BDC CH. 8 Flashcards
What was the concept of racial uplift?
accommodationist-type strategy
- built/strengthened segregated institutions
- enlisted white cooperation/support for nonpolitical causes like public health + education
(BE)
How did the black public health campaign receive support from whites?
stressed that germs crossed racial lines
- if blacks get sick whites will get sick as well
- whites encouraged b/c it was an issue that didn’t harm racial hierarchy
(IW)
What was the black public health campaign (National Negro Health Movement)?
- local CIC committees helped support black health support campaign
- 1932 = US Public Health Service creates Office of Negro Health Work
- helped spread Negro Health Week nationally (was started by Booker T.)
(LNH)
How did blacks use the National Negro Health Movement to their advantage?
used public health issue to make political claims + criticize segregation
- Charleston 1932 = women’s club housing survey to identify worst slums
- influenced siting of city’s first public housing
(CI)
Who were most responsible for lobbying for state/local black issues?
middle class black women
- were already highly organized through clubs/church
- inc. white supremacy further enhanced their importance
(WI)
How did increased white supremacy make black women more important leaders in the community?
- disenfranchisement stripped black men of voting + holding office
- segregation was harshest on black men
- women already accustomed to not voting but skilled in organization adapted better to new racial order
- found it easier to work in non-confrontational manner
- whites saw black women as less threatening (allowed them to speak their mind more)
- had support of white women (were keenest supporters of interracial cooperation among whites)
(DSWFWH)
What was the most important women’s initiative?
- 1920 = two white women (Sara Estelle Haskin + Carrie Parks Johnson)
- went to Tuskegee Institute to meet w/ ten leaders of National Association of Colored Women (NACW)
- talked of ways to promote interracial understanding
- encouraged by wartime cooperation w/in YWCA
(NWTE)
What happened after the 1920 meeting between Haskin + Johnson + the NACW leaders?
- black women invited to special meeting of Southern white women in Memphis
- white women were veterans of temperance movement + women’s suffrage campaign
- white female Southern progressives still just as against racial integration as men
What happened at the Memphis meeting?
- black women greeted warmly
- black women gave speeches
- white women listened + sought an honest understanding of black grievances
- landmark event
(BBWL)
What effect did the Memphis meeting have?
- prompted all male CIC to form a Committee on Women’s Work
- state/local women’s committees multiplied (most organized under Methodist church)
- 1927 = over 600 local committees in interracial work (mostly improving black living conditions)
(PSN)
What were some of the actions taken by the local women’s committees?
- helped establish dental/health clinics in public schools
- secured library/hospital privileges
- set up municipal playgrounds
(HSS)
What happened in the late 20s after the Memphis meeting?
enthusiasm for interracial cooperation ran out of steam
- interracial gatherings began to lose symbolic impact
- state/local committees became dormant
- meetings w/ educated black women no longer popular
(ISM)
What event occurred in 1930?
Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching takes action (ASWPL)
- led by Jesse Daniel Ames
- disputes argument lynching protects white women from black rape
- shamed law enforcement officials who turned prisoners over to mobs
- tried to prevent threatened lynchings from happening
(LDST)
What did the ASWPL think of a federal ban on lynching?
actually opposed federal action
- Southern congressmen managed to defeat several anti-lynching bills
- but threat of federal intervention made ASWPL’s argument for state action more persuasive
(SB)
What was the impact of the ASWPL’s campaign against lynching?
- by 1941 they’d secured pledges against lynching from almost 1400 sheriffs/policemen
How were the limitations of racial uplift + interracial cooperation increasingly apparent in 1930?
local funding for black causes went to 0 after start of Depression
Depression revealed vulnerability of black institution building
- black owned banks + insurance companies + fraternal societies all failed in Depression
Depression undermined voluntarism
- only federal gov. had means to alleviate unemployment + build public facilities + improve living conditions
- many blacks looking to Roosevelt administration to better their situation in the South
(LDD)
How has the interracial cooperation movement shown to always have been a poor substitute for political action?
- CIC had always drawn black criticism since its creation for being too weak + ineffective + conservative
- saw it as org. wanting to preserve status quo instead of changing it
- CIC did not seek political rights for southern blacks + failed to question racial segregation
- did not want to challenge structure of white supremacy
(CSCD)
Why were the CIC so careful not to attack white supremacy too badly?
- thought attacking Jim Crow system would rekindle white nightmares of Reconstruction
- could evoke even greater violence + repression
(TC)
What were the attitudes of white members of the CIC?
- felt that black progress could be achieved w/in confines of segregation
- true to extent but segregation + true equality were incompatible
- white superiority was very essence of racial segregation
- why most white Southerners suspicious of interracial cooperation
(FTWW)
What was an example of how whites w/ every interracial contact had to make sure it explicitly underlined black inferiority?
- white custom of withholding courtesy titles from black people (Mr/Mrs.)
How did the CIC’s unwillingness to confront white supremacy reflect the conservatism of its white supporters?
- Memphis meeting failed to produce common program b/c black women demands deemed too radical
- blacks wanted better schools + child welfare + more respect of blacks in white newspapers
- blacks wanted equal transport facilities + protection of black girls + suppression of lynching + voting
(MBB)
What did the more liberal members of the CIC do in the 1930s?
- saw interracial cooperation had reached point of diminishing returns
- looked to influencing Roosevelt administration to promote change in South
(SL)
Who was Harold Ickes?
- Roosevelt cabinet member (Secretary of Interior)
- former president of Chicago NAACP
- brought concern of racial justice to New Deal
- prohibited racial discrimination in Public Works Association
- required every building contract to have a fair employment clause
- made the gov. more accessible to black opinions
(RFBPRM)
What was an effect of the New Deal on black opinion access to the government?
had established tier of black advisers in gov. departments/agencies
- Black Cabinet
- did not function as policy making body but exercised great influence over New Deal implementations
(BD)
How did campaigns to improve black education reveal the benefits of racial uplift?
- united black community
- elicited valuable support from whites
- Rosenwald Fund stimulated massive black Southern education funding/donations from residents
- increase of state funding helped as well
- blacks still retained faith in education entering Depression (parent-teacher associations)
- desire for good education led many to migrate to cities (only place blacks could go to public high school)
(UERIBD)
What had been an ongoing campaign by blacks when it came to education?
for black public schools to be staffed exclusively w/ black teachers
- had largely achieved objective by WWI
- NC passed bill in 1919 confining white teachers to white schools
- black teachers became majority in black private schools by 1930
(HNB)
What organization tactics did black teachers use to press for educational improvements?
had formed 5 national associations
- cultivated philanthropic orgs.
- influenced Southern whites through CIC
- criticized racism in textbooks
- decried racial stereotypes in Hollywood movies
- promoted teaching of black history
- sought recognition from the NEA
- lobbied the federal gov.
(CICDPSL)
What were the costs/compromises involved in the campaign for bette education?
black teachers had to bend to demands of segregation
- white supremacists tightened control over state funded black colleges post disenfranchisement
black teachers pressured to keep academic standards low
white support contingent on black acquiescence to white supremacy
(BBW)
How did whites look at black teachers?
leaders but marginal leaders
- not elected + beholden to white school boards/state officials
- blacks couldn’t demand + bargain + negotiate
- had to resort to self-belittlement strategies to get white support
(NBH)
What are a couple examples of degrading strategies used by black educators to secure white support?
- WH Hubbard = sent students to do jobs at all girls school in return for used school materials
- Laurence Jones = put on work overalls to demean himself when meeting w/ white state officials
(WL)
How did the degrading strategies used by people like Hubbard + Jones make them even more dependent on whites?
philanthropic $$$ brought improvement but at cost of inc. bureaucratic control by Southern whites
- black owned schools had to be deeded to county education boards to receive Rosenwald $$$
- some private black schools only survived by accepting state $$$/control
- black state agents on General Education Board couldn’t challenge white supremacy
- black teachers were appointed by white county school superintendents
(BSBB)
What was the relationship between white superintendents + black principals in the new “training schools” of the 20, 30, 40s?
- closely monitored black principal work/after school activities
- superintendents treated them as errand boys
- expected to tell them what was going on in black community + inform blacks (racial diplomats)
(CSE)
What was the effect of black principals having to act as racial diplomats between white superintendents + the black community?
becomes impossible to know where blacks loyalty was
- widespread perception by blacks that teachers/ministers acted as spies for whites
- temptation to sell out group for own self interest was great
- compromised position of teachers in black society (became distrust worthy)
(WTC)
Why did teachers becoming agents for whites didn’t necessarily mean they were selling out the race?
some said they wanted to manipulate whites
- forward black interests
What were some of the benefits awarded to black teachers that weren’t available to other community members?
enjoyed greater freedom of speech
- white superintendents rarely visited black schools
- black schools mostly run by black GEB officials to promote “manual work” (Jeanes teachers)
- Jeanes teachers began growing in power + took on many leadership tasks in black schools
- acted as general social workers + problem solvers
(WBJA)
What were some of the powers of the Jeanes teachers in black schools?
- hiring/firing of teachers
- lobbying school boards
- raising funds
- organizing public health campaigns
- setting up PTAs
- establishing homemakers’ clubs
(HLROSE)
Why did blacks beginning in the 30s begin to question whether the campaign for better schools could bring about fundamental social change?
Southern black kids receiving less public funding than ever during the Depression
- even when black schools improved so did white schools keeping the gap the same
whites still monopolized political power + owned nearly all wealth + subjected blacks to discrimination
- no school could solve all these issues
- whites were encouraging black education as a means to divert them to nonpolitical ambitions
(SW)
What was the state of most black schools in the 30s?
dreadful + dilapidated
- most lacked basic school supplies
- a lot of the staff was poorly trained + underpaid
- most classrooms were overpacked
(MAM)
Why did many black intellectuals in the 30s begin to doubt education could lead to significant social reform?
of black college kids inc. but were degrading
- began adopting white college norms like sports + greek societies
- imitated more white academic programs
- began to tarnish theory of talented tenth leading the race
(BIB)
What were some good things about the black education campaign in the 30s?
- black teachers still encouraged racial pride + self ambition while under white control
- black teachers supported Carter Woodson’s Negro History movement (formed Negro History weeks)
(BB)
How did the relationship between democracy + black education grow in the 30s?
- democratic ideals shared by New Deal + progressive educators
- white schools argued education was essential for survival of democracy
- black teachers used arguments to further curriculums around equal rights + democracy
(DWB)
How were the black colleges considered “oases of freedom”?
- some permitted opening of NAACP chapters
- nearly all allowed outside speakers
- teachers enjoyed great deal of freedom
- were not autocratic institutions of legend
(SNTW)
What was the Southern Negro Youth Congress (SNYC)?
one of most important civil rights orgs. of New Deal era
- started after student protest at Virginia State (1937)
- was a strike against oppressive rules (forced president to permit student gov. association)
- Virginia Union students petitioned state legislature against spending cuts + racial inequality same year
- was an offshoot of NNC but not exclusively student movement
- won support of black college presidents
(SWVWW)
What were some of the measures supported by the SYNC?
- supported tobacco worker strikes in Richmond
- garbage worker strikes in Atlanta
- teamster strikes in New Orleans
- launched South-wide “right to vote” campaign in 1940
(SGTL)
What was the Durham Manifesto of 1942?
interracial cooperation document
- opposed compulsory segregation lightly
- stressed current problems of racial segregation + neglect
(OS)
What was the effect of the Durham Manifesto?
secured enough white support to create Southern Regional Council (SRC)
- attracted criticism for its failure to go against Jim Crow
- but became source of info/support for Civil Rights Movement of 50s/60s
(AB)
