Issue 2 The Obstacles To Black Americans Gaining Civil Rights In The USA Up To 1941: Factor 1: Legal Impediments and the ‘Separate But Equal’ Decision of the Supreme Court Factor 2: Lack of Political Influence Factor 3: The Activities of the Ku Klux Klan Factor 4: Divisions in the Black Community Factor 5: Popular Prejudice In The North AIMS OF ESSAY: To Be Able To Discuss What Prevented African- American's Achieving Equal Rights To Whites
Aims Paragraph 5: Have The Background Knowledge & Argument To Write Your Final Paragraph For Essay Two On The Obstacles stopping AA Achieving Their Civil Rights To Understand The Discrimination Faced By Blacks In Employment And Housing In BOTH The Southern And Northern States
PLAN FOR PARAGRAPH Popular Prejudice 1. Start with an Opening Argument e.g. state there is a link between the isolated factor & the question 2. Put in Knowledge – detail what the great migration was & statistics to back up 3. Put in Analysis – explain what this greatly changed AND what was created because of this mass movement 4. Knowledge – discuss the problems Blacks faced in finding work and somewhere to live 5. Analysis – explain what this led to – what were they blamed for 6. Knowledge – discuss what happened after WWI ended & details of riots 7. Analysis – explain what the riots/violence showed 8. Evaluation – make an judgement, how important was this factor compared to the Jim Crow Laws? Read Through Paragraph 5 On Handout
The Great Migration Between 1910 & 1970 over 6 million blacks migrated to escape the brutal life in the south to the cities of the North, Midwest and West The industrial North offered greater economic opportunities especially when WWI generated jobs In % of blacks lived in the South By % of blacks lived in the South E.G. by 1920, Chicago’s Black population was up by 148%!!! This migration greatly changed the racial makeup of northern cities which increased racial tension particularly over competition for housing & jobs…
Housing Problems By moving north, Blacks saw a chance for a better life & escape prejudice However… many whites blamed the housing shortages in cities like New York on the swift population growth from the South Popular prejudice led to rents being higher for Blacks than Whites: in Chicago in 1910, a 7 room apartment for working class whites cost $25 a week but $37.50 a week for blacks Therefore Black people could only afford to live in the poorest areas of northern cities and these developed into ghettoes with very poor standards of living Northern whites also had no desire to live near blacks so people found it hard to escape because Whites would not sell them housing in better areas of the cities
Racial Tension Exploded During a riot in 1917 in East St Louis white police detectives were shot by black youths A white mob invaded the black area of the town Black women and children were beaten up Black men lynched 50 dead White police officers stood and watched
Competition for Jobs Unfortunately housing discrimination was not the only similarity to the south… Most Blacks were seen as uneducated and unskilled were paid less than white workers If a migrant black was more educated and skilled than a white, the white would get the priority in the job market Most Blacks were excluded from skilled work by trade unions and racially prejudiced employers
World War One The WWI provided opportunities for employment in the rapidly expanding war industries of the big cities Almost 4 million men went off to fight in WWI & when these soldiers returned, they wanted the jobs back that had been filled by blacks As a result, the migrant blacks were seen as a threat to the job security of unskilled white workers already in the north The return of the soldiers brought greater poverty to the black inhabitants of city ghettos such as Harlem and Manhattan in New York Race riots erupted as Black soldiers returned from France and were not willing to put up with being treated badly
Riots By 1919, these riots erupted in 20 US cities but the worst was in Chicago were many people, both white and black were killed A riot in Chicago lasted for thirteen days with 23 black and 15 white people being killed, hundreds injured and over a thousand, mostly black people being made homeless. The levels of violence that resulted amply demonstrate that popular prejudice was a major obstacle to black civil rights At this time across the nation a further 70 black people were lynched and these were largely ignored by the Federal government who still refused to make racially motivated lynching a Federal crime
Group 1: Ensure You Can Explain The Answers To These Questions Q1. How many Blacks migrated between 1910 & 1970? How much did this change the % of where they lived in the north & south? Q2. Why did this move increase racial tension? Q3. Which 2 things were Blacks blamed for doing to the housing situation? Q4. What happened in East St Louis in 1917? Q5. Who excluded Blacks from skilled work? Q6. Why did riots break out after WWI Q7. What happened during the 1919 riots?
PLAN FOR PARAGRAPH Popular Prejudice 1. Start with an Opening Argument e.g. state there is a link between the isolated factor & the question 2. Put in Knowledge – detail what the great migration was & statistics to back up 3. Put in Analysis – explain what this greatly changed AND what was created/increased because of this mass movement 4. Knowledge – discuss the problems Blacks faced in finding work and somewhere to live 5. Analysis – explain what this led Blacks being blamed for 6. Knowledge – discuss what happened after WWI ended & details of riots 7. Analysis – explain what the riots/violence showed 8. Evaluation – make an judgement, how important was this factor compared to the Jim Crow Laws?
FACTOR FIVE OPENING ARGUMENT In both the southern and northern states, blacks faced discrimination. As a result, many lived in poverty which denied blacks their right to have the dignity of a reasonable standard of living.
Popular Prejudice KNOWLEDGE 1 What is the Great Migration - why did they move? -Statistics: & 1970 over 6 million blacks migrated -by 1920, Chicago’s Black population was up by 148%!!! ARGUMENT 1 This migration greatly changed the racial makeup of northern cities which increased racial tension particularly over competition for housing & jobs…
Popular Prejudice KNOWLEDGE 2 What were housing & employment opportunities like in the north? Difficult to be leased a property in a white area AND Trade Unions ARGUMENT 2 As a result, the migrant blacks were seen as a threat to the job security of unskilled white workers and cause of the housing shortages already in the north
Popular Prejudice KNOWLEDGE 3 Things were made worse after WWI returning soldiers infuriated over jobs Riot details ARGUMENT 3 the levels of violence that resulted from the riots amply demonstrate that popular prejudice was a major obstacle to black civil rights DEVELOPED ANALYSIS…
Popular Prejudice EVALUATION: The popular prejudice demonstrated across the north shows that black attempts to improve their quality of living would be met with difficulty wherever they attempted to go. However, this was not as important as legal impediments such as the Jim Crow laws and Separate but Equal decision which were directly responsible for the Great Migration and the subsequent growth of ghettos and the eruption of race riots.