1Sociology 220 Pamela OliverAfrican AmericansHistory & Politics 1865-2000Sociology 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 & 15th Amendments• Battles over the 15th amendment split women’s rights and Blacks’ rights advocates• 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 politicsSociology 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]2Sociology 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 Oliver1870s-1890s• 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• Blacks demand reparations for slavery immediately after the war. (Whites ignore.) • Some emigrationism, 500+ actually emigrate to Liberia. Most want to stay.Sociology 220 Pamela OliverCreating the New Racial Order• 1880s - 1890s Southern states pass Jim Crow segregation laws. • 1893 Plessey vs Furgeson, "Separate but Equal," US Supreme Court effectively guts the 14th amendment.• Failure of land reform. White elites reconsolidate class privilegeSociology 220 Pamela OliverPolitics & Race• Democratic Party = alliance of southern White planters and northern industrialists and working class. • Republican Party anti-slavery in 1850s (Lincoln).– 1876-1891 debate whether to support Black rights– after 1891 abandon Black rights entirely• Populist movement threatens trans-racial alliance among southern working class– elite Whites work to disenfranchise Blacks (and working class) to eliminate threat. Sociology 220 Pamela OliverBlack Disenfranchisement• No disguise, overt White efforts to disenfranchise Blacks, but accomplish racial goals without explicitly using race (which is illegal)• Example: Louisiana, 130,344 Blacks registered in 1895, after constitution rewritten, only 5,000 in 1898 and 1,772 in 1916.• Poll taxes, literacy requirements, personal and periodic registration at difficult-to-reach places, White primaries. “Grandfather clause” protects Whites.• Blacks lose all political power. • Same tools in the north disenfranchise White workers especially immigrants.Sociology 220 Pamela Oliver1895-1920 Virulent Racism• Presidents Taft and Wilson are explicit racists• US Supreme Court guts the 14th amendment • Hundreds of African Americans are lynched (murdered) in the south. • "Scientific racism" is taught in college science classrooms. This ideology distinguishes northern Aryan from southern Europeans, as well as what we now understand as "races."• Explicit opposition to any form of mixing of "races.“ Intermarriage illegal. Includes Asians3Sociology 220 Pamela OliverBlack Resistance 1880-1920• There is resistance to Jim Crow. • Bus boycotts & consumer boycotts against segregation in the cities. • Petitions, speeches. Rhetoric of citizenship, equality. • Northern, educated Blacks speak out for equality, citizenship. But lose 1880-1920Sociology 220 Pamela OliverCounter-Trends• Pockets of Black development• Black migration (cowboys; movements into cities)• Black schools, colleges• Black political movements• Too weak in this era to win, but set up the future (we will return to these)Sociology 220 Pamela OliverInsert Strategies of Resistance HereSociology 220 Pamela Oliver20thCentury African American HistorySociology 220 Pamela OliverHistorical Overview• 1880-1920 Racism strong, Blacks lose• 1920-1954 Moderate progress for Blacks• 1954 – 1965 Civil Rights Era “The Second American Revolution.”• 1965-1980 Consolidation of Black gains, battles over implementation + “White backlash”• 1980s-2000. Black political influence erodes. Improvement for Black middle class + decline for Black lower class.Sociology 220 Pamela Oliver1910s-1920s • 1916-1925 Marcus Garvey. Back to Africa. Militant separatist, Black capitalist. Black religious icons.• 1919 Bloody race riots in many cities, Whites attacking and killing Blacks. • 1920s NAACP under James Weldon Johnson begins the concerted campaign of lawsuits to chip away at segregation, – begin the path towards Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka (1954). – Early victories provide resources that increase Black education.4Sociology 220 Pamela Oliver1920s-1930s • 1920s - 1940s. A. Philip Randolph. Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Strong Black union, political platform.• 1920s - 1930s Blacks shift voting patterns, become potential swing voters. – From “knee-jerk Republicans” (holdover from 19th century, Republicans anti-slavery, Lincoln freed the slaves) to willing to vote for whomever supports them and their issues. • 1936 Blacks play a key role in Roosevelt’s New Deal
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