Afro American History

1619: First slave ships to Jamestown

1808: Slaves outlawed , 10-15 million kidnapped and forced to work in North-America in English colonies. Slavery died out in the north- the industrial part of the country

Grew importance in the Southern states- cotton farms, tobacco farms etc who needed cheap labour.

An ideology of racism developed to justify exploitation, saying that blacks were biologically inferior to all whites. They were pore primitive, less intelligent, had a lower moral, no civilization. They were forbidden to speak their native language, given new names, prohibited to read/write, families were split up and they were treated like animals. They were denied any kind of humanity.

Resistance and Civil War:

Yet the treatment didn't crush all oppositions. Slaves revolted and ran away. Slavery was accepted in the Constitution of 1787, but an idealistic movement developed in the North, they wanted to abolish slavery- Abolitionism. Abolitionists wanted to free them, together with the slaves the Underground Railway, an illegal escape route to the North and Canada was created.

The two regions developed differently. Slavery was ended in the North, but grew in the South. In 1861 the Civil War broke out between the two parts, not fought to free the slaves but to preserve the Union after Southern states left it. They formed the Confederate States of America. An odd thing was that many Northerners believed in the humanity of the blacks, but not in equality. The Freedmen's Bureau was therefore established in 1865 to guide the newly freed slaves back to the normal life as a free civilian. This was to better the situation of blacks. The period of 1865-1877 is known as the "Reconstruction", northern troops occupied the South.

Jim Crow:

In 1877 troops were withdrawn from the Southern states. They had tried to reform the South but wasn't able to do it. Civil rights the slaves gained during the Reconstruction was handed back to local authorities. Black Codes or Jim Crow laws were passed: they could not vote, marry whites or mix with whites, attend the same schools, buy or rent farmlands. This made blacks inferior to the whites. Different rules made it hard for the blacks to vote, such as taxes and they had to live at one place for two years. The Ku Klux Klan watched them. But they protested the segregation. They appealed a unconstitutional protest, but the Supreme Court didn't listen. Slavery had been abolished but they had to accept to live in a second class citizenship.

A dream deferred:

Segregation left the blacks two choices: try to make the best out of it or to change the situation itself. Booker T. Washington: former slave, wanted the slaves to focus on being good citizens, hard work- not protest=the road to equality, he formed the Tuskegee Institute.

W.E.B. Du Bois, a black Harvard professor found equality impossible. Ceaseless agitation from the blacks was the only thing to do. He founded the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People in 1909. Whites rioted black successful business districts. Blacks protested, but the conditions remained grim.

When IWW broke out many blacks got jobs in the war industries. They then created black communities, culture without interference. Harlem in New York became their centre, there hopes for equality raised. Blacks also created jazz music. But the Great Depression made it hard for them. They had to live in ghetto homes in the North, were last hired and first fired. The IIWW they had to fight the Nazis. But they were inspired to fight the segregation in the South.

Fighting for black rights:

Blacks fought in the IIWW and in 1948 segregation in the armed forces ended. In 1954 the Supreme Court decided to declare the "separate and equal" as unconstitutional. A campaign was required to force the South to end the segregation. During the 1950s and early 1960s the Civil Rights Movement mobilized. Blacks and whites protested peacefully with non-violent actions. Freedom Riders went to de-segregate restaurants, swimming pools and public facilities. In 1963 250000 protested in the March on Washington, where Luther King Jr. delivered his famous speech "I have a dream". Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, in 1964 the Voting Rights Act passed. It didn't tough, end racism or economic equality.

Black Power:

Even though blacks had had their civil rights in the North, they were poor and exploited. They rejected the non-violent approach from King, which turned out in horrible riots. Black Pride was now the importance, not seeking integration with the whites. People who supported violent riots: Malcom X, Stockley Carmichael, Huey Newton and Angela Davis. The Black Panthers defended black communities with violence if they had to. By the 1960s things worsened. The political coalition that had worked hard for the civil rights in the Congress, but they broke down. The non-violent movement ended when Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. Now they had to use the rights they had already achieved to improve the condition.