Unit 6 - Mr. Harris's Class Site - Home
Transcript of Unit 6 - Mr. Harris's Class Site - Home
The African-American Odyssey, 6eDarlene Clark Hine, William C. Hine, Stanley C. Harrold
Unit 6
A More Perfect Union1968-Today
The Rise of Black Nationalism (cont’d)
• Police Repression and the FBI’s
COINTELPRO
• Violence dwarfed community projects
Free breakfast and health care programs
Some of the earliest drug education programs
• FBI Counterintelligence (COINTELPRO)
Destroy black nationalist groups
- Ridicule, discredit leaders, worked with local officials
- Undercover agents infiltrated the Panthers
- Provoked violence and criminal acts
The Rise of Black Nationalism (cont’d)
• Prisoners’ Rights
• Black prisoners out of proportion to
population
Unfair sentences and deplorable conditions
• Angela Davis, black philosophy professor
involved with prisoners rights
The Black Arts Movement
and Black Consciousness
• Black artists creating black art
for black people
Black arts movement criticized
Celebration of black maleness,
racial exclusivity, homophobia
Art should be combined with
involvement in politics &
community life to help blacks
gain status.
The Black Arts Movement
and Black Consciousness (cont’d)
• Poetry and Theater
• Movement’s greatest and most
significant impact
Adoption of “Black” to indicate African
Americans
Chicago-Detroit published new poets like
Nikki Giovanni
New poetry was free, conversational and
militant
The Black Arts Movement
and Black Consciousness (cont’d)
• Poetry and Theater (cont'd)
• Poetry combined sounds & rhythms of
the street, music, and religious sermons
• Theater portrayed ordinary black life,
racism
• West Coast literature movement
compared with Harlem Renaissance
The Black Arts Movement
and Black Consciousness (cont’d)
• Music
• Cultural nationalist saw jazz as
politically useful, independent
• Most blacks preferred rhythm and blues,
gospel, soul
Berry Gordon and Motown contributed to
black freedom struggle
The Black Arts Movement
and Black Consciousness (cont’d)
• Black Studies
• A collective, interdisciplinary scholarly
approach
Black students at white campuses
demanded courses relevant to them.
Federal legislation banned discrimination
Financial aid programs
Presidential Election of 1968 and
Richard Nixon (cont’d)
• The “Moynihan Report” and the Family
Assistance Plan
• Daniel Moynihan, Nixon advisor issues report
• Conclusions:
Breakdown of lower-class black family leads to:
higher crime and poverty, increased drug use
Matriarchal structure and weak family structure
Three centuries of exploitation as factor
Presidential Election of 1968 and
Richard Nixon (cont’d)
• The “Moynihan Report” and the
Family Assistance Plan (cont’d)
• “Retards the progress of the group”
Principal cause for anti-social behavior
Black scholars condemned report
Matriarchy a functional adaptation in a
hostile world
- Diverted attention from positive thrust
Presidential Election of 1968 and
Richard Nixon (cont’d)
• The “Moynihan Report” and the
Family Assistance Plan (cont’d)
• Family assistance plan
Nixon asked for plan for poor families
To give annual payment food stamps
Senate killed it: mixture of oppositions from
conservatives and liberals
Presidential Election of 1968 and
Richard Nixon (cont’d)
• Busing
• Major battles over civil rights in 1970s
focus on desegregating schools
Whether to bus students across district
lines
• White people opposed busing and
demonstrated against having their
children bussed to black communities
• Boston site of many protests
The Rise of Black Elected Officials
• A new generation of black elected officials
• Black power and Voting Rights Act, 1965
Encouraged political involvement
The Rise of Black Elected Officials (cont’d)
• The Gary Convention and the Black
Political Agenda
• 8,000 people gathered to develop an
agenda for black empowerment
Shift from demonstrations to electoral
gains
The Rise of Black Elected Officials (cont’d)
• Shirley Chisholm: “I Am the People’s
Politician”
• First African American woman to serve in
Congress
The Rise of Black Elected Officials (cont’d)
• Black People Gain Local Offices
• African Americans registered impressive
gains in electoral politics
• 2,427 black elected officials, 1972
• 8,106 black elected officials, 1993
The Rise of Black Elected Officials (cont’d)
• Economic Downturn
• 1970s decade of recession, economic
hardships
• Poor black people were loosing ground
• But black middle-class grew
Conclusion
• Civil rights victories changed lives and
culture
Black power, black arts
Black political movement, more black elected
officials
Black studies as a new academic field
• Black arts, consciousness
Opened avenues of new expression
Progress and Poverty: Income,
Education, and Health
• Civil rights progress has led to
socioeconomic changes
• Blacks lead longer, healthier lives
• But disparities remained between blacks
and whites in:
Wealth, schooling, health after centuries of
racial oppression
Progress and Poverty: Income,
Education, and Health (cont’d)
• High-Achieving African Americans
• Oprah Winfrey in television
• Ronald Brown, Secretary of Commerce
• Colin Powell, former Secretary of State
Tiger Woods, golfer
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., public intellectual
• Numerous wealthy black entertainers,
athletes, and business leaders
Progress and Poverty: Income,
Education, and Health (cont’d)
• Oprah Winfrey is an example of black
success today because her media empire
has made her the richest African-American
woman in the world.
Progress and Poverty: Income,
Education, and Health (cont’d)
• African Americans Growing Economic
Security
• White-collar occupations
1940s: 5.2% black men, 6.4% black women
2000: 35.3% black men, 62.3% black women
• Black family income has increased
By 1998, 50% of black families’ at poverty line
Black women earn 94% of white women’s earnings
• Blacks’ average wealth lags behind whites’
By 2000, 48% of blacks owned homes
Progress and Poverty: Income,
Education, and Health (cont’d)
• From the mid 1900s to the 1990s, black
family income increased dramatically for the
middle & upper classes.
• For them, the civil rights laws had led to
improved job prospects, income, &
education.
• The inner-city poor though, faced a decline
in jobs, income, & quality of life.
Persistence of Black Poverty
• Poverty rate dipped in Clinton years,
Rose under G. W. Bush to 24.5%
• Poor blacks trapped in inner-city areas
Marked by crime, drugs, high rates of
HIV/AIDS
Black poverty also persists in South
55% of black children:
- At or near the poverty level in 2000
Persistence of Black Poverty (cont'd)
• Economic restructuring affects blacks in
cities
• Deindustrialization wiped out jobs that
African Americans with limited education
and few skills once held
• Inner cities are often cut off from the rest of
society in terms of access to social
services.
Persistence of Black Poverty (cont'd)
• Deindustrialization
Beginning in the late 1960s,
major manufacturing companies
and industries moved the
production of their goods and
products off shore and relocated
to countries with lower wage
standards and little protection
against labor exploitation.
Persistence of Black Poverty (cont'd)
• Deindustrialization (cont’d)
While companies maximized profits, the
closing of plants and loss of jobs at home had
a devastating impact on black workers whose
high unemployment rates continued to soar
into the new millennium.
Deindustrialization, advances in labor-saving
technology, and the growth of low-wage
offshore production have wiped out many
jobs that African Americans with limited
education and few skills once held.
Persistence of Black Poverty (cont'd)
• Black poverty and the plight of the inner
city remains a major problem today.
• Impact of the 2008–2010 Economic
Recession on Employed Black Women
• Black Female heads of household in 2008
Unemployment rate of 11 percent
In 2009, 3.7 percent higher than 2008
Extended unemployment benefits, nutrition
programs, Medicaid, and tax cuts offer some
immediate relief for families
Persistence of Black Poverty (cont'd)
• Racial Incarceration
• Vast increases in male African-
American imprisonment rates
• African-Americans make up almost half
of nation’s prisoners
Persistence of Black Poverty (cont'd)
• Education One-Half Century
After Brown
• Educational attainment key factor in economic
success
By 2000, 86.8% of blacks had graduated high school
- (Compared to 94% of whites)
By 2000, 1.5 million blacks in college
• African Americans among most educated groups in
world
• Public schools starved for funds
Persistence of Black Poverty (cont'd)
• Challenging Brown
• For over fifty years, conservatives
challenged Brown
• Supreme Court decisions affect racial
diversity in classroom
Persistence of Black Poverty (cont'd)
• The Health Gap
• Shorter lives, worse health
care
Cancer and HIV/AIDS are
greatest threats
Health problems caused by
smoking, obesity, alcohol,
drugs
Blacks more likely to have
HIV/AIDS
African Americans at the
Center of Art and Culture
• Intellectual Movements at the
end of the Millennium
Cultural renaissance emerged,
1980s
- Black history, culture museums,
festivals, literary
Black playwrights
- August Wilson, won Pulitzer
Prize
African Americans at the
Center of Art and Culture (cont'd)
• New Movement differed from 1960s,
1970s
More inclusive, more appreciative of women
Black women novelists include Toni Morrison,
Alice Walker
- Toni Morrison awarded Nobel Prize
African Americans at the
Center of Art and Culture (cont'd)
• African Americans Recognized in Stage
and Film
African-Americans spearhead Broadway
productions
- Oprah Winfrey, The Color Purple
African-Americans win acting Academy
Awards
- Forrest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
- Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
The Hip-Hop Nation
• Hip Hop backup music for rap
• Rap music arose in 1973 in New York
City’s South Bronx
• First commercial rap hit, “Rapper’s Delight” by Sugar
Hill Gang (1979) popularized the term hip-hop
• Grandmaster Flash pioneers scratching, altering
turntable speeds
• Hip Hop offers entertainment and political critique
The Hip-Hop Nation (cont’d)
• Origins of a New Music: A Generation
Defines Itself
• Rap music emerged from black urban
communities
And from younger African-Americans
- Known as “hip-hop nation”
• Rap traced to street boasting, black
preaching,
Afro-Caribbean rhythms
The Hip-Hop Nation (cont’d)
• Rap Music Goes Mainstream
• Russell Simmons, Run DMC early
leaders
• First hip-hop entrepreneurs take control of
production and business side of music
• Def Jam Records expands to clothing, comedy,
poetry
• White suburban teens become fans of hip hop
The Hip-Hop Nation (cont’d)
• Gangsta Rap
• NWA (Niggas With Attitude)
California group
• The group NWA’s 1988 album
Straight Out of Compton
heralded the rise of gangsta rap
and shocked many with its
sexist and violent lyrics.
Black women as objects
• Many rap bands explicitly reject
hard-core obscenity, violence
African-American Intellectuals
• Prominence of black scholars
Black intellectuals participate in public debate
Redefine black identity
Explore race in social and political works
- John Hope Franklin, Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
- Nell Irvin Painter, Cornel West
• African-American Studies doctoral degrees at prestigious
schools
• American universities initially rejected but now embrace
black studies programs.
African-American Intellectuals (cont’d)
• Afrocentricity
• African-centered perspective
Championed by Molefi Kete Asante
Goals: Celebrate and reclaim positive African
identity
Afrocentricity needs to challenge Eurocentric
values
- Indictment of American ideals and institutions
• Many black people reject it as
regressive
African-American Intellectuals (cont’d)
• African-American Studies Come of Age
At Harvard’s W. E. B. Du Bois Institute
Henry Louis Gates
Emergence of scholarship that questioned prevailing
gender assumptions also influenced African-
American studies
Black Religion at the
Dawn of the New Millennium
• Religion remains at heart of
African-American experience
Twenty-five million members of
black churches
• African-American membership
growing in Catholic, Episcopal,
others
Demographic changes have
altered churches
Black Religion at the
Dawn of the New Millennium (cont'd)
• Middle class moved to suburbs with new
megachurches
Stress individual relationship to God
Bishop T. D. Jakes
- Best-known minister of new traditions
Black Religion at the
Dawn of the New Millennium (cont'd)
• Black Christians on the Front Lines
• Developed outreach programs for inner
cities
• Help embattled and vulnerable, against
drugs, crime
Black Religion at the
Dawn of the New Millennium (cont'd)
• Tensions in the Black Church
• Tensions over socially conservative
message, patriarchal structure
Staid ritual, and lack of social engagement
- Gender and sexuality key areas
• Black women have challenged churches
African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church
Led way with 3,000 female ministers
Black Religion at the
Dawn of the New Millennium (cont'd)
• Black Muslims
• Nation of Islam: gaining converts
Small portion of 1.5 million black American
Muslims
Clarity and discipline, solidarity with other Muslims
Connection with latest trends
Sept. 11 left many Muslims conflicted
- Denounced attacks
- Troubled by anti-Muslim feeling in U.S.
Louis Farrakhan and
the Nation of Islam
• Potent source of racial division
Son of immigrant parents from West Indies
Dropped out of black teachers’ college
Converted in 1955
• Leader of the Nation of Islam, 1978
Expanded into economic ventures, 1982
- $5 million start-up from Colonel Muammar
Qaddafi
- Supported Jesse Jackson, 1984
- Anti-Semitism and verbal assaults
Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Always controversial, Farrakhan achieved the greatest feat in the history of black mass mobilization, the Million Man March. The actual numbers of black men who heeded his call on October 16, 1995, to attend the Million Man March may forever be in dispute. The figures range from 400,000 to 1.2 million.
Louis Farrakhan and
the Nation of Islam (cont'd)
Millennium Marches
• Farrakhan has reached out to broader
groups
• Million Man March gathered in Washington
D.C., October 16th, 1995
Inspired men to engage with families and
communities
Some goodwill dissipated with Farrakhan’s
later meetings with military dictators in Africa
Louis Farrakhan and
the Nation of Islam (cont'd)
• Farrakhan thought Nation of Islam
members should help themselves by
emulating Booker T. Washington.
• The Million Woman March
Philadelphia, October 25th, 1997
Symbolized the ongoing struggle of black
women
Complicating Black Identity in the
Twenty-First Century
• In 2000 census, 34.7 million African
Americans
12% of total (281 million)
Blacks not largest minority group
- 54% of blacks lived in South
- New York City had 2.3 million blacks
Complicating Black Identity in the
Twenty-First Century (cont’d)
• Census respondents could choose more
than one race
• Challenge to long-standing notions of
“race”
Complicating Black Identity in the
Twenty-First Century (cont’d)
• Immigration and African Americans
• 1965 Hart-Cellar Act
Opened door to immigrants of African descent
• One million Caribbean people to U.S. in
1990s
New cultural patterns emerged
Many migrants from societies with less racial
discrimination
• Some increase in Africans’ migration
Complicating Black Identity in the
Twenty-First Century (cont’d)
• Black Feminism
• National Black Feminist Organization
Articulated concerns, 1973-1975
- Black men-white women relationships
Attacked stereotypes and myths of black women
- Black women outnumber black men in higher
education
- Black women’s history in academia
- Women gained access to affirmative action
programs in higher education.
Complicating Black Identity in the
Twenty-First Century (cont’d)
• Gay and Lesbian African Americans
• Civil rights movement:
Encouraged gays, lesbians, others to fight
for rights
• Struggled against identity in African
American community
• Many black leaders, organizations
embrace movements’ agenda
Conclusion
• Progress despite poverty and racism
“Black soul” contributes to American culture
• Diversity in African Americans’ lives:
Led to changes in conceptions of identity
• Tensions between racial and other
identities:
Will shape 21st century African-American
Odyssey
Jesse Jackson and
the Rainbow Coalition
• Civil rights activist, aide to M. Luther King
• Headed Operation Breadbasket in Chicago
• Founded PUSH after Dr. King’s death
• Shirley Chisholm, first black
Congresswoman, 1972
Sought Presidential nomination, 1984 and
1988
Jesse Jackson and
the Rainbow Coalition (cont'd)
• Rainbow Coalition
Group backing Jesse Jackson’s bid for the
presidency in 1984.
Angered by Reagan’s civil rights, social
welfare rollbacks
- Black people, white workers, Latinos, feminists,
liberals
Jesse Jackson and
the Rainbow Coalition (cont'd)
• Comprehensive and progressive economic
policy
Jackson garnered one-fourth of Democratic
primary votes
Supporters disappointed Jackson not Vice
Presidential nominee
Jackson wanted to represent people who felt
politically marginalized.
Blacks made up almost half the population of
inner-cities in early 1980s.
Ronald Reagan and
the Conservative Reaction
• New Right
American politics shift to the right, 1970s
Ronald Reagan, 1980 Presidential election
- Supported by groups opposed to changes in
society
- Reduced welfare programs
- Staffed agencies with opponents of affirmative
action
Republicans ended Democrats dominance in South
White northerners unhappy about busing &
affirmative action programs supported Reagan
Ronald Reagan and
the Conservative Reaction (cont’d)
• The King Holiday
• Signed into law on November 2nd, 1983
• Officially start celebrating MLK Day in
1985.
Ronald Reagan and
the Conservative Reaction (cont’d)
• Dismantling the Great
Society
• New Right’s goals
Reagan and Bush
- Reduced federal grants
to cities by half
- Appointed black
conservatives
Ronald Reagan and
the Conservative Reaction (cont’d)
• Dismantling the Great Society (cont’d)
• Ended programs crucial to many
black families
Inner-city neighborhoods became
unstable
“Trickle down” theory of
economics
Eventually the poor would benefit
Black Conservatives
• Black Republican politicians
rarely exercised power within
party
William Bell
Clarence Thomas
Clarence Pendleton
Black Democratic politicians
more influential
Debating the “Old” and
“New” Civil Rights
• Reagan and Bush supported “old civil
rights” laws
Brown and 1965 Voting Rights Act
Banned discrimination
New civil rights laws measured statistical
disparities and discriminatory outcomes
Exit Ticket
Why did some black Americans do better than others from the 1970s to the 2000s? How are tensions surrounding class stratification manifested within the black community?
Debating the “Old” and
“New” Civil Rights (cont’d)
• Affirmative Action
• Opposed “new civil rights” laws
Discriminatory outcomes
Statistical disparities with affirmative action
Few civil rights policies in the twentieth century
proved more controversial than affirmative action.
Debating the “Old” and
“New” Civil Rights (cont’d)
• The Backlash
• California center of storm
Alan Bakke sues Univ. of California
White man who said university’s
admission requirements discriminated
against him.
Republican Governor Pete Wilson
- Ended affirmative action in state
employment, 1995
Debating the “Old” and
“New” Civil Rights (cont’d)
• The Backlash (cont’d)
• California center of storm
• Minority admissions at University of California
have dropped
Black Political Activism at the
End of the Twentieth Century
• Increasing participation
• Black men and women in Congress
• Indispensable base of the Democratic Party
• Civil Rights Act of 1988
Black Political Activism at the
End of the Twentieth Century (cont’d)
• Reparations
• Slavery and racism justified
reparations
Reparations for HIV/AIDS
Jesse Jackson and others called
attention to HIV/AIDS epidemic
Randall Robinson calls for
financial indemnification for
slavery
• Reparations (cont'd)
• In the black community, opinion is
divided over reparations.
• Some writers, journalists reject idea of
reparation
Propose more investment in education for
African Americans
Black Political Activism at the
End of the Twentieth Century (cont’d)
The Rise in Black Incarceration
• Rodney King
• Victim of police beating, 1991
Jury acquitted police
- White people saw police upholding law and order
- Black people saw police repression, injustice, racism
- Subsequent federal court case convicted several
officers, another jury awarded King 3.8 million
• Riot
Fifty-two people died and thousands injured
The videotaped beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police—shown repeatedly on national television— bolstered charges by African Americans in Los Angeles that they were frequent victims of police brutality. Despite the graphic evidence, the officers were acquitted of using excessive force.
The Rise in Black Incarceration (cont’d)
• Human Rights in America
• Amnesty International
Report on police brutality in America, 1998
- Excessive force on mentally ill or disturbed
people
- Suspects shot fleeing from minor crimes
- Beating unresisting suspects
Misuse of batons, chemical sprays
Victims
- Members of ethnic or racial minorities
Black Politics, 1992-2001:
The Clinton Presidency
• Democrat Bill Clinton elected 1992
Garnered 78% of black vote
Did not win clear mandate with 43% of total vote
Republicans unleashed relentless campaign to
undermine Clinton’s presidency
Blacks considered Clinton best president on
race issues since Lyndon Johnson
Black Politics, 1992-2001:
The Clinton Presidency (cont’d)
• “It’s the Economy, Stupid!”
• Clinton focused on
economy
Increased taxes of higher-
earning Americans
College student-aid program
Earned income tax credit to
help poor
Black Politics, 1992-2001:
The Clinton Presidency (cont’d)
• Clinton Signs the Welfare Reform Act
• Combines Clinton/Republican ideas
• Reduced spending on welfare programs
AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children)
Food stamps
Temporary success-many return to poverty after
several years
Limited families to five years of benefits
- Most welfare recipients to find a job within two years
Republican Triumph
• George W. Bush’s Black Cabinet
• Republicans gained Presidency and retained
narrow majorities in House and Senate
• President George W. Bush’s Black Cabinet
• President Bush appointed accomplished
blacks to high positions
Colin Powell, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, National Security Adviser
Republican Triumph (cont’d)
• George W. Bush’s Black Cabinet
• Education Reform: No Child Left Behind
• Soon mired in controversy
• Not enough federal funding,
unrealistic goals
Republican Triumph (cont’d)
• September 11th, 2001
• Terrorist Attacks kill over
3,000 Americans
• Reminded blacks, whites, of
shared bond and history
Several hundred black
Americans casualties
Republican Triumph (cont’d)
• Black Politics in the Bush Era
• Democratic Nominee John Kerry v.
Republican incumbent George W. Bush
African Americans as reliable Democratic
base
• Black star of Democratic National
Convention, Barack Obama
Later elected to U.S. Senate for Illinois
Republican Triumph (cont’d)
• Hurricane Katrina and the Destruction
of Black New Orleans
• Bush’s inaction, government
unprepared for disaster
Funding had been reduced
Emergency services reduced
Louisiana National Guard deployed to Iraq
Republican Triumph (cont’d)
• Hurricane Katrina and the Destruction of
Black New Orleans (cont’d)
• Most affluent citizens escaped
• 100,000 citizens lacked means to
evacuate and were trapped
Individuals and groups bring relief
- Oprah Winfrey and Jesse Jackson
- Red Cross
- Dillard and Xavier Universities
Black Politics in the Present Era: Barack
Obama, President of the United States
• Obama Versus McCain
Worst financial crisis since
Depression, campaign turning
point
Obama won three debates
• 2008 Election Results
Obama win one of largest
percentages in history
Conclusion (cont'd)
• Barack Obama becomes first African
American President
Exit Ticket
To what extent and in what key areas did the Reagan and Bush presidencies nullify or dismantle Great Society legislation? How are their actions still affecting African Americans today?