This lecture is about slavery and the civil rights movement. The history of African Americans is retraced from the early slave trade through the emancipation proclamation to the present day.
4. Between 1525 and 1866 12.5 million Africans
were shipped to the New World.
10.7 million survived the dreaded Middle
Passage.
They disembarked in North America, the
Caribbean and South America.
They were brought by English and French
Traders.
Slave Trade
6. Slaves were
brought to work in
lucrative crops
such as tobacco
Most of them
worked in the
plantations of the
south.
Slavery
7. According to the constitution, they were
second-rate human beings
For representation purposes, a black slave
was counted as 3/5th of a white man
1787 : The 3/5th Compromise
8. The American Civil War 1861 - 1865
Origins
The North was in favor of abolishing slavery
The South relied on slaves for most of its economy
opposed abolition
The War
The war lasted only 5 years, but caused about 600,000
deaths in both camps
The Outcome
The war ended the debate over slavery that had divided
North and South since the drafting of the Constitution in
1787
9. The 13th 14th and 15th Amendments
1865 - The 13th Amendment officially abolished and
continues to prohibit slavery to this day.
1868 - The 14th Amendment citizenship to African
Americans.
1870 -The 15TH Amendment Right to vote.
11. The Civil Rights Movement
• The Movement Begins Nearly 100 years after the
Civil War
• The 1960s were called the civil rights decade
• Anti-discrimination organizations:
- The National Association for the Advancement of
Coloured people NAACP - - The National Urban League
NUL
- The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
SNCC
12. The civil rights of African
Americans were limited
by state laws and
discrimination.
In the early 1950s,
segregation was legal.
An Alabama law said that
African Americans had to
sit at the back of the bus.
Civil Rights
13. In 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks
refused to move to the back of a bus. She was
arrested.
African Americans boycotted
the buses until buses were
desegregated.
Black Residents Walking,
Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955
14. Martin Luther King Jr. helped lead the boycott.
He believed in nonviolent protest.
He wanted people to fight back using peaceful
actions.
In 1954, the Supreme Court ordered the
desegregation of public schools.
In 1956, the Supreme Court said that segregation
on buses was illegal.
Civil Rights Victories
15. Civil Rights Victories
In 1960, African Americans held sit-
ins in 54 cities.
They sat at lunch counters that only
served food to white people. They
would not leave until they were
served.
In 1963, Congress was discussing a
bill to end segregation.
16. Martin Luther King Jr. and other
leaders organized a protest march
in Washington, D.C., to show
support for the bill.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
banned segregation in schools, at
work, and in public places.
Affirmative action: minorities
granted opportunities for higher
education and employment
Busing to promote desegregation
Civil Rights Victories
17. MLK ASSASSINATION
In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was
shot by confirmed racist and
small-time criminal named James Ray
Many at that time
feared it would be
the end of the strategy
of nonviolence
18. SEPARATISTS
Along with non-violent protest the rise of separatist
movements:
Nation of Islam & its leader(s) Louis Farrakhan &
Malcolm X
Blamed for advocating black
supremacy and described as
a hate group.
19.
20.
21. Not yet equal…
African-Americans high dropout rate
Glass ceiling: discrimination prevents them from the
top positions
Hit twice as hard by unemployment
Inner cities: violence and crime widespread
Leading cause of death of young black male is murder
(often by other black teenagers from rival gangs)
Half inmates of American prisons are black
Housing segregation leads to poor social integration