The African Background, Race and

Slavery
 Africans are very good at cultivating.
This made them invaluable.
 The number of African slaves increased
after slave trading legalized
 “which one comes first? Slavery or
Racism?”
 Eric William : “slavery was not born of
racism, rather, racism was the
consequence of slavery.”
The African Background,
Race and Slavery
 Slaves worked under two systems

Cultivating landlord’s plantation

SLAVES

Cultivating their provisions

ground to earn more money
The African Background,
Race and Slavery
 Some black purchased their freedom
when they got reach after cultivating
their provision grounds
 Some of them established black
business even though they faced
financial difficulties
Revolutionary war
 Black was excluded in Revolutionary war
after November 1775 when British offered
freedom for Black people if they joined
them
 George Washington: allowed the
enlistment of free blacks. owners were
paid for their slaves.
 Revolutionary War marked the era of First
emancipation (slavery abolition in the
north)
 Slavery was not abolished in the 1787 by
Federal Constitution
INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY
 It began during the Revolution
 It gave mutual aid, fraternal
organization, school, churches, and
cultural improvement societies
 The most significant black institution
was the independent black church
 It promoted the rights of black
Americans and provided services for
the poor
Antebellum Slaves and Free
Black
 1860: population of African American =
4,5 million, free African American only
10%
 Antebellum slaves shared tradition of self-
help economic activities.
 Many free black established self help
organization to help those who were still
under slavery donated by rich black
 Antebellum Black Business : barbering,
tailoring, catering
Civil war and Reconstruction

 Civil war (1861): a war to free

slaves ended on April 9,1865
 1866-1876 :Black college and
universities were established
 The end of civil war didn’t create an
immediate freedom of black’s
political rights
Civil war and Reconstruction

 In 1865 south limited black economic

activities by stereotyping black as lazy and
lacked initiation
 13th Amandment(1865): abolished slavery
 Civil rights Act (1866): citizen of every
color except Indian were given the same
legal rights as white men.
 14th Amandment(1868) secure black
political rights was passed to ensure that
the 13th Amendment was not violated
Civil war and Reconstruction

 Reconstruction act (1867): providing political

participation for blacks
 15th Amendment: no one could be deprived of the
right to vote because of race, color or previous
condition of servitude
 The number of blacks in Legislative and executive
were increasing
 South conservation admission declined the political
participation of black:
 Worsened by the white terrorist (Ku Klux Klan)
 1879: Black fled from the South
 1883: Civil rights acts (1875) was declared
unconstitutional by Federal government
Civil war and Reconstruction

 Jim Crow warned African American: “

agitation of questions of social
equality is the extremist folly”
vs.
 Booker T. Washington:
 Black had to accommodate the rise of
Jim Crow.
 The age of Booker T.
Washington
 1898: W.E.B. Du Bois = Negro Business
league
 Pursue equality for black in an open movement
 1900: Washington:
 National League Business League (NNBL)
 To pursue equality under hidden movement
 Du Bois and Washington promoted
cooperative efforts for the survival of
Black economic life.
 The age of Booker T.
Washington
 Black inventors contributed
significantly to the nations industrial
growth
 Example:
 L Latimer: installed the municipal electric
light systems for New York, Philadelphia,
and London
 John E. McWorter = invented helicopter
 Black also made significant advances in
science
The Great Migration

 Great migration occurred between

1910 and 1920 from the South to
the North
 Factors:
 Intensification of racism in the South
 Differences of wages in the North and
South
 Better health care in the North
 Declination from European immigration
due to wartime
the Rise of Urban Black
Ghetto
 Urban Black Ghetto ?
a part of a town occupied with minority group
i.e. blacks
 This area triggered the increasing of
racism in the north.
 Zoning laws
 Redlining
 Restrictive covenants
 The refusal of financial institutions, banks, and
saving loan companies to approve the mortgage
loans for blacks
the Rise of Urban Black
Ghetto continues…
 Blacks found it difficult to defend
their country during WWI and WWII
 it triggered riots : Red Summer and
Tulsa riot
 The new Ku Klux Klan emerged
 Detested blacks, Catholic, immigrant,
Semitic
 Harlem Renaissance
 It reflected black’s pride for their race
and culture
Harlem Renaissance

 New Negro
 They stated their disillusionment with
racist America
 Jazz Age
 A new music genre invented by blacks in
1920s
 Black Literature
 Expressing black’s rage not merely
about blacks despair
The Great Depression

 Several factors that made blacks’

economy face downfall during
1920s:
 White people replaced blacks in heavy
industries
 Traditional industries employing blacks
such as mining, textile, shipping, and
shoe faced depressions.
 Agriculture was also in a depressed state
(80 percents of black population still
lived in South worked as farmworker)
New Deal (F.D. Roosevelt)

 The New Deal showed racism:

 The number of blacks unemployment were still
high compared to whites by 1940
 The number of blacks gaining success were also
incredibly low, only 2 percents who were
considered professional
 Blacks still got prejudice for being scabs and
strikebreakers.
 Social Security Acts did not protect blacks
 Funds were hardly gotten by blacks living in the
South but it was so easy for the whites
The War And The Civil
Rights
 Segregation occurred almost in
every aspect of life including in
military
 A question emerged.
“Is U.S. a communist or democratic
nation?”
 To answer this question, U.S.
government then concerned more on
securing black’s rights
The War And The Civil
Rights
 Black had been doing all by
themselves to get their rights long
before U.S. government concerned
more. It was through black
institution such as NAACP.
 Finally, Civil Right Acts was passed
by Congress on 1957 to secure
black’s rights
 Even so, racism still occurred in the
society
 From Civil Rights
To Black Power
 Civil Rights did not bring an immediate
equality to black people
 Civil Rights did not give the right to vote to
Black
 Civil Rights movement emerged to pursue
the rights that had not been yet gotten by
black, led by black organizations
 The biggest movement was led by Martin
Luther King Jr. in August 28, 1963. It was a
very famous event when he orated his “I
Have A Dream” speech
 It was then responded with Voting Right
Acts (1957)
Black Revolution

 The movement was divided into

Black nationalist and Black separatist
 Black Nationalist
 CORE under Floyd McKissick. It
disagreed with violence action to
defense, concerned with the resurrection
of black economic
Black Revolution continues…

 Black Separatist
 The Black Panther Party
 The Nation of Islam
 When Malcolm X led this organization, he
promoted an establishment of an independent
black state within the border of U.S
 He promoted racial-separatism, black-self
determination, economic self-help. He required his
members to adhere to a strict moral and health
code and respect women
 Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU)
 Established by Malcolm X with the new idealism
after doing pilgrimage to Mecca
The Post-Civil Rights Era

 Economy
 The federal government focused on
promoting Black economic development
 However, the black economic remained
desperate as it was
 Equality could not be achieved (in terms
of earning)
The Post-Civil Rights Era

 Political
 The civil rights movement increased
black political participation
 Reverse migration (North → South)
 “white flight” : a fear of declining
property values and lowering
educational standard since school was
no longer segregated
The Post-Civil Rights Era

 Employment
 Equal employment opportunity policies
increased black employment in many
areas
 blacks were blamed for taking jobs from
whites and their seats in professional
and graduate schools
 In fact, the civil rights movement
benefited white women more than
blacks
The Post-Civil Rights Era

 Education
 there had been significant progression in
black education
 In 1940, only a few of black completed
high school and college compared to
white
 the reduction of financial aid became a
factor that made black do not continue
their studies
The Post-Civil Rights Era
 Others
 The emergence of black middle class.
 Class rather than race determined black’s life
chances. For example: O.J. Simpson was verdict
not guilty after killing his white wife and her white
male friend. O.J. Simpson was a millionare (high
class people) hired a “dream team” to defend him
in courts.
 The emergence of black literary figure
 The emergence of Hollywood black superstar:
 Actor/Actress : Danzel Washington, Whoopi
Goldberg, Halle Berry etc
 Television : Oprah Winfrey Show, The Cosby
Show, etc
AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE AGE OF
MULTICULTURAL DIVERSITY
 DETERMINING AMERICAN IN THE AMERICAN HISTORY
 Which one that should be erased?
 Should black’s black history be erased?

 BLACK EXPERIENCE AS A FACTOR IN AMERICAN LIFE

 Black history is too great to be erased

 RACE AND RACISM IN 20TH CENTURY

 Nowadays, not only whites who detest new immigrants but
also blacks.
 Blacks become afraid of new immigrants
 A MOVE TOWARD A NEW SOCIETAL CONSTRUCTION OF
RACE IN AMERICA
Conclusion

 African American people have

undergone many phases of struggle
until they can get what they have
got in present day life
 The struggles will always be a part of
American history
 However, racism still exists in
American society not only to black
but also to other minorities