Broken Promises of the New South

Today’s Objectives  After this lesson, we will be able to…  Explain the major legislation that affected African-Americans economically, politically, and socially  Examine efforts to maintain African-American subservience  Compare and contrast the viewpoints of two important black philosophers

“Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday  As you listen to the song, follow along with the lyrics and pick out any passages that stand out to you  What is Billie Holiday singing about?  Strange Fruit Strange Fruit

Slavery  The big paradox  How was slavery rationalized?

Civil War “That on the 1 st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free - Emancipation Proclamation

Broken Promises of the New South Day 2

Today’s Objectives  After this lesson, we will be able to…  Explain the major legislation that affected African-Americans economically, politically, and socially  Examine efforts to maintain African-American subservience  Compare and contrast the viewpoints of two important black philosophers

Reconstruction  Two main concerns:  1) Readmission of the states  Five military districts overseen by Union generals  2) What to do with the freed slaves (4 million)  Freedman’s Bureau

Rights Gained  13 th Amendment (1865)  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  Abolish Slavery

Rights Gained  14 th Amendment (1868)  All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdictions thereof, are citizens of the United States…nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.  Due process

Rights Gained  15 th Amendment (1870)  The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude  Right to vote

Southern whites feared black enfranchisement (right to vote) WHY?

Discrimination and Institutionalized Racism  Maintained white economic, political, and social advantages through Black Codes  Economic : Sharecroppers, Tenant Farming, Crop Liens  Social – Intimidation & Segregation (Black Codes), Ku Klux Klan, Violent beatings, Lynching  Political – (Voting restrictions) Poll taxes, Literacy tests, Property requirements, Grandfather Clause

What was Billie Holiday singing about?

Lynching  A killing committed outside the boundaries of due process by a mob; usually as revenge for an offence, real or perceived

Coatesville Story  As an angry mob dragged him from the hospital, Zachariah Walker is said to have cried, "For God's sake, give a man a chance! I killed Rice in self-defense. Don't give me no crooked death because I'm not white!"

Compromise of 1877 or…. “The Great Betrayal of 1877”

Jim Crow Laws  Legalized segregation (De jure segregation)  Street cars, trains, churches, theaters, restaurants, schools, cemeteries  Slavery by another name  Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)  Justified separate facilities for blacks and whites so long as they were “equal”

Differing Responses  Booker T. Washington  What was his strategy?  W.E.B. Dubois  What was his strategy?