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Black Movements and Black Messiahs
Test 1, Civil War to World War I
Reconstruction
Black Codes
- adopted by Southern states in '65, '66; authorized freedman to own property, make
contracts, sue, contract legal marriages. Banned racial intermarriage, exclude blacks
from juries. Codes relating to vagrancy, apprenticeship, labor, were intended to
require freedman to return to their own plantations for work, could not leave without
permission, no visitors, could not refuse to work.
Freeman's Bureau Bill
- extended for two years the funding and operations of the Freeman's Bureau ... vetoed
by Johnson, leads to Civil Rights Acts of 1866, a modified version is passed over
Johnson's veto.
Civil Rights Acts of 1866
- designed to nullify the Dred Scott decision and the black codes ... defined blacks
as US citizens and guaranteed their right to own or rent property, to make and enforce
contracts, and have access to courts as parties and witnesses. In general it affirmed the right of blacks to enjoy full and equal benefit of all saws as is enjoyed
by white citizens, the first definition of national citizenship. Passed over Johnson's
veto, lead to the 14th amendment.
Fourteenth Amendment
- intended to make it more difficult for rights of freedman to be limited at a future
time, to prevent future Dred Scott decisions. Complex and ambiguous, the source
of more litigation than all the rest of the Constitution combined. Provided (1)
National citizenship, prohibiting the states from abridging the privileges and immunities
of citizens, from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property with out due
process of law, and from denying to any person the equal protection of the laws.
(2) provided for the proportional reduction of the congressional representation of any state
that withheld suffrage from a portion of its adult mail citizens.
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
- the alarm caused by the Black Codes, and increased violence, and the return to
congress of many of the same elected officials from the south as before the war,
together with Republican dissatisfication with Johnson led to the Reconstruction
Acts. Provided that: there were no legal southern governments (except Tennessee), consolidate
10 states into 5 military districts, with military governors appointed by Army; conduct
voter registration of ALL males 21 and over who take loyalty oath; elect delegates
to constitutional convention; 50% of eligible must vote; constitution approved by Congress;
ratify 14th Amendment.
Fifteenth Amendment
- 1869, Right to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by
any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Congress
has the power to enforce this by legislation.
Ku Klux Klan Act
- 1871, acting on the enforcement provisions of the 15th amendment, congress makes
interference with voting fights a federal offense punishable in federal courts, making
it a felony for one or more persons to deprive another person of his civil or political rights. The president could use the army to enforce this law. Used by Grant to
crack down of Klan activity.
Civil Rights Act of 1875
- probably passed in honor of Charles Sumner, this bill prohibited racial discrimination
in juries, all forms of transportation and public accommodations anywhere in United
States. A provision providing the same in schools was dropped before being passed. Many felt it would be found unconstitutional, and little effort was made to enforce
this law. In 1883 (Civil Rights Cases) the Supreme Court ruled that, except for
juries, this law was unconstitutional on the grounds that the Fourteenth Amendment
gave Congress no power to legislate against discrimination by individuals, only against
discrimination by states. Judge Harlan was the only dissenting vote.
Election of 1876
- The Compromise of 1877
- Tilden (Demo) v Hayes (Rep), Tilden had a small plurality of popular votes, but
with 185 electoral votes needed to elect, Tilden had 184 and Hayes 165 with 20 votes
in dispute. Congress was in an unprecedented dilemma, the Constitution offered
no clear guidance. Free and fair elections in some southern states would probable produced
a Republican victory, but there was vote fraud on both sides. There was much negotiations
behind the scenes. The Compromise of 1877 gave the election to Hayes, but in return he had to (1) remove remaining troops from South, (2) promise not to send them
back, (3) appoint two cabinet members from South, (4) put one Southner in Supreme
Court. John M. Harlan
is appointed to court and serves for 30 years. In many ways he was the least conservative
member of his time.
Post Reconstruction
US v. Reese
- (1876) Reese had refused to collect poll tax from Negroes, effectively preventing
them from registering to vote. In a narrow interpatation, the court found in favor
of Reese saying in effect that the 15th amendment did not guarantee anyone the right
to vote, but only a right not to be discriminated against by the state on account of
race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Reese testified that he did not
discriminate based on race. As far as the Court was concerned, the South was free
to settle it problems as best it could. This opens the door for literacy tests, and other
methods used to deny Negroes voting rights.
1883 Civil Rights Cases
- in finding the 1875 Civil Rights Acts unconstitutional, the Supreme Court says
that the 15th amendment was not intended to prevent individuals from discriminating,
just to prevent governments for doing so. Judge Harlan is only dissenting vote.
US v. Harris
- Supreme Court decides that the federal government does not have power to protect
rights of citizenship, that it is a function of state government, and hence, the
KKK Act was unconstitutional.
The Civil Rights Cases, Reese, and Harris
leave Negroes in catch 22, the Federal Government won't or can't protect their rights,
unable to vote (or vote controlled by whites) and subjected to violence and threats
of violence, there is no place for them to turn except themselves. Slavery has been replaced with peonage. The little gains made during reconstruction were being lost,
either by fear and force or rule of law.
Plessy v Fergerson
- (1892) In 1890 the Louisiana legislature passed the Separate Car Law
, providing that separate cars be provided for whites and blacks. A Citizens Committee
is organized to test the legality of this law, since the Supreme Court had ruled
that though individual citizens could not be prevented from discriminating, governments
could. In the original trial, Plessy is found guilty, and is upheld by the Louisiana
Supreme Court. Little public notice is taken or this case, and the US Supreme Court
originally would not hear the case. But in May of 1993, in a 7 - 1 decision, the
court upheld lower rulings saying that it was not a violation of the 14th Amendment
as long as the accommodations were substantially equal. The dissenting vote was Judge
Harlan, saying that it makes as much since to have separate cars for Republicans
and Democrats, that the constitution must be color blind, that this will make race
relations worse, not better, that it will become increasingly more difficult to have free and
open discussions of issues and problems that effect all people.
Legal Segregation
Populace Revolt
- in the 1880, a unique set of events come together that led for a short time to
greater cooperation of whites and blacks. The falling price of crops and the rising
costs of transportation, crop failers, brought workers from diverse occupations to
organize into large unions. These would be opposed by governments who were increasingly
controlled by big business. At the same time the 14th amendment was becoming ineffective
in protecting individual rights, but was increasingly used to protest the rights
of corporations, legal persons (a great irony of the 14th). This movement at first
was a great success, socially and politically. Many local and statewide offices
were won by candidates supported by the movement. It was opposed in the south by
"Bourbon Democrats
", the ruling elite. The successful strategy used by them was the passing of laws
to separate white and black coalitions. Laws requiring separate labor unions, public
accommodations, schools. This led directly to the separate but equal
decision in the Plessy case, opening the flood gates for legal segregation.
Literacy Tests
- The Mississippi Plan of 1890, required the ability to read and interpret. South
Carolina followed in 1895, Louisiana in 1898. In Louisiana, black voter registration
went from 140,000 in 1896, to 5,000 in 1900 to 900 in 1910.
Lynchings
- Violence, and the threat of violence was always a tactic used by whites against
blacks. The decade of 1890 saw an increase in violence, especially Lynching (to
execute without due process of law, especially to hang, as by a mob).
NAACP
Niagara Movement
, organized in 1905 met in Canada because could not find accommodations in New York,
20 delegates, intellectuals from 14 states, only 5 from South, 400 members at its
peak, published The Moon, The Horizon
, edited by Du Bois until 1910, was a call for the talented tenth, best of Black intellectuals
to develop strategy for ending segregation.
Agenda --
- Claim birth right, freedom of speech and freedom to criticize.
- Supported unfettered, unsubsidized press
- Manhood suffrage, to participate fully on the same basis as whites ... NOW
- Reject Afro-American in favor of Negro-American, want to be considered American
- abolish of class system solely based on race or color.
- recognize of human brotherhood
- recognize of classical education as the right of all
- Universal common schools for all, High school or technical school for those who want
it, and colleges for those who would benefit ... supported by federal government
- Belief in dignity of labor, for all
- United effort in courageous leadership, to continually protest denial of rights to
blacks.
Principal goal was of movement was to demonstrate their good will to all. Du Bois
felt like a missionary
Springfield Riots
- home of Abraham Lincoln ... race riot was a shock to all. Mary White Overton
brings together meeting of progressive reformers ... on the 46th anniversary of Emancipation
Proclamation ... 1-1-1909 ... Feb 12, centennial of Lincoln's birth - first meeting.
What would Lincoln think? Mostly northern whites/blacks invited.
NAACP
- (2-12-1919), Oswald Garrison Villard, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Store, W.
E. B. Du Bois, and others form an organization that will be called NAACP. Du Bois
becomes editor of newspaper "The Crisis"
... insisted on final say on content ... through its pages, he shapes the positions
for the NAACP. After 1 year, about 10,000 members, after 10 years, 100,000 members
provided an audience for Du Bois, opened publication to black artisans, gathered
and published local community news.
Six goals:
- End mob violence
- End discrimination in public places based on race or color
- Win back franchise for Blacks
- Equal employment opportunity for all
- Public education
- Freedom to come and go
World War I
Biggest impact of war on Black Americans was the large movement of Blacks out of rural south
to the job opportunities in big cities in the north. Although it caused problems
of over crowding, over time it would provide northern blacks with increased political
power, and the ability to elect Blacks to political office for the first time since
the end of reconstruction.
Washington v. Douglas and Du Bois
Frederick Douglas
is the most prominent black man in the 19th Century. It would be fair to call him
a messiah. He is an important figure before the Civil War and after the war. As
early as 1861, he pushes Lincoln to free slaves asking "Why not now". He meets
question of freeing slaves head on saying -- let us alone ... do nothing for us, with us ...
give us a chance. He was assertive without being aggressive, maybe overly optimistic,
identified early maybe too much with Republicans, did not allow himself to become
only spokesman. His involvement with the Freemans Bank got him in trouble, but it was
not his doing. In an 1883 speech he assesses the progress of Freedmen -- considering
the obstacles in our path, we have made considerable progress, better than could
been expected, but it could have been so much more. He has become disenchanted with the
Republicans and with presidents Hayes and Chester Author. In a speech in 1894, he relates his filling about the state of black peoples in the US. He is disturbed about
the formation of all Black institutions, about race pride, about the formation of
a nation within a nation, saying -- our union is our weakness. Blacks should yield
as little as possible, cannot legitimate what is illegitimate.
In a speech to young blacks (who are disappointed with what they hear), he tells
them that things will get much worse before they get better, but that they should
continue to agitate, to insist to have the same rights as all men. To sum up his
life, Frederick Douglas
was persistent, broad minded, objective, had a strong sense of self and his race.
He worked to make things better, not to make separate legitimate. Black will need
to solve their own problems. The ending of slavery without end racism is futile
. Don't let someone else define who you are. A truly amazing man, self-educated
-- mastered the use of language, spoken and written. He was an advocate of equality
... not a black advocate. Dies in 1895, the year of BT Washington's Atlanta Compromise.
Booker T. Washington
- Born a slave about 1859 in Virgin, soon moved to West Virginia, lived tough life,
accused early a taste for knowledge, somewhat overly opportunistic toward opportunities
for blacks based on his own experiences. Doesn't admit that he himself was exceptional, had an undying faith in America. Supporter of Joham Peslelozzi
(learn by doing). President of Tuskegee Industrial Institute. Problems: Over simplified
view, tunnel vision, did not see evil in people who helped him, thought that the
best people in South were not racist, under estimated the importance of a Classical education (education should make you more humane). People whom he considered heroes
were not well educated, Andrew Caragee, Vanderbilt. Often presented Blacks in bad
light in order to raze money. Was not concerned with voting rights, thought that
Blacks should have been better educated before being given right to vote. He over simplified
the effects or racism. Over all, he did more good that bad. During his many years
at Tuskegee, he was the prominent spokesman for Blacks in America, and was consulted
by many white leaders of his time. He declined to participate in NAACP, probably
because of Du Bois, and many other Blacks would also not join until after his death
in 1914.
William E. B. Du Bois
- from north, western Mass., not poor, happy child, active in school, enjoyed competing
and beating whites in education, has his eyes opened to the state of Blacks when
he goes south to Fisk ... realizes how narrow, limited life and opportunity is for
blacks, learns southern black culture. Is accepted to Harvard and becomes the 1st black
PHD ... does scholarly study of black slave trade, travels and studies in Europe.
Complete a very important study of Negro family in Philadelphia, many thought a
professional study of black families could not be done, but he proved them wrong. Believed
in a liberal education for blacks which put him at odds to BTW. Du Bois is saying
that the plague of the 20th century is the color line, BTW continues to believe
that through education things could be made better. At Atlanta University, De Bois studies
Negro Families. The assumption was that in 1900 most Afro-Americans were descendants
of West Africa, and that West Africa social structure of 1900 century has not changed from 1st state in 1500 at the beginning of the American slave trade. He concludes
that the greatest impact of slavery was the effect on strong family ties. He also
had important studies of Negro Education and Negro Church. Founder of the Niagara Movement
, organized in 1905. Becomes a founding member of NAACP in 1910 where he would gain
his greatest voice as editor of newspaper "The Crisis"
... insisted on final say on content ... through its pages, he shapes the positions
for the NAACP. After 1 year, about 10,000 members, after 10 years, 100,000 members
provided an audience for Du Bois, opened publication to black artisans, gathered
and published local community news. In 1912 his support for Democrat Wilson lands him in
some trouble, despite his promises, Wilson is the most racist president up to this
time. Du Bois did not believe an educated person could be racist. Living a long
life, Du Bois sees in all, a contemporary of Douglas, Washington and M. L. King. He had
suggested very eerily on, the successful strategy used to overturn Plessy and other
segregation law by the gradual building up of case law. He was an active participant
in The Harlem Renaissance.