African Americans and Jim Crow
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
EXCLUDE
1. Deny (someone) access to or bar (someone) from a place, group, or privilege.
2. Keep (something) out of a place
Segregation Segregation by custom and
tradition, if not by law Evolved slowly to enforce white control
– Schools, hospitals, cemeteries segregated– Hotels and restaurants discriminated
Segregation-Black reaction
–Black people acquiesced
• Churches and social organizations
• Accepted separate seating in places previously closed
• Segregation better than exclusion
Jim Crow
What is it? What does it mean?
Jim Crow
Minstrel show character
– Thomas “Daddy” Rice, 1830s and 1840s
• performed in black face and ridiculed black people
Segregation of Railroads
The first segregation laws involved passenger trains– Tennessee, 1881– Florida, 1887– Railroads opposed
• Maintaining separate cars was too expensive
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
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
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
V. Violence
Rampant political and mob violence
– Texas 1886– The Phoenix Riot, 1898– The Wilmington Riot, NC1898– The New Orleans Riot, 1900
Lynching
(of a mob) Kill (someone), esp. by hanging, for an alleged offense with or without a legal trial
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
Lynching
Women also lynched (less common) Marie Scott Mary Turner (8months pregnant)
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
Day 2
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
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
The Great Migration
Segregation usually less overt– Embraced Jim Crow
• Southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
– Chicago– Harlem
• “Negro Capital of the World”
Northern Communities
Migration of the Negro, Panel 1, by Jacob Lawrence
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.
The Great Migration and the Distribution of the African-American Population in 1920
Migration strained families
Families
The Liberian Exodus
“Liberia Fever”– Liberian Exodus Joint Stock Company
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
The Buffalo Soldiers
Combat– Black soldiers used to subdue Red people
Civilian hostility to black soldiers
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
The Black Cowboys
5,000 black cowboys– Rode herds– Cattle drives to Kansas, Nebraska, and
Missouri
Education and Schools
Debate over type of education for African Americans
Academic vs. skill based
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
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
Washington
Gained white people’s support and money– Power and influence
• In black communities• White businessmen• Trusted his judgment and advice
Critics of Washington
– Trained black people for lives of labor– Education more than acquisition of skills– DuBois
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
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
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
The Niagara Movement
Niagara Falls, 1905– Emphatic and continual protest
• Political rights• Equal treatment in public places• Discrimination in military
– Booker T. Washington• Opposed
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
Using the System
Full political and civil rights– Relied on judicial and legislative systems
• Lawsuits and bill
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
The Urban League
Social welfare organization– Founded in New York, 1910– Black and white progressives
Church and Religion
Baptist was largest denomination– More autonomy
• Less supervision from church hierarchy
Churches– Opportunity free from white interference– Sanctuary for black women
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
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
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
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
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
Strikes
Late 19th and early 20th century– Most strikes failed
• Strikebreakers• Government support for management
– Nashville dockyards, 1871– Washer Women’s Association of Atlanta
Black Professionals Strictly segregated
– Medicine• Barred from AMA
– National Medical Association, 1895
– Black nurses• Inappropriate profession for black women
– Considered domestics, not trained professionals
– Law• Permitted to practice in court
– Barred from ABA
Music
Ragtime, jazz, and blues– Obscure roots
Ragtime– Composed for piano
Jazz– Not composed and not confined to piano
Blues– The music of poor, black southerners
Sports Boxing
– No official prohibition• Jack Johnson
Baseball– Both blacks and whites played after the Civil War
• Moses Fleetwood Walker
Basketball– Black children played in organized YMCA games,
1906 College Athletics
– Black students not allowed to participate
XIV. Conclusion
Jim Crow Black military service Black institutions
– Served black communities– Did not abuse, mistreat, or ridicule patrons
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