Jim Crow Era - Key Post

 

Founding of the NAACP 

    The NAACP or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was established in 1909 and is America’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. The NAACP pledged to promote equality of rights and eradicate race prejudice among citizens of the United States. With more than 500,000 members, the NAACP works locally and nationally to “ensure political, educational, social, and economic equality for all, and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.

    The NAACP aimed to secure for all people the rights guaranteed in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution, which promised an end to slavery, provide equal protection of the law, and the right for all men to vote, respectively. They helped to advance the interest of colored citizens; to secure for them impartial suffrage; and to increase their opportunities for securing justice in the courts, education for their children, employment according to their ability, and complete equality before the law.

                           

    The NAACP focused on five major areas from 1920s to 1950s: anti-lynching legislation, voter participation, employment, due process under the law, and education. The NAACP pursued this mission through a variety of tactics including legal action, lobbying, peaceful protest, and publicity. At yearly conventions in different cities around the country, they drew attention to regional needs and interests and encouraged nationwide participation.

    A prominent member to recognize here is Thurgood Marshall, he was an attorney who fought for civil rights, leading the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Marshall was a prominent figure in the movement to end racial segregation in American public schools. He won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases, which he argued before the Supreme Court. One being, reaching a finale in the Court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which rejected the separate but equal doctrine and held segregation in public education to be unconstitutional.

 History of the UNCF

The UNCF or The United Negro College Fund was founded on April 25th, 1944, by Dr. Frederick D. Patterson. In response to a serious need for higher education opportunities for African American students. Dr. Patterson and presidents of the member colleges of the Fund began meeting in 1946 at Holly Knoll. Patterson had established Holly Knoll Associates in 1945 to serve as a conference center for black educators. Their meetings contributed to the growth and reputation of the UNCF, which aids more than 40 historically black colleges.

The UNCF helps by giving money to colleges that mainly serve minority students and by giving scholarships to these students. UNCF gets money from companies and people who want to help minority students get a good education. They've helped a lot of people become successful by giving them the chance to go to college, including civil rights leader Vernon Jordan and countless other professionals, leaders, and scholars.

Between its founding in 1944 and 1970, the fundraising efforts of the UNCF were directed primarily by and toward influential whites such as John Rockefeller Jr., who became chairman and sat on its board until his death in 1960. He contributed $5,250,000 to the fund during his lifetime.

In 1970, with the selection of Vernon Jordan, African Americans did gain full control of the UNCF. The arrival of Jordan as president led to a dramatic increase in direct appeals to black Americans including especially graduates of the member colleges.

Reconstruction Video blog post

    

    Most of us know that our country fought a civil war in the 1860s. But less is known about what came afterward. Which was the chaotic, exhilarating, and ultimately devastating period known as reconstruction. The reconstruction period is one extraordinary excitement. The time America could finally become the land of freedom that it had promised to be since the very beginning. Black people actually sat in the House of Representatives and the Senate; and poor whites and black people saw a common cause with one another. Seeing these opportunities appear for minorities they imagine that it will only get better.

    However, the achievements of reconstruction triggered fearsome backlash, constant terror and depression that lasted for decades. After 250 years of slavery, white Southerners could not quite accept the 4 million former slaves as equal members of their society. Violence was used to strip African Americans of the rights and privileges which they gained during Reconstruction. An example would be, The Charleston Massacre, which comes from a long history of white terror against African Americans.

    Reconstruction left a legacy of hope as well as violence. African Americans' hopes were far greater than what any government was accomplishing. A system functioning without race being a barrier to equality, is still something we are working on. When the speaker of this video was in high school, in the 1960s that’s when black history consisted of a few simple facts and a very light ending. Which was Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. Just a hundred years after emancipation, black people were still fighting for the most basic rights.    

 

    April 9th, 1865, on Palm Sunday. At the village of Appomattox courthouse in Virginia, Confederate General Robert E Lee surrendered to United States Lieutenant General Ulysses S Grant. Lee's surrendering effectively signaled the end of the Civil War and the death of slavery in the United States. It was the slaves themselves who had helped bring it to pass. From the war's first days, crowds of enslaved people defied their masters and fled to Union lines. Others were freed by the United States Army as it occupied parts of the South. By the summer of 1862, thousands of slaves had found safe haven.

    Now that black men were finally allowed to enlist in the Union Army, 180,000 answered the call, most of them being former slaves. It was manpower that they brought to the union's side. There's no question that they strengthened the union and changed what a military victory would mean. The role of black soldiers, Lincoln said this himself was essential in ensuring that the war would end with the abolition of slavery.

    Freed slaves’ being citizens was very much in question, with few legal rights or protections guaranteed. As the government in Washington was wrestling with what was being called reconstruction. On the surface reconstruction just meant restoring the rebel states to the union. But what reconstruction really consisted of was the process by which American society, North, South, Black, White, tried to come to terms with the consequences of the Civil War, the reunion of the nation, the destruction of slavery, and the question of what the status of the 4 million former slaves would be as free people in American life. issues like education, land ownership, and workers' rights appeared.

    Eventually Abraham Lincoln spoke about reconstruction at the White House. For the first time in public, the President suggested that some black men be very intelligent and black veterans deserved the right to vote. Which was a huge step in the right direction however on April 14, 1865, Good Friday, John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln. Which was the very start for a lot more to come.

Plessy V Ferguson Reaction Post

    Cons of Plessy V Ferguson

    The Reconstruction era was the period after the American Civil War from 1865 to 1877, during which the United States faced several challenges, the main one being Separate but equal. After the north defeated the south, anti-slavery leaders in Washington drafted the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, aka the Reconstruction Amendments. 

 

    The 13th Amendment forever abolished slavery as an institution in all U.S. states and territories. The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws”. Lastly the 15th amendment, which granted African American men the right to vote.

    Things leading up to the case of Plessy v Ferguson were becoming more in favor of African Americans. So many changes in the country, a lot of black progress, like 6 black members joining the board of congress. Also blacks and whites working together in the republican party. America had made some significant changes, so much we should thinking about these issues in a different way. This discrimination of Plessy v Ferguson is a portrayal of the constitution. This type of system affirms the value of white supremacies.

 

    The Lack of equality should not be seen in America, we are living up to the founding principles of the generation. If the court does not remove these laws, it sets an unethical tone for the rest of the country. It’s an economic waste of money, segregating the carts and doubling the cost. Dishing out extra money for no reason just really doesn’t make sense and is unnecessary.

This case is a legal dispute about a point of law and it’s a protection clause about the 14th amendment. The word equality has nothing to interpret, it's either equal or unequal. Rights are a special type of rights because they are a fundamental, personal right is the strongest right because it’s mentioned in the constitution.The constitution is color blind, blind to class. Discrimination like separating the carts defeats the whole purpose of the 14th amendment.

Pros of Plessy V Ferguson 

Slavery may have ended; however, it was replaced with other forms of discrimination. They may have not been as brutal as slavery but there were under laws like the black codes that created a discriminatory environment. It was like slavery without the slavery. African Americans have equal legal status but not social status.

 

Plessy violated the 14th amendment; it doesn't hold up because the 14th amendment was about granting citizenship to all persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws”.

 

African Americans nearly say the carts aren’t equal but that’s a matter of their opinion. If we didn’t have these carts, we would have chaos and violence. Slavery fits are tradition of states’ rights. Slavery is not a federal issue, clearly this issue doesn’t reside at the federal level but at the state level. Having this type of system, this is about the 10th amendment. We have a system that has an underclass, we have to have that workforce and the whole economy is based on that.

 

Plessy V Ferguson - mock trial post

    Ladies and Gentlemen, I stand before the court today to defend the state’s law of segregating railroad cars. Being on the pro slavery side of the debate, Speaking from facts not feelings, If slavery was suddenly to stop, the South's economy would be really hurt. Southern Slave owners depend on slave labor for everything and so does the economy. If slavery stopped; the cotton businesses would fail, the tobacco crops would wither away, and rice wouldn't make money anymore.

  

    Not to mention that the South grows sixty percent of the world's cotton and provides about 70 percent of the cotton consumed by the British textile industries. Slave labor also pays for a substantial share of the capital, and manufactured goods that lays the basis for American economic growth. Slavery also generates wealth by contributing to infrastructure development, in the form of roads, ports, and other facilities. These investments help stimulate economic growth. 

  

 

  Slave owners benefit from the wealth generated by their enslaved labor force, which was used to invest in various economic activities, like buying more land which would give more goods to the economy, benefiting it financially. Slaves serve as the largest financial asset to America. So why would we take that away? This would cause a lot of people to go without jobs, causing everyone to lose money in the end.

  

    Not to mention things would get messy with the constant fights and bloodshed. To sum it up we need to have a system with social class. Someone will always be at the bottom, and someone will also always be at the top with higher status and more power. This is important and inevitable to recognize because if you do make more money, you will get the benefits that come with it, like being respected more. It’s what makes our system work and how we have always functioned, it organizes us into groups with certain similarities keeping us in line so the system can run smoothly and efficiently.

Reaction Post - Fugative Slave Act

 The Fugitive Slave Act is also known as the Fugitive Slave Law. By 1843, hundreds of slaves successfully escaped to the North. Slave owners were furious that their slaves ran away from them. A law, known as the Fugitive Slave Act, was passed on September 18th, 1850, by the 31st United States Congress to address this problem, This act was a part of the Compromise of 1850. This law required escaped slaves to be captured and returned to their owners. 

 

Officials that did not arrest runaway slaves who could be fined up to $1,000. This act was one of the main factors that sparked the American Civil War. Some free states did believe the Fugitive Slave Act was unfair. These states passed personal liberty laws that gave fugitive slaves a trial before returning them back to their owners.

 

Northerners resisted the Act because it made them responsible for enforcing slavery even though they were abolitionists. By 1861, Congress passed the Confiscation Act which prohibited slave owners from recapturing their slaves who ran away. James Mitchell Ashley tried to get the Fugitive Slave Act repealed in 1863, but the bill did not get passed by the committee. The Fugitive Slave Act was revoked in June of 1864. 

 

Reconstruction Video Blog Post

 Most of us know that our country fought a civil war in the 1960s, but no one really knows the tragedy that came after, which was the reconstruction era. The reconstruction era was an exciting time but also it had a lot of backlash and depression. Reconstruction meant storing the United States back to a union. The reconstruction era was a process by which American society tried to come to terms with the consequences of the civil war. On April 9th, 1865, Palm Sunday marked the end of the civil war.           

 

 However White southerners couldn’t accept the 4 million slaves as equal members of their society. It was Apparent that the north and the south saw reconstruction quite differently. From the war's first days, legions of slave people defied their masters. By the summer of 1862 many slaves found safe haven. Shortly after 1865, ads were being placed in newspapers. African Americans wanted to build the life they ever got to have. They longed for things they couldn’t have, like the right to own land, the right for education, and the right to marry. They also were trying to reconnect with their families that they got separated from.

 

While Abraham Lincoln was in office, he believed black people deserved the write to vote. This unfortunately was the last speech he got to deliver before he was assassinated on April 14th. Hours after Lincoln's death, Andrew Johnson was sworn in. Few imagined Johnson would ever ascend into presidency. Andrew was the first man in this country made president by an assessed bullet. Johnson grew up in the south as a democrat, he also grew up poor. Which gave him perspective. Now with Andrew Johnson in office, White southerners were having a hard time accepting the fact that slavery was dead.

 

When laws started to change, and when black men heard they could enter the army, 180,000 answered the call; most of them were slaves. The role of black soldiers would ensure that it would end emancipation. 100 years after emancipation black people were still fighting for their rights. A system functioning without race is still something we are working for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

American Anti-Slavery Society post

     The American Anti-Slavery Society was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison, Arthur Tappan and Frederick Douglas, that lasted from 1833 to 1870. William Lloyd Garrison was an American abolitionist, journalist, and social reformer. Arthur Tappan an American businessman, philanthropist and abolitionist. Frederick Douglas was an American slave and an abolitionist.

       The American Anti Slavery Society was part of a larger religious revival that believed slavery was a sin, and that slaveholders were sinners. Knowing that slavery was illegal, if not under the Constitution, then certainly under natural law. The society had agents that traveled throughout the country producing lectures, distributing anti-slavery journals, and organizing local anti-slavery societies. It petitioned Congress to end slavery immediately in Washington and in any Federal territories. There was much opposition to the Anti-Slavery Society in the North, especially from business owners who depended on imports from the slave states. Abolitionists had their efforts proved to be extremely effective, focusing attention so much on slavery that it made it difficult to ignore. However, attention is not all good, the society was considered controversial, and its activities were sometimes met with violence. Tension was so heightened; Abolitionists had threatened to destroy the unity of the nation until there was justice. Eventually there were more than 400 chapters and by 1838 the number had grown to 1,350, with more than 250,000 members. members protested the African slave trade, the perpetual bondage of its captives, and the practice of separating enslaved family members by sale to different masters.

    As the nineteenth century progressed, these groups sent petitions with thousands of signatures to Congress, held abolition meetings and conferences, boycotted products made with slave labor, printed mountains of literature, and gave innumerable speeches for their cause.Ultimately, the American Anti-Slavery Society was the largest and most influential abolitionist organization in the United States.

   

Gone with the Wind reflection

    The movie I’m reviewing is called Gone with the Wind, a 1939 film directed by Victor Fleming. The story takes place in Georgia, during the civil war and the reconstruction periods. It stars a spoiled, southern belle named Scarlett O’Hara who is shielded from most of reality. Scarlett is a daughter to a wealthy plantation owner. It also stars Rhett Butler, who is a prominent, charming visitor from Charleston. Both characters compete for their romance. The beautiful Scarlett starts off as vain, stubborn, and self-centred because that’s how she was raised. She wasn’t taught how slavery was bad or how morally wrong it was. She was taught that they were there to serve her and take her orders. However, once the war turns her life upside down, she goes through significant changes in her character development. Her determination and survival skills are what ultimately help her stay alive. An example of her showing her determination is when she loses her home, loved ones, and still agrees to fight, “I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again.” Her perseverance is clearly showing, she knows now that nothing is going to be handed to her anymore and she must fight for what she needs no matter the price.

        Now talking more into Scarlett and Rhett’s relationship. When they first met Rhett was an outsider, black sheep, and gambler, who was known for getting expelled from west point.Scarlett was known for being obsessed with a man named Ashley. However, when he rejects her that gives Scarlett the rash decision to marry Ashley’s brother, Charles. Who she clearly doesn’t love but does it anyways because she wanted to be married. While Charles is at war he gets killed and makes Scarlett a widow. While Scarlett is distraught over Charles, Rhett tries to get her attention. Isolated, an in-morning Scarlett takes Rhett’s attention but gets attached. Rhett knew he didn’t want to marry her but kept being flirtatious. Eventually Rhett kisses Scarlett but must leave her to go fight in the war. Which causes Scarlett ultimate heartbreak and determination to push through and survive no matter the consequences. She knew she had to do it for herself which is what she ended up accomplishing.

State V Man blog post

Julia Smedira 

 State V Man Reflection 

     In this Mock Trial, what was debated was, a man named John who is a slave owner and a woman named Lydia, who is a slave. John was giving Lydia a hard time, which caused her to run away. So, he decided to shoot her in the back. He was fined $10 for this incident. We are arguing if this crime should be upheld. Man is anti-slavery while state is defending John. 

     Starting with Man, there first point being, we are not a religious country, but many of our norms, customs, and laws go back to christen value and the 10 commandments which state, “Though shall not kill” even to a slave because Lydia is still a human being. Second, John committed Assault and Battery. He intentionally hurt Lydia and attempted to murder her, which means he did break the law. Thirdly why John is in the wrong is an economic reason. If we have an economy based on slaves, then the well-being of the slaves is detrimental. If we harm the slave, then the slave will not be able to perform its role in society. Harming a slave is harming the economy. Slavery shouldn’t be tolerated and crushes the reputation of the United States. Slavery has left an emotional whole in our society. Lastly for man is, Lydia wasn’t owned by John. He hired her for work, and there for didn’t have the right to punish Lydia. Lydia belonged to Elizabeth Johns. It was a common practice during this era to lease a slave to someone else, that being John. Some say that even though John rented out Lydia he has the right to punish her, however this is not true. He doesn’t have the right to punish her because of property ownership. You can’t damage that person’s property therefor John broke the rules.

     Now discussing the states side and why John is innocent. We need to think of the time period and the mindset of people back then. Opinions of slavery in the north and south were different. The north was anti-slavery, and the south was pro slavery. John shouldn’t pay the fine, in this time slavery was perfectly legal in the south. Therefor It was Lydia’s fault, she didn’t play her role, she created this conflict. Then John under all the norms and customs at the time back then as a slave owner, acted logically from keeping her from running away. This was a case of self-defense, because if she had run away, she could have been a danger to the community. We can’t have this lawlessness, with the underground railroad having slaves go up north. There needs to be ownership and control. If you take away ownership and control the whole system falls apart, concluding he was acting responsibly and shouldn’t have to pay $10.