African Americans and Jim Crow

1. African Americans and Jim Crow

2. SEGREGATION • 1. The action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things or being set apart. • 2. The enforced separation of different racial groups in a country, community, or establishment

3. EXCLUDE • 1. Deny (someone) access to or bar (someone) from a place, group, or privilege. • 2. Keep (something) out of a place

4. Segregation • Segregation by custom and tradition, if not by law • Evolved slowly to enforce white control • Schools, hospitals, cemeteries segregated • Hotels and restaurants discriminated

5. Segregation-Black reaction • Black people acquiesced • Churches and social organizations • Accepted separate seating in places previously closed • Segregation better than exclusion

6. Jim Crow • What is it? What does it mean?

7. Jim Crow • Minstrel show character • Thomas “Daddy” Rice, 1830s and 1840s • performed in black face and ridiculed black people

8. Segregation of Railroads • The first segregation laws involved passenger trains • Tennessee, 1881 • Florida, 1887 • Railroads opposed • Maintaining separate cars was too expensive

9. Plessy v. Ferguson • Louisiana required segregated trains, 1891 • Railroads and black people object • Challenged in court • Homer A. Plessy • U.S. Supreme Court, • 8-1 decision • Upheld state law--segregation--as constitutional, 1896 • Justice John Marshal Harlan • Fourteenth Amendment • Jim Crow laws become embedded in southern states

10. Segregation Proliferates • Proliferation • “White” and “colored” signs • Restrooms, drinking fountains • Separate Bibles for black and white witnesses • Oklahoma required separate phone booths, 1915 • School textbooks stored in separate facilities • “Separate but equal” • Inferior facilities or no facilities

11. Racial Etiquette • Black and white people did not shake hands • Black people did not look directly into white peoples’ eyes • Black people stared at the ground to address white people • Black men removed their hats; white men did not • Black people went to the back door • Black men or boys must never look at white women • Black women could not try on clothing in white stores • White people did not use titles of respect • White customers always served first

12. V. Violence • Rampant political and mob violence • Texas 1886 • The Phoenix Riot, 1898 • The Wilmington Riot, NC1898 • The New Orleans Riot, 1900

13. Lynching • (of a mob) Kill (someone), esp. by hanging, for an alleged offense with or without a legal trial

14. Lynching • 3,745 lynchings between 1889 and 1932 • Most in the South • Black men were the usual victims • Presumed threat posed to white women • Community participation • Few denunciations from white leaders

15. Lynching • Women also lynched (less common) • Marie Scott • Mary Turner (8months pregnant)

16. Rape • Abuse and harassment against black women • No statistics • But considered more common than lynching • Black men tried to protect black women • Refused to let them work as domestics for white men • White men considered black women inferior • Black women were not virtuous • Coleman Blease

17. Day 2

18. Migration • Late 19th century African Americans • Ninety percent of black Americans lived in the South, 1910 • Emigrants 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s • Africa • Kansas • Oklahoma • Arkansas

20. The Great Migration • Why migrate? • Southern agricultural disasters, 1910s • Labor shortages during World War I • To escape the most blatant Jim Crow laws • Bleak culture of rural South • Destinations • Most went to Midwest or northeastern locales • Few went west

21. Northern Communities • Segregation usually less overt • Embraced Jim Crow • Southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois • Chicago • Harlem • “Negro Capital of the World”

22. Migration of the Negro, Panel 1, by Jacob Lawrence

23. Jacob Lawrence (1917–2000) never finished high school and had little formal training as an artist. But he had an abiding interest in the lives and history of African Americans. He painted sixty panels depicting the migration of black people from the South to the North. In Migration of the Negro, Panel 1 (1940–41) he shows black Southerners bound for northern cities.

24. The Great Migration and the Distribution of the African-American Population in 1920

25. Families • Migration strained families

26. The Liberian Exodus • “Liberia Fever” • Liberian Exodus Joint Stock Company

27. The Exodusters • Western migration • Encouraged by the Homestead Act and railroads • Between 1865-1880 • All black towns in Kansas, Nebraska, Indian territory • Southern migration • Many black people moved to southern villages • Urban areas offered more economic opportunities

28. The Buffalo Soldiers • Combat • Black soldiers used to subdue Red people • Civilian hostility to black soldiers

29. Red Versus Black: The Buffalo Soldiers • Army Reorganization Act of 1869 • Western frontier fighting the Plains Indians • Segregated units • Poor equipment, inferior food, inadequate housing • Less likely to desert or use alcohol • Developed immense pride as professional soldiers • Plains Indians associated black soldiers with buffalo

30. The Black Cowboys • 5,000 black cowboys • Rode herds • Cattle drives to Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri

31. Education and Schools • Debate over type of education for African Americans • Academic vs. skill based

32. Education and Schools • Booker T. Washington • Hampton Normal and Ag. Inst. Graduate • “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” • W. E. B. Du Bois • Niagara Movement • NAACP • Talented Tenth

33. Washington and Tuskegee • Booker T. Washington • Supported industrial training • Hampton graduate • Born a slave, 1856 • Founded Tuskegee Institute, 1881 • Accepted segregation—for now • Stressed learning a skill • industrial-agricultural would earn respect and acceptance

34. Washington • Gained white people’s support and money • Power and influence • In black communities • White businessmen • Trusted his judgment and advice

35. Critics of Washington • Trained black people for lives of labor • Education more than acquisition of skills • DuBois

36. The Tuskegee Machine • Booker T. Washington as a political figure • Connections • Theodore Roosevelt • Invited Washington to dinner at the White House • Regularly consulted each other on political appointments • Behind-the-scenes political activities • Conservative leader • Did not challenge white supremacy • Accepted equitable voting qualifications • Opposed women’s suffrage • National Negro Business League

37. W. E. B. Du Bois • William Edward Burghardt Du Bois • Born and raised in Great Barrington, Massachusetts • Little overt racism • Fisk University • Harvard University • Earned Ph.D. in 1895 • Activist • The Souls of Black Folk • Critical of Washington’s gradualism

38. Du Bois and The Crisis The Crisis • NAACP publication • Denounced white racism • Demanded that black people stand up for civil rights • Did not provoke violence • Would not tolerate mistreatment • Propaganda tool • 30,000 subscribers, 1913

39. The Niagara Movement • Niagara Falls, 1905 • Emphatic and continual protest • Political rights • Equal treatment in public places • Discrimination in military • Booker T. Washington • Opposed

40. The NAACP • Founded 1909 • No direct link with Niagara Movement • Militant organization during the early years • Dedicated to racial justice • White leaders dominated and financed • Oswald Garrison Villard

41. Using the System • Full political and civil rights • Relied on judicial and legislative systems • Lawsuits and bill

42. Washington versus the NAACP • Many NAACP leaders despised Washington • Washington • His followers returned the feelings • Worked to subvert the NAACP • Saw Du Bois as a puppet for white people • Refused to debate him • Manipulated white supremacists

43. The Urban League • Social welfare organization • Founded in New York, 1910 • Black and white progressives

44. Church and Religion • Baptist was largest denomination • More autonomy • Less supervision from church hierarchy • Churches • Opportunity free from white interference • Sanctuary for black women

45. African Americans in the Navy • More unappealing than the army • Black sailors represented ten percent • Integrated ships • White sailors • Refused to eat, bunk, or take orders from black men • Black men stoked boilers, cooked, and served food

46. The Spanish-American War • Political, economic, military expansion • Latin America and Pacific • Spanish-American War, 1898 • Thousands of black enlistments • First-time black officers led in combat • Most black units not used in combat • San Juan and Kettle Hills • See VOICES • After war • Black men worked in hospitals • Built roads and schools • Lack of Jim Crow laws

47. Black Entrepreneurs • Black businesses • Banks, newspapers, insurance companies, etc. • Maggie Lena Walker • Madam C. J. Walker • Business failures • Too dependent on poor, black people • Difficult to obtain financing

48. African Americans and Labor • Black men worked in factories, mines, and mills • Usually paid less than white men • White men claimed blacks robbed them of jobs • Black women worked for white families • Cooks, laundresses, and maids

49. Unions • Often excluded black men in late 19th century • Knights of Labor, 1869 • Open to black men and women • American Federation of Labor, 1886 • Barred women and black tradesmen • United Mine Workers, 1890 • Encouraged black coal miners to join • The Industrial Workers of the World, 1905 • Encouraged black coal miners to join • National Colored Labor Union, 1869

50. Strikes • Late 19th and early 20th century • Most strikes failed • Strikebreakers • Government support for management • Nashville dockyards, 1871 • Washer Women’s Association of Atlanta