Download African-American History

African-American History
Theme #1
From Servitude to Slavery
• profitable tobacco cultivation required large supply of cheap labor
– labor shortages often slowed the growth of the Chesapeake
– indentured servants (headright system) helped meet labor needs at first
• a Dutch trade ship brought the first Africans to Virginia in 1619
– Africans initially were treated much like white indentured servants
• Bacon’s Rebellion (1676) fueled shift to permanent African slavery
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exposed tensions between backcountry farmers and the tidewater gentry
also demonstrated colonial resistance to royal control
caused tidewater gentry to rethink their commitment to indentured servitude
slave labor spread rapidly in VA and MD during last quarter of 17th century
Slavery in Colonial America
• vast majority of Africans ended up in Brazil and the Caribbean
– British North America actually had much fewer slaves than other regions
• slavery was legally established in all 13 colonies by the early 1700s
– although enslaved, Africans maintained cultural practices brought from Africa
– tobacco was most the important cash crop in the Chesapeake colonies
– rice was the most important cash crop grown in South Carolina
• 1739 Stono Rebellion was one of the earliest slave revolts in America
– organized and led by slaves living just south of Charleston, SC
Slavery in Early U.S. History
• Dec of Independence did NOT abolish the slave trade
– 1787 Northwest Ordinance was the first national document containing a
prohibition of slavery—banned slavery north of the Ohio River
• the Constitution initially guaranteed legality of slavery in every state
– Three-Fifths Compromise dealt with the apportionment of the House of Reps
– the 14th Amendment would later invalidate the Three-Fifths Compromise
• slaves used work slowdowns, sabotage, escape, and revolt to resist
– major slave uprisings were led by Denmark Vesey (1822) and Nat Turner (1831)
– revolts caused many southern states to tighten already strict slave codes
The Antebellum South
• several factors helped fuel the rise of “King Cotton” in the South
– cotton gin, new farmland in Deep South, and rise of textile manufacturing
• the majority of White males in the South were just small farmers
– most White families in antebellum South did NOT own slaves
– small minority of wealthy plantation owners dominated the antebellum South
• dramatic rise in slaves was due to natural population increase
– despite forced separations, slaves maintained social networks & unique culture
– slave revolts were actually quite infrequent
– some free Blacks were able to accumulate property despite discrimination
Abolition Movement
• Second Great Awakening fueled growth of the abolition movement
– William Lloyd Garrison (The Liberator) called for immediate emancipation
– Frederick Douglass (The North Star) was most prominent Black abolitionist
– American Colonization Society called for return of freed slaves to Africa
• Fug. Slave Act inspired Harriet B. Stowe to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin
– at the time only the Bible sold more copies than Uncle Tom’s Cabin
– Uncle Tom’s Cabin intensified Northern opposition to slavery
Expansion and Slavery
• territorial expansion fueled intense debate about status of slavery
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1820 Missouri Compromise
Texas Annexation
Wilmot Proviso
Compromise of 1850
1854 Ostend Manifesto
1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act (popular sovereignty)
• 1857 Dred Scott decision ruled that Blacks were not U.S. citizens
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established principle that national legislation could NOT limit spread of slavery
also stated that Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in the territories
Dred Scott decision repealed NW Ordinance of 1787 and the Missouri Comp
became a contentious issue during the Lincoln-Douglas debates
Civil War and Reconstruction
• expansion of slavery issue divided Democratic Party before the war
– expansion issue led to rise of small third-parties like the “Free Soilers”
– Rep Party opposed expansion but agreed to protect slavery where it existed
• initially President Lincoln hesitated to emancipate the slaves
– his primary goal was to end the rebellion and preserve the Union
• Antietam allowed Lincoln to issue Emancipation Proclamation
– but Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in rebel territory—it did NOT
free slaves living in the Border States
– immediate effect was to strengthen the moral cause of the Union
– Union eventually employed thousands of Black soldiers—54th Massachusetts
• Reconstruction Amendments  13th/14th/15th (Sick-Children-Vomit)
– Freedmen’s Bureau, Civil Rights Act of 1866 (response to “Black Codes”)
– Force Acts helped suppress Ku Klux Klan violence
The “New South” and Jim Crow Era
• most freedmen became sharecroppers after the Civil War
– sharecropping (crop lien system) led to cycle of poverty for tenant farmers
• 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision established “separate but equal”
– helped fuel passage of several segregation laws known as Jim Crow Laws
• southern politicians used several tactics to disenfranchise Blacks
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literacy tests
poll taxes
grandfather clauses
gerrymandering of electoral districts to favor Democratic Party
Turn of the Century Black Activists
• Booker T. Washington made “Atlanta Compromise” speech in 1895
– encouraged Blacks to seek economic opportunities rather than political rights
– stressed importance of vocational education (Tuskegee Institute)
– urged Black Americans to avoid public political agitation
• W.E.B. Du Bois advocated full political, economic, and social equality
– founded the NAACP in 1909 and called for development of a “talented tenth”
of the Black population—hoped they would become influential
– Du Bois opposed Booker T. Washington’s program for Black progress
• Ida B. Wells-Barnett was advocate for civil rights and women’s rights
– was also the principal public opponent of lynching in the South
• Marcus Garvey was leader of Universal Negro Improvement Assoc.
– identified with black pride, black nationalism, and “Back to Africa” movement
Blacks in the 1910s, 1920s, & 1930s
• 1915 film The Birth of a Nation led a resurgence of the KKK
– controversial film by D.W. Griffith that depicted KKK as heroic
• Blacks fought in strictly segregated units during First World War
– first wave of massive migration from South occurred during and after WWI
• Harlem Renaissance thrived during the Roaring Twenties
– outpouring of Black artistic and literary creativity
– writers and artists expressed pride in their African American culture
– key figures included: James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington,
Josephine Baker, Zora Neale Hurston, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong
• Blacks faced additional hardships during the Great Depression
– New Deal did NOT directly confront racial segregation and injustice—but its
programs did help Blacks survive  major shift in voting (support for Dems)
– Eleanor Roosevelt raised public awareness by resigning from the DAR after it
barred renowned Black singer Marian Anderson from performing a show in DC
Birth of Modern Civil Rights Movement
• Blacks continued to fight in segregated units during WWII
– FDR did issue an order forbidding discrimination in defense industries
– President Truman finally desegregated armed forces in 1948
• 1954 Brown v. Board decision banned segregation in public schools
– used 14th Amendment’s “equal protection clause” to contradict separate but =
• President Eisenhower was reluctant to get involved in civil rights
– but he did send fed troops to assist in desegregation of Little Rock Central HS
• MLK Jr. was head of the SCLC and advocated civil disobedience
– emerged as a leader by organizing Montgomery Bus Boycott (Rosa Parks)
• college students staged the first sit-ins to protest segregation in NC
– the sit-ins were an excellent example of nonviolent civil disobedience
1960s and “Black Power”
• MLK Jr. continued his nonviolent approach during 1960s
– March on Washington / March from Selma to Montgomery (for voting rights)
– some major successes  Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, 24th Amendment
• but many blacks grew restless with slow progress during the 1960s
– began to favor separatism and Black Power
– 1960s Black Power movement called for Blacks to establish greater control over
their economic and political life
– Stokely Carmichael (SNCC) and Huey Newton (Black Panthers) were leading
spokesmen for Black Power
Key Civil Rights Leaders (mid-20th century)
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—SCLC (nonviolent civil disobedience)
• Stokely Carmichael—SNCC (Black Power)
• Huey Newton—Black Panthers (Black Power)
• Malcolm X—Black Muslims
• Elijah Muhammad—Black Muslims
• Roy Wilkins—NAACP