The Imposition of Jim Crow, 1880-1917 Flashcards
Who wrote “The Blaze”?
Sutton Griggs
Who was Sutton Griggs?
A Southern African American Baptist Minister, who wrote tracts and novels
How did Sutton Griggs address his audience with little formal education?
- Simple Language
- Melodramatic Plots
- Thin characterisation
What are the 4 primary themes of Sutton Griggs’ “The Blaze”?
- Unprotected state of black womanhood
- Consequences of miscegenation
- Crisis of lynching & mob violence
- Effects of peonage & political repression
Why did Sutton Griggs write “The Hindered Hand”?
- National Baptist Convention requested he respond to the racist onslaught
- Thomas Dixon’s “The Leopard’s Spots”
What is the story of “The Blaze”?
- Bud & Foresta Crump try to use their education and industry to uplift the race
- Lynched
Who wrote “Lynch Law in the South”?
Frederick Douglass
Who was Frederick Douglass?
- Escaped slavery
- Advisor to Lincoln during the Civil War
- After the civil War, became black America’s major leader and spokesperson
What was “Lynch Law in the South”?
1892 article published in the “North American Review”
What was the message of “Lynch Law in the South”?
Asked the largely white audience to consider the consequences of American racial oppression
According to Frederick Douglass, what is increasing resistance to the Negro evidence of?
That the Negro is making progress (economic)
According to Frederick Douglass, what are the two futures/solutions to lynch law?
- Hope: South will reach a point when it wants no more blood
- 19th century is a century of progress - Fear: Negro will act, if the law does not
Who wrote “Mob Rule in New Orleans”?
Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Who was Ida B. Wells-Barnett?
Teacher, journalist, and anti-lynching campaigner
Which lynching inspired Ida B. Wells-Barnett?
1892 lynching of Thomas Moss
- Called for blacks to leave Memphis and boycott street cars/ white businesses
According to Ida B. Wells-Barnett, what was the real cause of lynching?
Black prosperity: Act of terror designed to destroy black economic and political power
According to Ida B. Wells-Barnett, what was a myth about lynching?
That it was the result of the rape of white women by black men
What was the subject of “Mob Rule in New Orleans”?
Reconstructed the facts behind Robert Charles’ supposed rampage, showing that he was not the “monster” of newspaper accounts, but had the characteristics of American heroism
According to Ida B. Wells-Barnett, what was the official report of Robert Charles?
Negroes tried to hide him, he shot more policemen, and shot civilians in the street
Who wrote “The Haunted Oak”?
Paul Dunbar
What was “The Haunted Oak”?
A poem about lynching
Who was Paul Dunbar?
- First native-born African American poet to win international and national acclaim
- Wrote four novels, four short-story collections, and six poetry volumes
- Described by BTW as “poet laureate” of the Negro race
In “The Haunted Oak”, what is the implication of the double-voicedness?
Re-creation of the dialect sermon, in which simple speech carries a subversive message
What story inspired “The Haunted Oak”?
- Man in Alabama accused of rape, and dragged out of jail, and hung from an oak tree
- Branch withered
Where was “The Haunted Oak” first printed?
In “Century Magazine”, without the final two verses
What is the form of “The Haunted Oak”?
Traditional
- 4 lines per stanza
- 2nd and 4th lines rhyme
In “The Haunted Oak”, who is part of the lynch mob?
Judge, doctor, and minister and his son
In “The Haunted Oak”, who is the most remorseful participant in the crime?
The tree
Who wrote “The Litany at Atlanta”?
W. E. B. DuBois
What did DuBois write in 1899?
“The Philadelphia Negro”
- 1st sociological study of the black population of a major US city
Whose lynching inspired DuBois?
1899 lynching of Sam Hose
What did DuBois write in 1903?
“The Souls of Black Folk”
What movement was founded in 1905?
The Niagara Movement
Whose ideology was the Niagara Movement a reaction against?
Booker T. Washington’s
What organisation was founded in 1909?
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
What newspaper was founded in 1910, as part of the NAACP?
“The Crisis”
Where did DuBois write “A Litany in Atlanta”?
In a Jim Crow car, heading towards Atlanta, the fate of his family unknown in the race massacre
In what form is “A Litany in Atlanta”?
A poem
What caused the 1906 Atlanta race massacre?
Hysteria caused by newspaper reports of black men raping white women
According to DuBois in “A Litany in Atlanta”, what causes black crime?
White oppression
According to DuBois in “A Litany in Atlanta”, what was the irony of white christians?
Violating fundamental tenets of Christianity in the name of God
Who wrote “Christ Re-crucified”?
Countee Cullen
What movement was Countee Cullen a part of?
Harlem Renaissance
In what style did Countee Cullen write poetry?
Colour- conscious lyric poetry in the style of Shelley & Keats
In what style is “Christ Re-crucified”?
Sonnet
What are the 2 main themes of “Christ Re- crucified”?
- Southern landscape = hell on earth
2. Lynching transfigured the ordinary person into Christ
What are the biblical images in “Christ Re-crucified”?
- Thorns
- Purple Robe
- Wine
In “Christ Re-crucified”, what is the irony of Christ’s crucification?
Christ supposedly died for all sins, but that apparently doesn’t include being black
Who wrote “Christ in Alabama”?
Langston Hughes
What 2 events inspired “Christ in Alabama”?
- Scottsboro Case
2. Massacre in Camp Hill, Alabama
Where was “Christ in Alabama” published?
Contribution to “Contempo”, an unofficial student magazine at UNC Chapel Hill
- Poem & Essay on the Scottsboro case
In “Christ in Alabama”, what is the first line?
“Christ is a nigger”
In “Christ in Alabama”, what 4 characters are created?
- Christ: Black Man
- White sin of lust has created a mulatto race: “Most holy bastard”
- Black Slave Mothers: “Mammy of the South
- White Slavemaster Fathers: “White Master Above
In “Christ in Alabama”, what does the call and response structure invoke?
- 2 levels of discourse
- Seen in African American hymns and worksongs (mass choral dialogue)
Who wrote “The Religion of the American Negro”?
W. E. B. DuBois