Unit I – An Industrial Nation Chapter 5 Section 3 – Segregation and Discrimination African American Culture and Life

Segregation and Discrimination Legalized Discrimination –African American Voting- denied by use of poll tax, literacy tests, grandfather clauses and just plain violence. –Jim Crow laws –Consequences- “Plessy v. Ferguson”- 14 th Amendment- “Separate but Equal” for nearly 60 years. Lynching over 900 African Americans Booker T. Washington W.E.B. Du Bois Other Groups

Life in Africa

Being Captured

Atlantic Triangle of Trade Sugar and Molasses Rum and Guns Slaves

Slave Ships The Middle Passage must have been as near as anyone ever comes to hell on earth. - Barry Unsworth, author

Slave Ships Amistad

The Amistad Case In February of 1839, Portuguese slave hunters abducted a large group of Africans from Sierra Leone and shipped them to Havana, Cuba, a center for the slave trade. This abduction violated all of the treaties then in existence. Fifty-three Africans were purchased by two Spanish planters and put aboard the Cuban schooner Amistad for shipment to a Caribbean plantation. On July 1, 1839, the Africans seized the ship, killed the captain and the cook, and ordered the planters to sail to Africa. On August 24, 1839, the Amistad was seized off Long Island, NY, by the U.S. brig Washington. The planters were freed and the Africans were imprisoned in New Haven, CT, on charges of murder. Although the murder charges were dismissed, the Africans continued to be held in confinement as the focus of the case turned to salvage claims and property rights. President Van Buren was in favor of extraditing the Africans to Cuba. However, abolitionists in the North opposed extradition and raised money to defend the Africans. Claims to the Africans by the planters, the government of Spain, and the captain of the brig led the case to trial in the Federal District Court in Connecticut. The court ruled that the case fell within Federal jurisdiction and that the claims to the Africans as property were not legitimate because they were illegally held as slaves. The case went to the Supreme Court in January 1841, and former President John Quincy Adams argued the defendants' case. Adams defended the right of the accused to fight to regain their freedom. The Supreme Court decided in favor of the Africans, and 35 of them were returned to their homeland. The others died at sea or in prison while awaiting trial.

The Amistad Case

Selling in America

Life in America

Culture In America

Life in America Fugitive Slave Act

Of all the bills that made up the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was the most controversial. It required citizens to assist in the recovery of fugitive slaves. It denied a fugitive's right to a jury trial. (Cases would instead be handled by special commissioners -- commissioners who would be paid $5 if an alleged fugitive were released and $10 if he or she were sent away with the claimant.) The act called for changes in filing for a claim, making the process easier for slaveowners. Also, according to the act, there would be more federal officials responsible for enforcing the law.Of all the bills that made up the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was the most controversial. It required citizens to assist in the recovery of fugitive slaves. It denied a fugitive's right to a jury trial. (Cases would instead be handled by special commissioners -- commissioners who would be paid $5 if an alleged fugitive were released and $10 if he or she were sent away with the claimant.) The act called for changes in filing for a claim, making the process easier for slaveowners. Also, according to the act, there would be more federal officials responsible for enforcing the law. For slaves attempting to build lives in the North, the new law was disaster. Many left their homes and fled to Canada. During the next ten years, an estimated 20,000 blacks moved to the neighboring country. Free blacks, too, were captured and sent to the South. With no legal right to plead their cases, they were completely defenseless.For slaves attempting to build lives in the North, the new law was disaster. Many left their homes and fled to Canada. During the next ten years, an estimated 20,000 blacks moved to the neighboring country. Free blacks, too, were captured and sent to the South. With no legal right to plead their cases, they were completely defenseless. Passage of the Fugitive Slave Act made abolitionists all the more resolved to put an end to slavery. The Underground Railroad became more active, reaching its peak between 1850 and The act also brought the subject of slavery before the nation. Many who had previously been ambivalent about slavery now took a definitive stance against the institution.Passage of the Fugitive Slave Act made abolitionists all the more resolved to put an end to slavery. The Underground Railroad became more active, reaching its peak between 1850 and The act also brought the subject of slavery before the nation. Many who had previously been ambivalent about slavery now took a definitive stance against the institution.

Notable American’s Fredrick DouglassHarriet Tubman Sojourner Truth

Emancipation Jan. 1, 1863

Emancipation Abolitionist Theodore Dwight Weld

Civil War

Reconstruction Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) Separate but equal Freedman’s Bureau Black Codes KKK 13th, 14th + 15 Amendments Jim Crow