Class Readings and Discussions
THE RECONSTRUCTION ACTS OF 1867:
Around the time of 1866 lots of people in America at the time felt that their government supervision had not been fixed properly. It was expressed that Americans that were black felt that this new Union didn’t actually help or feed any kind of justice and that it only led to Republicans flooding the congress and taking things into their own hands which is what we know as the Reconstruction Acts of 1867. This could also be known as the Radical Reconstruction and they divided the south up into 5 different regions and it was known to punish for certain social behaviors. According to a secondary source facinghistory.org the laws were, “The south being divided into 5 regions and governed by military governors, Any male, except excluding former Confederate leaders, were permitted to participate in the constitutional conventions that formed the new governments in each state, New state constitutions made it where voting rights were for all men no matter race. Lastly, states revised the Fourteenth Amendment.”
(1875) CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1875:
Charles Sumner who was a senator first brought this idea into play in 1870,The Civil Rights act was finally formed March first 1875 and was also passed that day as well. It was the supposed equality of all men and was supposed to stop all discrimination and racism that was happening in pibluc facilities, businesses and buildings. Years later it was then a problem because these laws did not apply to private owned businesses.
PLESSY V. FERGUSON (1896)
This was the start of the separate but equal era.
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. was a life changing choice that the U.S. Supreme Court made. The Court and law stated that laws that were based on racial discrimination and segregation was okay in the U.S. Constitution, under one condition. That being if the place of work or hang out was separate to race the amenities then had to be equal. This is what we know as the separate but equal clause.
What is shocking to me is the fact that they still tried to consider that to be equal. Regardless to the buildings and amenities being taken care of and equal I believe that, that is something that did nothing but hurt the African American community.
Guinn v. United States
The change to the Voter Registration Act of Oklahoma in 1910 in my opinion was a big deal.
This case here deals with what is known to be the grandfather clause. This clause was mainly used in the south, against african americans and it removed the rights of our voting and truly weekend our political power. It also allowed whites to register without passing the literacy test they made African Americans partake in. The grandfather clause also was in place to protect people that came before while trying to accommodate the blacks or the ones who came after.
Executive Order 8802
In the time of 1941 we had a president by the name of Franklin Roosevelt and to my understanding, in the year of 1941 sometime around June an Executive order was issued. This was the Executive Order 8802 and this stopped all discriminatory employment rituals by any Federal establishment. It also played a role in all companies and alliances coming together when it came to war related issues. Lastly this also created the practice of Fair Employment and new policies.
1948 Executive Order 9981
This Executive Order was issued in 1948 on the 26th of July. The president at the time being Harry Truman. This order was supposed to ablolish discrimination within the U.S. Armed Froces. The scale of which dictates varies widely from origin and religion to color and one’s race. Although some forms or racial discrimination were still around going into the 1950s an end of the Korean War.
Brown Vs Board of Education
Brown vs Board of Education is more on the popular side of decisions. This was a big accomplishment and step in the right direction. Most of us know about this but basically this was when the U.S Supreme court finally made it illegal to deprive brown kids from getting the same education as whites. In my opinion I would call this situation a start to a foundation for Civil Rights. This also contradicted the Plessy Vs Ferguson case and showed the wrong in “separate but equal” and how blacks were actually not being treated as “separate but equal.”
MLK LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM
The main key things I took from this passage was mostly the way Martin Luther King Jr defended himself. It was very professional and respectful. He mentioned the beliefs of an old Philosopher by the name of Socrates and the practices related to him. He also brought up more related examples like Hitler and the acts in Germany and the Boston Tea Party.
If I were to make a decision but have my prior memory erased and only read this, I would say he’s correct. What moved me to this choice is when he says how Hitlers actions were looked at as legal while the Freedom Fighters of Hungary actions were looked at as illegal. This here shows the injustice he is fighting for and the reason he is fighting in the first place.
THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY TEN-POINT PROGRAM( 1966)
This was simply a calling out from a group that represented the blacks and who were tired of the discrimination and segregation.They made a list with ten key points. These ten key points weren’t extremities, they were just simple things that should have been granted since the Declaration of Independence stated all men were created equal and this is what I would call the Black Panther party expressing that in a professional way.
What I took away from this was that basically black folks were just simply tired of the unequal treatment. They just want the rights they are supposed to be granted and it shows the lack of limits they have to reach their goal.
Boston Busing Case
They had many rules and regulations in disguise to stop the African Americans from getting a good education and the same education as whites. They also stated that the segregation was due to disproportionate numbers within the community/neighborhood and not the schools or system itself making these numbers appear. Then the Boston Busing Case happened. A case where they rioted over desegregation within blacks when it came to fair schooling. White people were very upset and protested angrily. Though this did not solve all problems, it helped in regards to diversity within Boston.
1993 Shaw V Reno
This case took about two months to settle. This case took place in North Carolina. The US attorney general rejected a N.C reappointment plan. It was stated that this plan was trying to create a district that was majority black. After rejection they then came up with another plan where there would be two majority black districts where one district was no bigger than the road it went along. This ended in a 5-4 ruling. 5 Whites voted against this stating it was a discrimination within race with the benefit of helping black representatives become elected.
What I see here is the people (whites) are scared of African Americans being in any type of power. I feel once you have the right education and knowledge, which back then they had within a few activists then you have power but in those times power was nothing if you had no place.
Jimmy Winkfield
He was a very very good African American professional horse trainer and racer. He rose in the early twentieth century, but didn’t have the easiest coming up.In his first race ever he earned himself a one year suspension for violating racing rules. After that year was up he then won his first race when returning post suspension. He rose due to his success in races winning the Kentucky Derby and a big number of other races and key Derby’s. After his passing he was admitted into the hall of fame for horse racing where there were only two other African American racers.
What I took away from this reading was that African Americans have always been naturally good at the things they love. With that always comes the people above that try to do things that can make it harder along the way. He fought adversity and was able to win amazing titles to then be inducted in the Hall of Fame of his sport.
Fannie Lou: Testimony at the Democratic National Convention of 1964
Fannie Lou and others went through horrible battles and obstacles because they wanted to be deemed as first class citizens and register to vote. In this passage it states people being jailed, multiple lives being taken, people being severely injured and abused simply because whites did not consider us as equal. They didn’t care for the black opinions or facts and weren’t ready for blacks to have a say.
After this I learn Fannie Lou was arrested for attending the workshop and she was treated horrible during that time in jail. She was beaten and her friend Medgar Evers murdered all in jail by men and worse than that two of her own. Lastly this was all because they wanted to register to become first class citizens.
Week 13:Martin Luther King, Jr.
Reading this Martin Luther King Jr passage there is one thing that is very clear for me. Martin Luther King is the type of person you want to lead. Actually you can erase the word “want” and say “need. He spoke with intelligence and almost always came with an elite plan. I see exactly why they feared him.
Week 14:
https://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/blackspeech/mx.html
Read the Primary Source, titled, “Ballot or the Bullet” by Malcolm X
Week 15:
30. The Recent Past
Read Chapter 30, titled, “The Recent Past”
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