Racism in America

1. Racism in America KKK and the Great Migration

2. The Great Migration • During World War I, African Americans served as soldiers. • Thanks to wartime industries, 600,000 African Americans left the South and moved into Northern cities. • They got wartime jobs and settled down in communities like Harlem in New York City.

3. Race Riots • When World War I ended, many men were unemployed. • There were race riots in northern cities: • Desperate, unemployed white men attacked black neighborhoods. • It was called the Red Summer of 1919.

4. The Ku Klux Klan

5. Violent • The Ku Klux Klan was a violent organization. • It was founded in 1866 for the sole purpose of terrorizing African Americans in the U.S. South.

6. Race Hatred and Religious Hatred • The KKK had always stirred up racial hatred. • But in the 1920s, it began stirring up religious hatred.

7. Record Membership • During the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan was reborn: • They had a new slogan: Patriotism, religious fundamentalism, and white supremacy. • They attacked African Americans - plus immigrants, Catholics, and Jews. • They elected Klansmen to political office.

8. Not just in the South • By 1924, the Klan was in its heyday: • It had four million members. • The KKK was not just a big deal in the South (Georgia, Alabama). • It had millions of members in the Midwest (Indiana) and the West (Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon).

9. The “Invisible Empire” • Members were often the guy next door - the pharmacist, the dentist, the real estate salesman. • They often dominated local and state politics.

10. Why? • During the 1920s, small-town America was intolerant of anyone they considered to be “un-American.” • They terrorized anyone who was not a WASP - a White Anglo Saxon Protestant.

11. The Great Migration

12. The Causes • From 1900 onward, many African Americans moved out of the rural South and into Northern cities. • Between 1916 and 1970, six million black Southerners moved to cities in the North and West.

13. The Push Factors • Life in the South was a nightmare: • Sharecropping • Jim Crow laws • the KKK • lynch mobs

14. The Pull Factors • The No. 1 reason: J.O.B.S. During World War One, war-time jobs opened up. • More opportunity: Higher wages, better housing, better schools, and the right to vote. • Northern cities offered libraries, museums, theaters, night school for adults. • These opportunities were off-limits or unavailable in the South.

15. World War I • The first wave of the Great Migration began in 1916, just before the U.S. entered World War I. • Northern industries hired black workers for the first time. Why? • When World War I began, government orders began and immigration came to a halt. • With no immigrants available to work, factory owners turned to African Americans in the South.

16. The Drawbacks • Northern cities had race riots, racial discrimination, and residential segregation. • But life in the North was definitely better than in the South.

17. The National Urban League • Who helped the black immigrants? • Black newspapers - they encouraged people to move out of the South and into the North. • Black churches helped migrants find jobs and housing. • The National Urban League was founded in 1910 to help black migrants find jobs and housing.

18. The Results • Half in the North • Before World War I, 90% of all African Americans lived in the South. • By 1970, the majority of African Americans lived in the North. • Black Communities • The Great Migration created the first large, urban black communities in the North. • The cities with large black communities were New York City, Chicago, Detroit, and many others.