Black history is American History that mirrors other minority groups such as Latinos and recent immigrants who experienced, and are still experiencing, unequal rights. The early history of African Americans' struggle for equality starts after their emancipation from slavery by President Lincoln during the Civil War. Following a brief intercession during Reconstruction in the South, white Americans resumed subjecting African Americans to legal and extralegal persecution.
From 1868 to 1915, southern states passed "Jim Crow" laws that disenfranchised most black, and some white, citizens. Many states required citizens to pay poll taxes, take literacy tests, and meet property qualifications in order to vote. Since most blacks were poor, landless, and illiterate, this dramatically decreased their voting influence. "Grandfather clauses," added to many southern state constitutions, eliminated rights gained by the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
While the amendment prohibited discrimination against citizens on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, the grandfather clause made the exercise of civic liberties contingent upon whether the individual's grandfather had possessed that right.
When legal restrictions did not always work, some private citizens resorted to terrorism and violence through the formation of the Ku Klux Klan. Although the Klan had all but disappeared in the South by the early twentieth century, bands of white citizens continued to attack black individuals and communities. Lynching of blacks reached alarming proportions. In 1910 alone, mobs lynched 67 blacks and nine whites in the United States.
Learning Activity
The election of President Obama signals a dramatic and symbolic change in the attitude of white Americans toward African Americans. But, significant gaps in economic and social equality still remain. Today's students need to understand the laws and other obstacles created in the 20th century that severely retarded progress for African Americans. Promoting understanding is the goal of Black History Month and the key to continued progress for African American.
Assign students a written report of at least 150 words or a presentation of at least seven slides that cites at least three resources. Students should select from the topics in the pathfinders listed below. Students should address the Document Based Questions included with each topic with a focus on African Americans.
Pathfinders
1: Click the 1900s icon > click Immigration and Race
2: Click the 1910s icon > click Race and Ethnicity
3: Click the 1920s icon > click Intolerance
4: Click the 1930s icon > click African Americans
5: Click the 1940s icon > click African Americans
Use our custom ProQuest models for written or PowerPoint reports written and PowerPoint-style reports.
