African Americans 1865-1930

• How Slavery Affected The Education Of African American Children

• Plessy Vs. Ferguson• 13th Amendment and

African American Children

• Reconstruction• “The Great Migration” • The Harlem

Renaissance• African American

Religion

How Slavery Affected the Education of African American Children

• Statutes

• Illustrative Facts

• The 14th Amendment

Statutes

• South Carolina—Act of 1740

• South Carolina—Another Act in 1800

• Virginia—Revised Code of 1819

• Georgia—Act of 1829

Illustrative Facts

• The city of Savannah passed an ordinance in 1818 which threatened whites who educated blacks with fines.

• Bible societies did not distribute the Bible among slaves.

• In 1832, in the Virginia House of Delegates, it was argued that slaves should be kept in the dark.

• Patrols in North Carolina searched every negro house for books.

The 14th Amendment

• It was ratified on July 28, 1868.• It was intended to protect the rights of the

African American by making him a citizen and prohibited the states from violating the fundamental rights of every citizen.

• Its interpretation would later become the heart and soul of the argument against separate but equal facilities (Brown vs. Board of Education).

Study Questions????

• What were some of the issues to affect the education of newly freed African American Children?

• What was the intent of the 14th Amendment?

• How did the interpretation of the 14th Amendment affect the education of African American Children?

Plessy vs. Ferguson

• The Plessy vs. Ferguson decision is 1896 set the pattern for separate facilities for blacks and whites.

• This decision was determined to be constitutional as long as the facilities were “equal”. It was allowed because by things being “equal”, no one could legally stamp African-Americans as being inferior.

Plessy vs. Ferguson Cont’d

• It started with transportation but then very quickly was applied to most aspects of life such as restaurants, theatres, restrooms and public schools.

• African-Americans had to drink from designated water fountains and were only allowed into the buildings marked “colored”. If a building was marked “whites only” and an African-American went inside either because he didn’t see the sign or as a form of rebellion he was often beaten and even jailed.

Educational Life After Plessy vs. Ferguson

• All of the elementary schools for both blacks and whites were supposed to be equal. However, the “black schools” (as they were called) were far inferior to the “white schools”.

• Many children were forced to walk many miles to the schools that they were allowed to attend, even though very often a “white school” was only a few blocks away.

Differences

• Often the “black schools” were very poor and unkept. There were often fewer books, fewer desks, & fewer supplies. Blacks were denied adequate education because their “equal” schools were nothing of the kind. Frequently there were two or three classes in one room. They would rotate. For example, while one class was being taught, the others would go outside and wait their turn. It was too crowded for everyone to be in there together. Even the teachers at the “black schools were paid much less than the teachers at the “white schools”. On average, in 1930 a black teacher’s salary was $300.00 a year vs. a white teacher’s salary at $900.00 a yr. States allotted $0.50 per black student vs. $1.50 per white student.

Five Forks Elementary School for blacks. Front view. Built in 1918, served grades 1-5, pupil capacity of 60. No indoor plumbing and no steam/hot water heat.

Worsham High School and Elementary School for whites. Served grades 1-12, pupil capacity of 300, had indoor plumbing and either steam or hot water heat.

African American parents often insisted that their children go to school. Education was very important to them. Education meant that possibly in the future civil rights would be honored. Parents even encouraged their children not to give up and not to feel resentment towards “whites”. They were taught to be strong to be able to face such hardships.

Study Questions????

• What were the major effects of Plessy vs. Ferguson, and what patterns developed?

• What were the major differences between “black” and “white” schools?

• Why was the Plessy Vs. Ferguson decision declared legally constitutional?

13th Amendment and Children

• Many groups formed to aid the newly freed slaves. American Missionary Association (AMA) Lewis C. Lockwood represented new slaves in court cases, Bureau of Refugees placed slaves with work. With labor contracts, Freedmen helped get slaves food, medicine, and education.

13th Amendment and Children Cont’d

• These groups raised money from freed slaves to open orphanages and schools from the ex-slave children. Other groups formed to act against the ex-slaves Ku Klux Clan, and White Brotherhood.

Children’s Role in Family

• All children born in slavery were considered orphans.

• 2500 “orphans” in first month of new Amendment were put into binding

• Binding = Apprenticeship (new type of slavery)

• Masters would kidnap children to work then sell back to families

Laws Forced Children’s Separation from family

• Laws: “Black Codes”

• Defined rights for ex-slaves, still using words like Master and Servant.

• Laws against Trespassing, fines for livestock.

• Children leased out from jail.

• Kept ex-slaves in poverty.

New Marriage

• Ex-slaves would remarry to have legal custody of their children.

• Used this to reclaim kidnapped children

Children’s Identity

• Ex-slaves would remarry to have legal custody of their children.

• Children changed their names that represented their new freedom. Started to use last names and Patriarchal Surnames. (Lincoln, Grant, Hope, Chance, etc.)

• Children also wanted to know their birthdays.

Education

• African American children were said to be very motivated to learn to read and write

Song “ Oh happy is the child who learns to read

When I get Over To read that blessed book indeed

(Chorus) When I get over, when I get over ‘Twill take some time to study When I get over.”

Study Questions????

• What was bonding?

• What were children born in slavery referred to as?

• What was the name of one of the groups that helped the newly freed slaves?

Reconstruction• Reconstruction was the period after the

American Civil War, which lasted from about 1865 to 1877. During this time the South was in political, social, and economic turmoil.

• Under slavery, nearly all African-Americans lived separated from relatives. Reconstruction provided the opportunity to solidify their family ties.

Reconstruction and Education

• Reconstruction established the first public school systems in the South.

• Many of these schools were church related; Baptists and Methodists often helped sponsor these schools because public education for African Americans was insufficient for most of the nineteenth century.

Grandmothers and Older Women

• Grandmothers and older women played a central role in community life under slavery and during the decades after Reconstruction.

• They cared for children, were midwives, and educated children.

• African-Americans in this time period learned of their ancestors and history through stories and narratives told by elder members of their family.

Study Questions????

• What was the era of Reconstruction, and how did it affect African Americans?

• How did Reconstruction shape the education of African American Children?

• How were grandmothers and older women instrumental in the education of African American children?

"The Great Migration"

• Occurred from around 1910 to the early 1930's. Consisted of African Americans moving from the south to the north.

• Between 1915 and 1919 between 400,000 to 500,000 southerners journeyed north and nearly one million more followed during the 1920's.

“Migration” Cont’d

• A large influence for heading north was to be found in the Chicago Defender which helped to shape the character, magnitude, and direction of the movement.

The reasons for heading north:

• Economic Growth• World War I caused a large amount

of jobs to open to African Americans in mills and factories in northern cities.

• To escape financial hardship in the south which was brought on by failing crops.

Political Strength

• By 1928, the first African American Congressman was elected.

Socially

• By moving North they were escaping increasing racism in the south, including the formation of the Ku Klux Klan. There was also better housing.

• In the South there was little opportunity for education, and children labored in the fields.

• In the North children were able to attend schools

Study Questions????

• What was one of the main factors that pulled African Americans Northward?

• When did “The Great Migration” occur?

Harlem Renaissance

The Great Migration let African Americans North and many settled in Harlem, New York. This provided the start of the Harlem Renaissance.

The Harlem renaissance was a period of extraordinary creativity among African-American writers, artists, musicians and actors.

Centered around the 1920’s said to have started by a man named Claude McKay wrote a militant poem published in 1919 in response the brutal race riots. This poem announced a new, self-confidence in the African-American community, partly because of their participation in World War I.

It did not take place exclusively in Harlem but was centered there, for one reason because of the publishing industry located in New York.

In the 1920’s what was happening was referred to as the New Negro Movement. The Harlem Renaissance is now thought of as a literary movement.

More on the Harlem Renaissance

During this time Blues and Jazz flourished. Blues originated from work songs, ring shouts, field hollers and religious call-and-response rituals of the slave South. Jazz grew out of Blues as a combination of European musical forms and complex African percussive rhythms.

Langston Hughes was a famous writer of this period. He valued the teaching of children. Many of his poems are children’s poems. He often traveled to schools and read his poetry. His first published works were in a children’s magazine during the 1920’s. He published a book of ABC’s called The Sweet and Sour Animal Book. He wanted to inspire the youth, and make them feel good about themselves. He did not only write poetry, but that is what he is famous for. Much of his poetry talks of the hardships, poverty, inequality, etc. of the African-American people.

During this time many other African American writers, such as, Zora Hurston also began to write books and poetry for children.

The Start of the Great Depression

The stock market crash in 1929 brought on the Great Depression and threw Harlem and other African-American communities into a degree of poverty.

Banks failed and businesses closed, more than 15 million Americans (one-quarter of the workforce) became unemployed.

Many African American teenage boys ages 15-24 didn’t want to be a burden so they left their families to ride the rails and look for work.

African Americans suffered more than whites, since their jobs were often taken away from them and given to whites. In 1930, 50 percent of blacks were unemployed.

Children took on more responsibilities, sometimes finding work

Study Questions????

1.What was the Harlem Renaissance?2. About when did the Harlem

Renaissance occur?3.What started Great Depression and

when?4. What happened to many children

during this time especially teenage boys?

Struggle For Religion (Before civil war and emancipation)

• African American Christians slaves had no access to black churches.

• They had to attend church services with their master or white peoples.

• Slave master would sometimes hire clergyman to preach to slaves on the plantation.

• Slaves developed an extensive religion life outside of the institutional church.

• They had religious meetings called “invisible institution

The New Religion (After civil war and emancipation)

• 1865 “the emancipation of the slaves.• New religion landscape began to emerge.• African American’s left the denominations of their former masters to

establish their own denominations.• Northern African-American Protestant played a significant role in the

adaptation of the million freed slaves to an American life.• Northern African churches dispatched missions to their Southern

counterparts.• African Methodist Episcopal (AME) and African Methodist Episcopal

Zionist (AMEZ) churches claimed southern membership in the hundred and thousands

• 1870 New southern-based denomination was founded by southern blacks leaders called

• 1894 black Baptists formed the National Baptist convention.

Church purposes for African American

• Worship

• Education

• Recreation

• Socialization

Roles Men and Women had in the ChurchWomen

• “Mother of the church”.

• Serviced local congregation.

• The Pew-women’s place

• Women and children stayed helping at church

Men

• Dominated the leadership.

• Held denominational offices.

• Pulpit-men space.

• Young black men went north lured by the promise of better jobs.

QUESTIONS???

THANK YOU

Sources

• http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/USA/14Ammend.CP.html

• http://www.dinsdoc.com/goodell-1-1-22.htm• http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/postcivilwar/ple

ssy.html

• http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/sepbutequal.htm

• http://www.campus.northpark.edu/history/webchron/USA/PlessyFerguson.html

• http://www.goerie.com/nie_civilrights/schools.html • http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/pec02h.html • http://www..geocites.com/kylecorman/african-american_t

ampa.html

Sources Cont’d

• Kusmer, Kenneth L.  Black Communities and Urban Development in America 1720-1990   New York: 1991 Garland Publishing, Inc.Clark-Lewis, Elizabeth  Living In , Living Out  New York:1996 Kodansha America, Inc.Lawrence, Jacob "The Great Migration"  http://www.columbia.edu/itc/history/odonnell/w1010/edit/migration/migration4.html

American Experience/Surviving The Dust Bowl.

www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/peopleevents/pandeAMEX05.html

Newman, Richard. Everybody Say Freedom. New York: Penguin Group,

1996. RIDING THE RAILS: Teenagers on the

Move During the Great Depression

<www.erroluys.com/RidingtheRails.html>