African-American History Part 1: 1619 through the 1930s

Slaves’ Journey to America 1619: A Dutch ship brings 20 slaves from Africa to their colony in Jamestown, Virginia. This marked the beginning of the slave trade. As America grew, traders kidnapped more and more people to work as slaves on their plantations. These people were bought and sold at slave markets as if they were property. Often, they were separated from their families, never to see them again. From the 1600s to the mid-1800s, over twelve million black slaves were shipped from Africa to the Americas.

Slavery in America According to the Constitution, slaves counted as only “three-fifths of a person.” They could not vote, attend school, marry, or own property without the permission of their overseers (owners). Fugitive slave laws made it illegal to help slaves escape, and promised rewards to people who returned slaves to their “owners.” Since slaves were considered property, anyone who helped a slave was thought to be a thief. Even if slaves escaped to the free states, they still had to return to their masters if they were captured. Once returned to the overseers, slaves were often cruelly beaten.

Fighting Against Slavery Between 1810 and 1850, around 80,000 slaves managed to escape through the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses. They ran away to free states in the North and to Canada. Abolitionists were people who fought against slavery and helped slaves escape. One of the most famous was named Harriet Tubman. Even in the North, former slaves were not always safe. Why do you think this was the case?

The Civil War The American Civil War took place between 1861 and The war began when eleven states in the South decided that they wanted to secede (separate) from the Union and form their own Confederacy. These states were South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The states in the South supported slavery, while most of the people in the Northern states thought that slaves should be free. The war was long and bloody, and cost many lives.

The Emancipation Proclamation On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a document which officially said that “all persons held as slaves” within the Confederate states “are, and henceforth shall be free.” Even though slavery was now illegal, it was still practiced unofficially in some parts of the country. In Texas, 250,000 slaves were not freed until 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 by a man named John Wilkes Booth, who opposed giving voting rights to black citizens.

The End of Slavery The Civil War ended in Slavery was now illegal, but racial discrimination continued for many years. Many former slaves, looking for jobs, moved to the free Northern states, in a movement that became known as the Northern Migration.

Reconstruction A period of ten years following the end of the Civil War was known as the Reconstruction. Former slaves (now called “freedmen”) were given the right to vote. Confederate leaders who had fought for the South were kicked out of office. In 1868, the 14 th Amendment was passed, intended to give equal rights to blacks… but, in practice, blacks were often attacked when they tried to vote, own property, or enjoy many of the same privileges as white citizens

Racial Discrimination Continues Some Southern states established black codes forbidding blacks to own land and jailing them if they were unemployed In 1896, a decision by the Supreme Court called Plessy v Ferguson said that black and white people should use separate facilities (schools, hospitals, bathrooms), as long as these facilities were equal. However, they were rarely equal. Lynchings were also common, especially in the South. Blacks were frequently taunted, attacked, and even killed.

Treatment of Blacks in the 1920s and 1930s : – Harlem Renaissance in New York included music, art, and writing by African-Americans In the South, although blacks were not enslaved, they still faced constant discrimination. They were not allowed to attend the same schools, ride the same buses, shop at the same stores, or receive the same protection under the law as white people. This did not really begin changing until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s…