Presentation Transcript

1. African-American History Since the Civil War

   dr. Liz Bryant
2. 1920s: Emergence of the “New Negro” Confidence after WW1 Believed they should be treated as first-class citizens
3. White Reaction to the New Negro
4. Lynchings Increase
5. New Negro Unwilling to accept such conditions
6. Du Bois and the Crisis
7. Marcus Garvey
8. Harlem Renaissance Time of great cultural achievement in the US Centered in Harlem (New York)
9. Harlem Renaissance Includes music, poetry, writing, visual arts
10. Many Cultural Achievements Were Segregated… Cotton Club White audience Black performers
11. Cotton Club
12. Harlem Renaissance To be commercially successful meant attracting a white audience Many elements of black culture were adapted into the white mainstream
13. Jazz
14. Harlem Renaissance Many whites learned about the struggle of African-Americans through the arts
15. “Jazz Age”
16. Jazz Age
17. Jazz Age Musical styles of African-Americans influenced whites so much that the 1920s began to be referred to as the “Jazz Age”
18. October 29, 1929
19. Stock Market Crash
20. Stock Market Crash October 29, 1929- Stock Market crashes Marks the beginning of the Great Depression Jazz Age comes to a quick end
21. African-Americans and the great depression
22. African-Americans during the Great Depression
23. African-Americans during the Great Depression
24. The Great Depression ALL Americans are impacted Blacks are hit especially hard 1932- 50% of African-Americans are unemployed
25. Black Leadership during the Great Depression Forced to focus most of their attention on economic issues Layoffs Housing foreclosures
26. African-Americans during the Great Depression
27. African-Americans during the Great Depression Rural blacks are impacted the most 2 million black farmers 2/3 made no money or went into debt
28. African-Americans during the Great Depression Many sharecroppers/ tenant farmers abandoned their houses/ farms and went into the cities searching for work
29. “Black” Jobs Now Became “White”
30. “Black” Jobs Became Whites Blacks were fired so that whites could be employed Domestic positions
31. Racism Increases during This Era…
32. What Happened If It Was Thought A White Job Was Taken…
33. Increase in Lynchings 1932- 8 lynchings 1933- 28 lynchings
34. Jessie Daniel Ames
35. Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching
36. Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching
37. Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching Founded by Ames Ames believed it was the duty of women’s organizations to solve racial problems
38. Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching Challenged the notion that blacks were lynched for raping white women Said lynchings instead occurred because of racial hatred
39. Pledge of the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching We declare lynching an indefensible crime, destructive of all principles of government, hostile to every ideal of religion and humanity, degrading and debasing to every person involved. We pledge ourselves to crate a new public opinion in the South which will not condone for any reason whatever acts of the mob or lynchers."
40. Pledge Signed by over 40,000 women
41. Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching Convinced white women to go into their communities to speak out against lynchings Faced opposition to this and were often threatened for their work
42. Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching Successful 1940- first year since the Civil War that no lynchings were recorded in America
43. Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching Did not believe in a federal anti-lynching law Put them in conflict with African-American groups such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
44. Billie Holiday
45. Billie Holiday American jazz singer 1938- performs “Strange Fruit” for the first time 1939- song is released as a single; huge commercial success; sells over 1 million copies
46. Bringing awareness to the problem doesn’t stop the harassment…
47. The Scottsboro Boys
48. The Scottsboro Boys
49. The Accusers
50. Scottsboro Boys 1931 9 African-American boys were arrested after being accused of raping two white women Alabama
51. The Scottsboro Boys Accusers were likely prostitutes Accused them to protect themselves from being charged for crossing state lines to perform an illegal activity
52. Scottsboro Boys No evidence of rape All white-jury Trial took one day
53. Verdict GUILTY 8 of the 9 were sentenced to death 9th was sentenced to life in prison (12 years old)
54. Reaction This case receives much media attention Demonstrates the prejudice against African-Americans at this time
55. Reaction Communist Party works to overturn the verdicts
56. The Case Was Brought Before the Supreme Court Powell v. Alabama Overturned guilty verdicts Said the boys had not received adequate legal council
57. The Boys Go Back to Alabama And the state begins to retry them…
58. Haywood Patterson
59. Haywood Patterson Tried Convicted Judge set aside verdict because he did not believe Patterson was guilty Judge- defeated in the next election
60. Clarence Norris
61. Clarence Norris Tried, convicted Case went to the Supreme Court
62. Norris v Alabama Supreme Court ruled the verdict was illegal because no blacks were allowed to serve on the jury
63. Scottsboro Boys The state kept trying and convicting them Defendants kept appealing their sentences
64. Scottsboro Boys November 21, 2013- Alabama grants pardons to all of the Scottsboro boys
65. The Communist Party One of the few interracial organizations concerned about the plight of blacks during the Great Depression Concerned especially with rural blacks Organized interracial unions Held demonstrations asking for jobs and relief
66. Franklin D. Roosevelt
67. Franklin D Roosevelt 1932 Election Slogan: Happy Days Are Here Again
68. 1932 Election Prior to this election, blacks had primarily voted for the Republicans BUT FDR seemed as if he could bring relief from the Depression Many blacks voted for Roosevelt Marks the beginning of when blacks turn to the Democratic Party (trend which continues)
69. FDR and African-Americans Had some black advisors Entertained blacks at the White House Seemed to give African-Americans a sense of belonging
70. Eleanor Roosevelt
71. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt
72. Eleanor Roosevelt Very liberal Spoke out against racial injustices in the US Had many black friends: Walter White, head of the NAACP
73. Marian Anderson
74. Marian Anderson
75. Marian Anderson On a national tour Supposed to give a concert at Constitution Hall in Washington DC Constitution Hall- controlled by the Daughters of the American Revolution
76. Marian Anderson Told that Constitution Hall was limited only to white performers Eleanor Roosevelt gets involved (is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution) DAR- refuses to budge
77. Marian Anderson Eleanor Roosevelt instead gets permission for Anderson to perform in front of the Lincoln Memorial
78. FDR and African-Americans New Deal programs were open to Americans of all races Access to: Jobs Relief Farm subsidies Education Trainings
79. FDR and African-Americans New Deal programs still gave preferential treatment to whites
80. FDR and African-Americans Social Security- did not provide coverage to domestic workers 2/3 of employed blacks were not covered by this program
81. A 1935 poster announcing Social Security program.
82. FDR and African-Americans Would not put any race-specific language in his bills Afraid of losing the support of Southern Senators and Congressmen
83. FDR and African-Americans Would not publicly support a federal anti-lynching law
84. FDR and African-Americans Even though there was discrimination, blacks still saw that the government was doing something for them Felt as if they were included in mainstream American life This is why they continue to support the Democratic Party
85. Mary McLeod Bethune
86. Mary McLeod Bethune 1935- founds the National Council on Negro Women Meant to advance the quality of life for African-American women
87. Mary McLeod Bethune Served as an advisor to FDR Director of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration First African-American female agency head Helped the government recognize the need to get more agencies to hire blacks
88. Even though there was no one “great” black leader during this time, the needs of blacks were not ignored…
89. NAACP
90. Walter White
91. Walter White
92. Walter White 1931- takes over the NAACP “White” skin, blond hair, blue eyes Could “pass” as white
93. Walter White Changes the focus of the NAACP Really focus more on legal issues under him
94. NAACP in the 1930s Operating on a reduced budget because of the Depression
95. Legal Defense Fund
96. Charles Houston
97. Charles Houston Dean of Howard Law School Head of NAACP’s legal defense fund
98. Legal Defense Fund Focus on the South 80% of blacks live there Less than 100 black lawyers
99. Education Biggest issue for the NAACP during the 1930s
100. Education Howard: found three areas where he thought segregation in schools could be challenged Differences in salaries in teachers between white and black schools Lack of access of African-Americans to graduate schools Disproportionate funds for schools compared to what African-Americans paid in taxes
101. NAACP and the New Deal Challenged programs they felt to be discriminatory towards African-Americans
102. Thurgood Marshall
103. Thurgood Marshall 1936- joins the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund 1940- becomes chief council for the Legal Defense Fund 1967- named to the US Supreme Court First African-American to hold this position
104. Criticism of the NAACP during the 1930s Ordinary African-Americans wondered if court cases took too long to bring about change
105. W.E.B. Du Bois
106. W.E.B. Du Bois 1934- decides to leave the NAACP Issues with White Questions about the structure of the organization Questions about the focus of the organization Begins to advocate for voluntary segregation (goes against the ideals of the NAACP)
107. Going into the 1940s, conditions were not good for blacks in America…
108. Pearl Harbor
109. Pearl Harbor
110. The West Virginia explodes, Pearl Harbor ( 1941)
111. Rare color photograph of destruction at Pearl Harbor
112. A Day Which Will Live in Infamy… December 7, 1941 Japanese attack Pearl Harbor
113. US Is Now Officially Involved in WW2 African-Americans have to decide whether or not they want to support the war effort Issue: they were not treated like citizens at home, so why should they fight for democracy abroad?
114. African-Americans in World War 2 The black press reflected many concerns that African-Americans felt Unlike the mainstream press which supported US involvement in the war Made them subject to harassment
115. W.E.B. Du Bois
116. W.E.B. Du Bois Did not support the US getting involved in the war Especially did not like the decision to fight in the Pacific
117. James Thompson and the Double-V Campaign
118. James Thompson and the Double V Campaign
119. Double V Campaign Victory at home (i.e. an end to Jim Crow laws) Victory abroad
120. Double V Campaign
121. Thompson and the Double V Campaign Joins the Army His example, and campaign, lead to many more blacks joining the military
122. J. Edgar Hoover
123. J. Edgar Hoover Did not like the Double-V campaign With FDR’s support, he wanted to indict black newspaper editors who supported this idea
124. Frances Biddle
125. Frances Biddle Attorney General of the U.S. Met with black newspaper editors and agreed not to charge them as long as they didn’t intensify their criticism of the war effort
126. Black Newspapers Were Still Thought To Be A Threat… Military libraries would not carry them Burned any copies they found so that black soldiers did not have access to them Were very fearful that black newspapers would encourage blacks not to support the war effort
127. African American Men during WW2
128. African-American Men during WW2
129. African-Americans during WW2 Over 700,000 serve Primarily in Army Initially, government wanted to limit blacks to 5.8% of the armed forces but blacks protested against this
130. African-Americans during ww2 Forced to endure segregation in the military
131. Blacks in the Military Generally assigned to menial jobs
132. Tuskegee Airmen
133. Tuskegee Airmen
134. Tuskegee Airmen
135. Blacks in the Military Even though most blacks were not on the front lines, their work behind the scenes was very important
136. Impact of African-Americans in WW2 Military is officially segregated until 1948 BUT WW2 lays the foundation for integration 1941- less than 4000 blacks in the military; 12 officers 1945- 1.2 million blacks were serving HUGE increase
137. African-Americans on the Homefront Last hired and first fired
138. African-Americans on the Homefront Great Depression ended with the war
139. Hundreds of Thousands of New Jobs Opened… To Whites
140. Even White Women
141. African-Americans on the Homefront Over 50% of defense factories said they would not hire blacks Did not matter whether the blacks were skilled laborers or not
142. A. Philip Randolph
143. A. Philip Randolph
144. A. Philip Randolph
145. A. Philip Randolph Wanted to have a March on Washington demanding equality for blacks in the federal work force Had tremendous support from the black community Over 100,000 were scheduled to go
146. FDR
147. FDR Worried about how a March on Washington would make the US appear to the rest of the world
148. A. Philip Randolph and Walter White
149. 2 Demands Integration of the army No segregation in hiring for the defense industries
150. Executive Order 8802 There will be no discrimination in the employment of workers because of race, creed, color, or national origin
151. Fair Employment Practices Committee
152. Fair Employment Practices Committee Meant to ensure companies with government contracts followed Executive Order 8802 Led to more African-American men getting jobs in the war industries Had a small budget, and few employees so effectiveness varied by region
153. Fair Employment Practices Committee Executive Order 9346 Strengthens the Fair Employment Practices Committee Required that all government contracts had a non-discrimination clause Now included federal government establishments like shipyards, etc.
154. Impact of Randolph Showed that blacks could DEMAND their rights and the government was willing to listen Will bring this into the Civil Rights Movement
155. Post-war America
156. Post-War America Racism was as bad as before the war
157. Post-War America Blacks attitudes had changed Had achieved victory abroad so they now wanted to get victory at home
158. A. Philip Randolph
159. A. Philip Randolph League for Nonviolent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation
160. Harry Truman
161. Harry Truman
162. Executive Order 9981 Bans segregation in the armed forces
163. World War 2 leads to the emergence of the modern civil rights movement…