposition
1981 - Klan member Henry Francis Hays lynched AA teenager Micheal Donald
1997 - punished for crime
-> case bankrupted Klan as victims mother gained $7 million in damages in 1987
-> first time white man had been convicted / executed for racial murder since 1870s
Dwindiling oppositon
Opp. by White Citizens Council (‘middle class KKK’) not as effective in 50s/60s - used violence and economic power
-> media attention forced defiantly segregationalist governers (like George Wallace) to uphold SC decision
greater TV coverage meant that discrimination, segregation, violence and disregard for law could not be hidden as it had been from 1877-1940s
effective opposition depended on support from SC rulings and political indifference of gov. - once that changed, more effective cr organisation and leaders of th eopp. seemed merely old fashioned, desperate and dengerous to USA’s reputation
The importance of organisation in the devlopment of C.R
loss of rights following Recon. period showed dangers of AAs relying on individual leaders for the development of CR
The importance of organisation in the devlopment of C.R
loss of rights following Recon. period showed dangers of AAs relying on individual leaders for the development of CR
All the organisations
NAACP
CORE
Rosa Parks
NOI
Black Panther
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
NAACP - first major org. and founded in 1909
led predominantly by whites -> duBois = only senior black committee member
today, NAACP = only cr organisation to remain from 37
originated from concerns about race riots and lynchings expressed in Niagara Movement
included duBois , Ida Wlls, liberal white social reformers/campaigners
NAACP aims
suffrage rights
equal justice
better education
equality before law
employment opportunities according to ability
(more an organisation for AA rather than by AAs -> initially dominated by Jewish white liberals)
NAACP aims
suffrage rights
equal justice
better education
equality before law
employment opportunities according to ability
(more an organisation for AA rather than by AAs -> initially dominated by Jewish white liberals)
Main thrust of NAACP campaigns
legal - target = challenge JC laws which ran contray to Constitutional amendments (the Recon. Period = 100 years ahead of its time)
Actions of the NAACP
campagined in a relatively restrained way against President Wilson’s Policy of segregating Federal employment
Est. 50 local branches and a journal and set up marches in protest against the film ‘The Birth of a Nation’ and against race riots in St. Louis in 1917
