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The Freedmen's Bureau
In March of 1865, Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands in order to help Southern freed people to transition from slavery to freedom. It was tasked with establishing and overseeing elementary and higher education schools for freed people, providing food to poor whites and blacks, obtaining labor contracts for freedmen, and reuniting families separated by slavery.[1]
[1] Corbett, U.S. History (Houston: OpenStax, 2016), 456-457 -
Slavery abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment states, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."[1]
[1] The Constitution: Amendments 11-27, updated on Oct. 6, 2016, accessed on June 24, 2016 from https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27U.S. -
The Fourteenth Amendment (Citizen Rights, and Equal Protections)
The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution defines citizenship, citizens' rights, and provides equal protections. Section 2 eliminates the three fifths compromise.[1]
[1] The Constitution: Amendments 11-27, updated on Oct. 6, 2016, accessed on June 24, 2016 from https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27 -
Black Men Granted Suffrage by Fifteenth Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment grants black men suffrage.[1] The photo, entitled "The First Vote", was published in Harper's Weekly in 1867.[2]
[1] The Constitution: Amendments 11-27, updated on Oct. 6, 2016, accessed on June 24, 2016 from https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27
[2] A. R. Waud, The First Vote, published Harper's Weekly in 1867, retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/00651117/ -
Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931)
Ida B. Wells was a journalist, teacher, activist, and public speaker on civil and women's rights. Wells co-owned a local newspaper in Memphis, and wrote numerous pamphlets on lynching. She faced death threats and was forced to move in 1892 for her safety. Wells was a founding member of the NAACP.[1]
[1] Richard Wormser, Jim Crow Stories: Ida B. Wells, retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_people_wells.html -
Booker T. Washington Delivers Atlanta Compromise Speech
African American leader and former slave, Booker T. Washington, delivers a speech at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. He urges his people to focus on learning skills and becoming self-sufficient in order to prosper and earn their dignity and equality.[1] The white audience members agreed with Washington, while many African Americans did not.
[1] Booker T. Washington Delivers the 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech, retrieved from http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/39/ -
Plessy v. Ferguson (Plessy pictured)
Homer Plessy challenged the Louisiana Separate Car Act by deliberately sitting in a "whites only" car of the East Louisiana Railroad and announcing that he was black. He was arrested and the case went to the Supreme court. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of "separate but equal", claiming the Separate Car Act to be constitutional. This decision infiltrated all aspects of public life, and most facilities for blacks were inferior.[1]
[1] UTA History Dept., Toward Institutional Racism Lecture -
The Great Migration
From the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the Great Depression millions of African Americans migrated out of the south in search of opportunity and to escape violence. The majority migrated to eight cities: New York, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Detroit.[1]
[1] Corbett, U.S. History (Houston: OpenStax, 2016), 551 -
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
The NAACP was founded in 1909 by 60 civil rights activists (both black and white), among them was W.E.B. Du Bois. Its goals were to fight discrimination against blacks, and to advocate for integration. The NAACP informed the public about discrimination and violence through the organization's publication, The Crisis.[1] The NAACP is still active today.
[1] Richard Wormser, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow: NAACP, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_org_naacp.html -
The Birth of a Nation
This racist film was praised by President Woodrow Wilson and featured white actors in black face and praised the KKK. The NAACP protested this movie. The movie resulted in increased violence towards blacks, and was released at the time of revival for the KKK.[1]
[1] UTA History Dept., Segregation and Civil Rights Advocates Lecture -
Harlem Renaissance
After WWI, many African Americans migrated to New York in search of opportunity. Many artists, performers, and writers went to Harlem where they could express themselves freely. W.E.B. Du Bois encouraged black talented artists and writers to go to Harlem. By 1925, Harlem was known as the Mecca of the New Negro.[1]
[1] Making a Way Out of No Way: 1897-1940, Phil Bertelsen, (Arlington, VA: Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), 2013) -
The Great Depression (1929-1939)
During the Great Depression, African Americans were pushed from their jobs. Unemployment rose to 50%, double the rate of whites.[1]
[1] Making a Way Out of No Way: 1897-1940
directed by Phil Bertelsen, (Arlington, VA: Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), 2013), 56 mins
