1Sociology 220 Pamela OliverAfrican AmericansHistory & PoliticsSociology 220 Pamela OliverColonial Era 1500-1791• 1607 - 1776. 175 years of slavery in colonial period. • Apart from conquistadors & slaves, some Europeans of African descent and some Africans traveled freely to the Americas in the colonial period.• Early on, some Africans were treated like European indentured servants with limited-term indentures of 17 years, but racial differences rapidly emerged.• In this period, status free vs. slave was the key, not race• Free Blacks support the American revolution, fight in revolutionary army. Crispus Atticus. • Whites argue about whether “equality” should include Blacks.Sociology 220 Pamela OliverFounding the Racial State• 1790 Immigration and Naturalization Act, only "Whites" can be naturalized.• Slavery enshrined in the Constitution of 1791.• 1808 importation of slaves ends. Henceforth, slaves are all native born. • European Americans mobilize to strip free Africans of their citizenship rights, ban them from communities, kick them out of formerly integrated churches.• The African-American movement begins as a defense against European-American actions.Sociology 220 Pamela Oliver1816-1860• Blacks 20% of the population, about 90% are slaves• Slavery in the US as a extreme institution• Growing international opposition to slavery• Abolition movement in US grows• Restrictions on free Africans in both north and south• The 10% free Africans mobilize against these restrictions & against slavery• Slavery divides the nation.Sociology 220 Pamela OliverSlavery• There had been slavery for thousands of years, but US slavery was a peculiarly capitalist and particularly inhumane institution: people as property, no rights as human beings• Physical geography, social organization made slave rebellions & escape more difficult than in other locales• Slave labor was a fundamental element of 18thand 19thcentury economy: Black slaves built much of the economic power of the nation, built the capital• US Black/White racial definitions a product of slavery: child of a slave mother was a slave; “one drop rule”Sociology 220 Pamela OliverAbolitionism: Movement to Abolish Slavery• Militant White movement rooted principally in the northeast, but gained adherents. Violent battles between pro- and anti-slavery forces. Western “free soil” farmers did not want to compete with slave labor.• Black participants & leaders, although also racial tensions within movement• 20th century tendency to ignore the history of White abolitionists2Sociology 220 Pamela OliverJohn Brown• White militant radical abolitionist fought a guerilla war against slavery. • 1859 Harper’s Ferry raid, his capture, trial and execution – Bells tolled throughout the North for him, a major event of the time– song: John Brown’s body (sung to an old camp meeting him)– tune used for Battle Hymn of the Republic (poem by Julia Ward Howe)Sociology 220 Pamela OliverJohn Brown’s BodyJohn Brown's body lies a-mold'ring in the grave (3X) His soul goes marching on He captured Harper's Ferry with his nineteen men so true He frightened old Virginia till she trembled through and through They hung him for a traitor, themselves the traitor crew His soul is marching on John Brown died that the slave might be free, (3X)But his soul is marching on!Sociology 220 Pamela OliverCivil War 1860-1865• Bloody war, occupies White military forces• Emancipation proclamation 1863, escaped/freed slaves join Union Army• Slaves gradually being liberated join Union Army as soldiers: although 1% of northern population, were 10% of Union Army by 1865 (180,000)• Ends with the victory of the North, abolition of slaverySociology 220 Pamela OliverSlavery & The Civil War• Legally, war fought “to preserve union”• Economic factors were important• Northern Whites had ambivalent attitudes, opposed slavery but still thought Blacks were inferior, worried about consequences of liberation• But slavery was important, shows up in the rhetoric, letters of the times.• Later historians downplayed significance.Sociology 220 Pamela OliverConstitutional Amendments 1865• 13th: abolishes slavery “except as punishment for a crime”• 14th: all persons born or naturalized in the US have rights of citizenship regardless of race, religion, national origin, or previous condition of servitude• 15th: right of men to vote regardless of race etc.Sociology 220 Pamela OliverRace, Gender and 14th& 15thAmendments• The 14th and 15th amendments do not apply to non-White immigrants because they are not allowed to become naturalized, but do apply to non-Whites born in the US; this becomes an important part of Asian American politics• Battles over the 15thamendment split women’s rights and Blacks’ rights advocates3Sociology 220 Pamela Oliver1865-1876 Reconstruction• Union army occupies the south.• Blacks vote. Whites who have been in Rebel army cannot. Black elected officials.• Some reforms. Some improvement for Blacks. Some land reform (has future effects)• Much turmoil, resistance. Attempts by Whites to re-create racial domination• Conflicts around 15th amendment disrupt the previous coalition between feminists and supporters of African-American rights.Sociology 220 Pamela OliverBlacks/ African Americans: The White Counter-RevolutionSociology 220 Pamela OliverThe End of Reconstruction• Compromise of 1876 ends Reconstruction to break election deadlock, elect Hayes. • Union army leaves the south, agreement to let southerners do what they will about race. White southerners can vote again. • “Healing” White nation by sacrificing Blacks• Denials that the war was about slavery • [Later, Confederate soldiers are even made eligible for US veterans’ pensions with the same standing as Union soldiers]Sociology 220 Pamela Oliver1877 - 1920 Era of Explicit Racism• Slavery was over, but a new racial order was created• It was created by using proxies for race, circumventing the strictures of the 14th amendment• Origins teach you how a system was built, once in place hard to see why things are as they areSociology 220 Pamela OliverBlack & White Conflict• 90% of all Blacks live in rural areas, 90% in south• most in cotton farming, dependent on landowners, subject to violent repression.• Lynchings and KKK terrorism increase. KKK = local White authorities in sheets•
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