The United States of America

            The United States of America was created when the colonies wanted to secede from the British Empire, due to high taxation, this cause was one of the primary reasons of the Revolutionary War.  The Revolutionary War followed the events of the Boston Tea Party after the Stamp Act and Townshend Act levied high taxes on the colonist.  This first act of defiance from the colonist eventually led to the birth of the United States that lead to Declaration of Independence and The United States Constitution. 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

                                                 ~Thomas Jefferson

The Declaration of Independence in theory was revolutionary but was false from the onset of the historic document.  This newly found nation stole land from Native Americans, while killing them in the process, women absolutely didn’t have any rights, while slavery was accepted and flourished.   The institute of slavery not only made individuals and families rich, it also made the United States a wealthy nation.  With plantations to the south and industry to the north, the lifestyles of the nation were completely different.

Crispus Attucks (c.1723 – March 5, 1770) was an American stevedore of African and native American descent, widely regarded as the first person killed in the Boston massacre and thus the first American killed in the American Revolutionary War. Historians disagree on whether he was a free man or an escaped slave, but most agree that he was of Wampanoag and African descent. Attucks became an icon of the anti-slavery movement in the mid-19th century. Supporters of the abolition movement lauded him for playing a heroic role in the history of the United States.

Source: Wikipedia

A Nation Divided

“The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution African slavery as it exists amongst us, the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization.  This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution.  Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the ‘rock upon which the old Union would split.’ He was right.  What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact.  [Our] foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.”

            Savannah Republican, March 21, 1861

  The primary reason for the Civil War was slavery and it took a series of events to have the north and south to have the deadliest war in American History. The cotton gin, Missouri Compromise, Fugitive Slave Act, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott Case, John Brown and Harper’s Ferry, and the election of Abraham Lincoln, are some main causes of the Civil War.

The Cotton Gin “In 1793, Whitney invented and submitted a patent for the cotton gin—a machine that used rotating brushes and teeth to remove seeds from cotton fiber. His invention revolutionized cotton production, although Whitney faced challenges enforcing his patent andsaw little profit from it. While an enslaved person needed about ten hours to separate the seeds from one pound of cotton fiber by hand, two people using the cotton gin could produce about fifty pounds of cotton in the same timeframe.  The invention of the cotton gin forever altered the economy, geography, and politics of the United States. The cotton gin made cotton tremendously profitable, which encouraged westward migration to new areas of the US South to grow more cotton. The number of enslaved people rose with the increase in cotton production, from 700,000 in 1790 to over three million by 1850.”

Source: https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cotton-gin-and-the-expansion-of-slavery

Nat Turner’s Rebellion was on August 22, 1831 in Southampton County Virginia.  The slave revolt lasted days as a result 51 whites have been killed.  Nat Turner was found two months later where he was tried on November 5 and hung on November 11, 1831.  As a result, approximately 200 slaves were killed and new slave codes were enacted which also prohibited the slaves the ability to read.

 Missouri Compromise The compromise allowed Missouri into the union as a slave state, however, it no longer allowed the northern expansion of slavery.  This compromise allowed the balance of power to remain the between slave and non-slave states, as the State of Maine joined the union as a free state.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 “were a group of bills that helped quiet early calls for Southern secession—this new law forcibly compelled citizens to assist in the capture of runaway slaves. It also denied slaves the right to a jury trial and increased the penalty for interfering with the rendition process to $1,000 and six months in jail.  In order to ensure the statute was enforced, the 1850 law also placed control of individual cases in the hands of federal commissioners. These agents were paid more for returning a suspected slave than for freeing them, leading many to argue the law was biased in favor of Southern slaveholders.”

Source: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fugitive-slave-acts

Harriet Beecher Stowe is a white abolitionist who authored “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,”  a fictitious account of live of slavery in the south.  “The book sold 300,000 copies in its first year and became the second best-selling book of the 19th century, following the Bible. The novel’s popularity roused intense new resentment in the South.”

www.nps.gov

 Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Rise of John Brown  “In 1854, passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act invoked the concept of “popular sovereignty” which gave the people of each territory choosing to pursue statehood the right to decide whether or not to allow slavery. Pro- and Anti-Slavery factions turned the Kansas Territory into a bloody battleground. Settlers from the North were determined to make Kansas a free state. Southern settlers were equally determined to make it a slave state. Missouri’s Border Ruffians intimidated free-soilers and raided abolitionist towns. Some Northerners shipped in boxes of rifles, known as “Beecher’s Bibles.” (Filled with antislavery fervor, the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher had once said there might be situations where a gun was more useful than a Bible.) John Brown and his followers started their bloody fight against slavery, killing Pro-Slavery sympathizers in Kansas.”

(www.nps.gov)

Dred Scott Case in St. Louis Missouri, “1857, Dred Scott, an enslaved man who was taken by his owner, an army surgeon, into Illinois and Wisconsin Territory (later Minnesota) which were part of the Northwest Territory in which slavery was prohibited, sued for his freedom.

The U. S. Supreme Court decided that Americans of African descent—whether enslaved or free—were not U.S. citizens and did not have the right to sue. The Court also found the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, ruling that the federal government did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories.”(www.nps.gov)

  John Brown and Harper’s Ferry In 1859 John Brown with a small militia consisting of several blacks and a couple of his sons attempted to start a slave rebellion in Harpers Ferry West Virginia.  The federal armory housed weapons to fulfill his purpose of an armed insurrection of slaves.  Unfortunately, after 36 hours General Robert E. Lee took control of the armory and captured Brown and was tried for treason.  This act of a failed slave revolt ignited additional tensions between north and south, more about John Brown will be mentioned later.

  Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln for many to believe that the Republican Party was anti-slavery may be hard to fathom in today’s political climate.  The truth is prior to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s, African Americans were primarily Republican. 

“The recently formed Republican Party emerged as the advocate for abolishing slavery in the territories. Abraham Lincoln was the party candidate. The Democratic Party, which had dominated politics in the 1850s, split along sectional lines, with Northern Democrats nominating Stephen A. Douglas, and adopting a platform of extending popular sovereignty to the territories. The Southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckenridge, and their platform advocated the protection of slavery where it existed and in the territories.  Lincoln hoped desperately to achieve a peaceful solution, but when he decided to resupply the U.S. army troops at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor in April of 1861, Confederate forces fired on the fort. Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion prompted Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas to join the Confederacy. Civil war had come.” (www.nps.gov)

The Civil War

  The American Civil War began in 1861 and ended in 1865 with the surrender of the confederacy.  To date the Civil war was the deadliest war in U.S. history with approximately 620,000 troops killed.  During the civil war over 200,000 black troops fought for the union.

13^th, 14^th, & 15^th Amendments

Amendment XIII

Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865. The 13th Amendment changed a portion of Article IV, Section 2.

SECTION. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

SECTION. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XIV

Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868. The 14th Amendment changed a portion of Article I, Section 2. A portion of the 14th Amendment was changed by the 26th Amendment.

SECTION. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

SECTION. 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

SECTION. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

SECTION. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

SECTION. 5. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Amendment XV

Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3, 1870.

SECTION. 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

SECTION. 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Reconstruction

 “The period after the Civil War, 1865 – 1877, was called the Reconstruction period.  Abraham Lincoln started planning for the reconstruction of the South during the Civil War as Union soldiers occupied huge areas of the South.  He wanted to bring the Nation back together as quickly as possible and in December 1863 he offered his plan for Reconstruction which required that the States new constitutions prohibit slavery. In January 1865, Congress proposed an amendment to the Constitution which would abolish slavery in the United States.  On December 18, 1865, Congress ratified the Thirteenth Amendment formally abolishing slavery.  The Civil War ended on April 9, 1865.  Abraham Lincoln was assassinated less than one week later. Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s Vice President,  briefly continued Lincoln’s policies after Lincoln’s assassination and in May 1865 announced his own plans for Reconstruction which included a vow of loyalty to the Nation and the abolition of slavery that Southern states were required to take before they could be readmitted to the Nation.” (https://www.howard.edu/library/reference/guides/reconstructionera/)

During the era of Reconstruction, the Black Codes were in acted.  The codes were a way to keep post-Civil War African Americans locked in perpetual systematic racism in the southern states.  “Black code, in U.S. history, any of numerous laws enacted in the states of the former Confederacy after the American Civil War and intended to assure the continuance of white supremacy. Enacted in 1865 and 1866, the laws were designed to replace the social controls of slavery that had been removed by the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.” ( https://www.britannica.com/topic/black-code)

Buffalo Soldiers and the Black Cowboys

Buffalo Soldiers were infantrymen in the west created by the U.S. Government after the civil war.  Created in 1866 after congress passed the Army Organization Act, there were six all black regimen total with four infantry and two cavalry.

 “In 1869, the U.S. Army restructured the troops, a change that included consolidating black troops into two cavalry units and two infantry units. These were composed of black enlisted men led by white officers. The cavalry units served on the western frontier, protecting and assisting with supply and mail routes, and guarding against attacks from outlaws, Mexican revolutionaries, and Native Americans. “(https://www.nationalparks.org/connect/blog/retrace-legacy-buffalo-soldiers-national-parks)

Black Cowboys not to be mistaken with Buffalo Soldiers, the only similarity is they’re a band of black men that ride horseback.  Not too many are aware of the black cowboy since they’re not depicted in film or pop culture.  It is noted that 1 in 4 cowboys were black, unfortunately their contributions seemed to have been erased from existence. After slavery was abolished and after cattle rangers returned after the civil war.  Help was needed to corral all the livestock that escaped while the ranches were unattended.  Many former slaves also did not have any interest in becoming elevator operators or working in the fields.  “Bill Pickett, born in 1870 in Texas to former slaves, became one of the most famous early rodeo stars. He dropped out of school to become a ranch hand and gained an international reputation for his unique method of catching stray cows.  Modeled after his observations of how ranch dogs caught wandering cattle, Pickett controlled a steer by biting the cow’s lip, subduing him. He performed his trick, called bulldogging or steer wrestling, for audiences around the world with the Miller Brothers’ 101 Wild Ranch Show.” (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/lesser-known-history-african-american-cowboys-180962144/

The Gullah Geechee People

            After abolition of slavery, it may be hard to imagine there is a distinct group of African Americans in the states who managed to keep many of their African traditions without completely assimilating to African American culture that we know of today.  On the coastal lands of the Carolinas down to Florida including the nearby islands this group still exist today, the Gullah Geechee people are unique to say the least. 

“The Gullah Geechee people are the descendants of West and Central Africans who were enslaved and bought to the lower Atlantic states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia to work on the coastal rice, Sea Island cotton and indigo plantations.  Because their enslavement was on isolated coastal plantations, sea and barrier islands, they were able to retain many of their indigenous African traditions. These traditions are reflected in their food ways, arts and crafts, and spiritual traditions. They also created a new language, Gullah, a creole language spoken nowhere else in the world.” (https://www.nps.gov/places/gullah-geechee-cultural-heritage-corridor.htm)

The Birth of a Nation

  Birth of a Nation was a silent film originally adapted from the book The Clansmen, in 1915, which created the resurgence of KKK.  “The Birth of a Nation portrayed Reconstruction as catastrophic. It showed Radical Republicans encouraging equality for blacks, who in the film are represented as uncouth, intellectually inferior and predators of white women. And this racist narrative was widely accepted as historical fact.” (https://www.history.com/news/kkk-birth-of-a-nation-film)  Although very controversial, people flocked to theaters to see this historic film that the KKK used as a recruiting tool.  Former President Woodrow Wilson played the film in the White House, where he agreed with the inaccurate and racist depiction of Blacks of that time.

The Great Migration and World War I

In the South thousands of blacks were systematically discriminated against by Jim Crow Laws.  Coincidentally the combination of frustration and opportunity blacks began to migrate to major cities in the north that included Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, New York, and St. Louis just to name a few.  At the same time the war in Europe led to opportunity in manufacturing a major relief of doing agricultural field work.  The war in Europe led to a shortage of European workers so blacks were there to fill the void.  During this time President Wilson did not want to get involved in the conflict until Germany placed several submarines in the Atlantic that led to American casualties.  “On March 1, 1917, the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany encouraged Mexico to enter the war on the side of the Central Powers, became public and enflamed pro-war sentiments.  Wilson felt compelled to act, and on April 2, 1917, he stood before Congress and issued a declaration of war against Germany. ‘The world must be made safe for democracy,’ he boldly stated, framing the war effort as a crusade to secure the rights of democracy and self-determination on a global scale.”   (http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-world-war-i.html)  Once the war began the demand of  African Americans increased due to the enlistment of  whites in the military leading to more available jobs in the north.  Segregation was not legal in the north, but whites were discouraged to sell houses to blacks. 

The Summer of 1919 “Red Summer”

            The Red Summer was a period in 1919 where there was an influx of attacks on African Americans throughout the United States leading to approximately 170 deaths.  Most notably the race riots during the summer of 1919 in Chicago.  The segregated beach on Chicago’s south side lead to a stoning and drowning of a black teen when he crossed an imaginary line dividing whites and blacks in Lake Michigan.  The death of the teen led to one of the worst race riots in U.S. history “it lasted 13 days and left 38 people dead, 537 injured and 1,000 black families without homes.” (https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration)  Riots also erupted in New York City, Memphis, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Baltimore, and Omaha Nebraska to name a few.  “The violence didn’t start or end in 1919. Some count the era of Red Summer as beginning with the deaths of more than two dozen African Americans in East St. Louis, Illinois, in 1917 and extending through the Rosewood Massacre of 1923, when a black town in Florida was destroyed. All told, at least 1,122 Americans were killed in racial violence over those six years, by Mr. Tuttle’s count.” (https://www.post-gazette.com/news/nation/2019/07/25/Red-Summer-anniversary-race-violence-Chicago-Arkansas-New-York-Maryland/stories/201907250178) The Rosewood Massacre is perhaps more known because of the 1997 film then the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.  The affluent neighborhood of Greenwood was considered the Black Wall Street.  With a segregated city the white population took the law into their own hands-on numerous occasions, so on May 30, 1921 when a black teen got into an elevator with a white female elevator operator the beginning of the end of Greenwood had begun.   Speculation began when the operator got startled and screamed so the teenager ran, which led to anger, that lead to rioting and killing.  In the end all of Greenwood lay to waste, in a pile of ash and rubble, thousands homeless and injured and many dead.  Around the same time African Americans were getting massacred throughout the nation a neighborhood in upper Manhattan would change the way people would see blacks not only nationally but globally…..Harlem!

The Harlem Renaissance

The era of the Harlem Renaissance varies slightly, some sources say the 1910’s others say the 1920’s many sources agree in ends in the mid 1930’s during the beginning of the Great Depression.  The era was a mecca of black enlightenment in Harlem NYC where poetry, great thinking, music, film, art, and self-identity flourished.  “The Harlem Renaissance was successful in that it brought the Black experience clearly within the corpus of American cultural history. Not only through an explosion of culture, but on a sociological level, the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance redefined how America, and the world, viewed African Americans. The migration of southern Blacks to the north changed the image of the African American from rural, undereducated peasants to one of urban, cosmopolitan sophistication. This new identity led to a greater social consciousness, and African Americans became players on the world stage, expanding intellectual and social contacts internationally.”   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Renaissance)  During this time period prominent blacks such as Zora Neale Hurston, Marcus Garvey, Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, Aaron Douglas, Alain Leroy Locke, Claude McKay, and W.E.B. DuBois were at the forefront of this new era amongst blacks and changed the perceptions of blacks on a global scale.

The Great Depression and The New Deal

“The Great Depression of the 1930s worsened the already black economic situation of black Americans. African Americans were the first people to be fired from their jobs as they suffered from an unemployment rate two to three times that of whites. In early public assistance programs blacks often received substantially less aid than whites, and some charitable organizations even excluded blacks from their soup kitchens. It was an extremely poor and desperate time for most African Americans.  Blacks benefited greatly from New Deal programs though discrimination by local administrators was common. Low-cost public housing was made available to black families. The National Youth Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps enabled black youths to continue their education. The Work Projects Administration gave jobs to many blacks, and its Federal Writers Project supported the work of many authors, among them Zora Neale Hurston, Arna Bontemps, Waters Turpin, and Melvin B. Tolson.”  (https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/soc_sec/hgreat.htm) 

Since the Civil War, African Americans for the first time would change political party affiliation.  Prior to the New Deal African Americans were primarily republican after Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, emancipated hundreds of thousands of slaves.  Approximately 90 years later many African Americans still identify as Democrat after Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Jesse Owens and The 1936 Olympics

In 1936 Adolf Hitler hosted the summer Olympics in Berlin to place Nazi Germany to the forefront and prove his Aryan superiority on the global stage. Jesse Owens who shattered records as a collegiate star will now disprove Hitler’s belief that whites were superior.  In Berlin Owens won four gold medals, the first American, proving to Hitler that African American athletes were a threat.  Post Berlin Jesse did have his struggles to make a living.  After initial fanfare after the Olympics Jesse Owens wasn’t invited to the White House.  “After the 1936 Olympics, Jesse accepts a job as a playground instructor for underprivileged you in Cleveland, earning $30 a week.  A year later he becomes a bandleader, owner of a basketball team and part owner in a dry-cleaning business.  In 1940 with money he earns in an exhibition race against a horse, Jesse returns to OSU to resume his studies” (https://jesseowensmemorialpark.com).

Ebony Magazine

Created in Chicago by John H. Johnson in 1945, Ebony magazine was the first successful black owned magazine geared toward the African American community.  In 1942 Johnson also created the first black owned magazine the pocket size Negro Digest that was not as successful.  Ebony initially focused on celebrities and athletes but eventually changed the focus on black achievements.  November 1, 1951 Johnson debuted sister magazine JET, a weekly magazine that was equally successful. 

Jackie Robinson

Ten years after Jesse Owens proved Adolf Hitler wrong that whites were the superior race on a national stage, Jackie Robinson broke the race barrier for national sports in the United States.  After playing in the Negro Leagues for one year the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Robinson in 1946, resulting with him winning the National League Rookie of the year.

“Immortal Cells” Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks was an African American tobacco farmer from Virginia who got cervical cancer at the age of 30.  After her passing in 1951, a scientist at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, took a sample of her tumor without her consent before her passing or the knowledge of her family.   To say the least what scientist discovered were remarkable.  Code named HeLa cells in her honor, many did not know the origin of the donor, but these immortal cells were used for polio vaccinations, cloning, and gene cloning.

Civil Rights Movement

“December 7, 1941 a date which will live in infamy” The quote that Franklin D. Roosevelt made famous after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese threw the United States into World War II.  Why this some may ask, prior to WWII the primary roadblock to blacks were Jim Crow Laws and similar discriminatory practices in the north.  World War II had blacks serving and dying for the country and continued to see discrimination at home.  The hypocrisy of the United States to fight for democracy and “freedoms” to only have African American troops serving not to see this come to fruition for themselves.

Tuskegee Airmen

“Prior to World War II, many in the military believed that African-Americans would not perform well in combat and were incapable of flying. A 1925 study conducted by the Army War College concluded that African Americans were inherently ill-suited for combat physically and psychologically. In 1939, the government began establishing flight schools at colleges around the nation but refused to do so at any of the Black colleges. A Howard University student lodged a lawsuit in protest, and thanks to mounting pressure from black newspapers, the NAACP, and sympathetic government leaders, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor, the “Tuskegee Experiment” was begun. A flight school was founded at the historic Tuskegee University in Alabama, and On July 19, 1941, the Army Air Corps initiated the program.”  (https://www.military.com/history/the-tuskegee-airmen.html)

Tuskegee Airmen Facts:

• The Tuskegee pilots shot down 409 German aircraft
• Destroyed 950 units of ground transportation and sank a destroyer with machine guns alone — a unique accomplishment.
• Not one friendly bomber was lost to enemy aircraft during 2000 escort missions!!
• Reflecting their superior performance, they were called “Black Birdmen” by the Germans and given the nickname of “Black Redtail Angels” by the Americans (because of the vivid red markings on their aircraft tails).

Approximately three years after the end of WWII, on July 26, 1948 President Truman signed an executive order to end segregation in the armed forces which lead many people thinking, if this can happen in the military, why not for civilians. 

May 17, 1954 Brown vs. The Board of Education overturns Plessy vs. Ferguson of 1896 that segregation is legal.  Future supreme court justice Thurgood Marshall argued for the landmark case that consisted of five cases consolidated into one.  During the trial supreme court Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson passed away where President Eisenhower appointed California Governor Earl Warren to replace him.  Warren wrote that “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place,’ as segregated schools are “inherently unequal.”  As a result, the Court ruled that the plaintiffs were being “deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14^th Amendment.”

August 28, 1955 the lynching of Emmett Till after falsely being accused of whistling at a white woman brought national headlines.  To show the severity of his lynching Mamie Till, his mother, decided to have an open casket funeral.

December 1, 1955 the day that catapulted the Civil Rights Movement when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery Alabama.  Her arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott that lasted one year.  The impact of Rosa Parks actions cannot be understated that the significance of her actions brought change that effected generations of people until this day.  In 1999, Parks was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor the United States bestows on a civilian.  On October 24, 2005 when she passed away at the age of 92, she became the first woman in the nation’s history to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol.

September 7, 1957 The integration of Central High School in Little Rock Arkansas.  Nine black students were blocked from entering the high school known as the “Little Rock Nine”, as a result President Eisenhower had to deploy Federal Troops to aid in integration.

February 1, 1960 Sit-Ins at a Woolworth in Greensboro North after four college students, Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil refused to move from an all-white lunch counter.  These sit-ins started similar acts of civil disobedience throughout the south, and test the limits of non-violent protest, as protesters were spit on, hit, and beaten by counter protesters.  Non-Violent protest was enacted by Martin Luther King Jr. and fellow black pastors in 1957.  A tactic that Gandhi successfully used to protest British settlement and colonization of India.

In 1960 six black children in New Orleans passed an exam to integrate and all white elementary school.  While families of two decided to stay in there school, three known as McDonogh Three went to McDonogh Elementary.  While Ruby Bridges family decided to send Ruby to William Frantz Elementary School.  On November 14, 1960 Ruby, had to be escorted by Federal Marshals to attend the school due to the constant threats.

June 11, 1963 Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in the doorway at the University of Alabama to halt integration.  After refusing to let two black students from entering, President John F. Kennedy, called on the United States National Guard to protect and aid in integration. 

Martin Luther King’s stature, as he delivered the iconic and historical “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  With an estimated 250,000 in attendance King addressed freedoms and jobs and to high light the economic and social disparities for African Americans.

June 12, 1963 Medgar Evers a civil rights activist and a member of the NAACP was assassinated outside of his home in Mississippi.  Justice was not served until 1994 when his case was reopened.

September 15, 1963 Four girls are killed and several injured after a church bombing at 16th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama leading to protest.

The four girls killed in the bombing (clockwise from top left): Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair

February 21, 1965 Civil rights icon Malcolm X was assassinated while rallying for members for the Nation of Islam.

“Malcolm X: I’m for truth, no matter who tells it.” by Paulsasleepwalker is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

March 7, 1965 The March to Selma that also included Bloody Sunday brought international attention when Martin Luther King along with Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) attempted to register black voters.  Opposition from local authorities hampered efforts until the U.S. government provided safe passage for Marchers from Selma to Montgomery.

October 1966 Originally the Black Panther Party of Self Defense the name was changed simply to the Black Panther Party.  Founded in Oakland California by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale after the assassination of Malcolm X and to address the issue of police brutality in the African American community.  The Black Panther Party was a militant group which they did not see eye to eye with Martin Luther King Jr’s non-violent protest and were more in line by Malcolm X’s “by any means necessary” mantra.  Later on, Stokely Carmichael became “honorary prime minister” after developing the black power movement.  This Afro Trinidadian-American was leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and after changing his approach from non-violent protest he eventually became leader of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party.

April 4, 1968 While in Memphis Tennessee protesting a sanitation strike Martin Luther King Jr. was struck down by an assassin’s bullet on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.  Later, authorities captured James Earl Ray of murder, Ray died approximately 30 years later.

October 16, 1968 Mexico City, Mexico during the Olympics sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos give the black power salute in protest of the treatment of African Americans back home.  Later, the sacrifice Australian sprinter Peter Norman faced after supporting Smith and Carlos will be mentioned.

December 4, 1969 Chicagoland native and leader, Fred Hampton, of the Chicago Chapter of the Black Panther Party was killed by Cook County Police while working with the FBI and Chicago Police Department while conducting a raid.

  Unlike the former Spanish colonies where intermarriage was encouraged to “whiten” the nation, in the United States this was illegal in certain states.  June 12, 1967 The Supreme Court announced Virginia’s interracial law violated the 14^th Amendment, in the Loving v. Virginia case. About a year and a half later, around the time The Civil Rights Movement was coming to an end, history was made on November 22, 1968 on the television show Star Trek with the first interracial kiss seen on American television.  Nichelle Nichols was first African American woman to have a continuing co-starring role on television.  Groundbreaking for the time, years later after this accomplishment she makes history once again with costar William Shatner.

Post-Civil Rights Era

Black history during the 1970s was a change in identity from early to mid-1970s with the introduction of Blaxploitation movies.   Prior to blaxploitation movies black were normally seen as passive and subservient to whites this changed since it ushered a new era of black identity.  Blacks were heroes and no longer the sidekick, with its setbacks of negative stereotypes, no longer taking orders with confidence and bravery.  The negative stereotypes include blacks living in the ghetto, glorifying pimps and prostitution. Around the same time blaxploitation movies were in abundance, in Chicago, an innovator and business man by the name of Don Cornelius was creating a black show similar to American Bandstand, that show would be Soul Train.  This cultural phenomenon had famous acts such as Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, The Jackson 5, and many more.  The showed black pride and culture for the nation to see.  Cornelius was the first African American to have his own syndicated television show after getting partnership with local company Johnson Products Company the maker of Afro-Sheen, Soul Train received national syndication.

August 11, 1973 at 1520 Sedgewick Ave Bronx New York, the back to school party that changed everything.  Long time Bronx resident Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc found an inovative way to play music using two turn tables playing the same record focusing on the rhythm or beat section of thetrack..  Clive Campbell also began to speak over the tracks something that was common in his native country of Jamaica. Thus  Hip-Hop was officially born makings history.

The Rumble in The Jungle

On October 30, 1974 “The Greatest” Muhammed Ali and heavy weight champion George Foreman fought in Zaire, modern day Congo, that some say was the best sporting event in the 20^th century.  Prior to cementing himself as the “greatest,” Ali, was also a civil rights icon and critic of the Vietnam War.  After refusing to in list in the war, then Cassius Clay, was stripped of his title and was sentenced five years in 1967 that was not served.  After missing out of his prime years for about 3 years Ali returned to the ring.  After converting to Islam in the early 70’s Ali returned to the ring.  Prior to the Rumble in The Jungle Ali had 17 fights leading to the fight including two losses one to Joe Frazier and another to Ken Norton.  Ali trained in Africa for the fight where he rallied the locals in his favor.  Chanting “Ali Bomaye” (kill him), Ali won the crowd.  During the fight Ali was nine years older and not as strong as Foreman, so Ali used trash talk to anger Foreman and the Rope a Dope to tire his stronger opponent.  The results was historic, Ali knocked out Foreman in the 8^th round and reclaimed the heavy weight title. 

            Just after the nations bi-centennial ABC broadcasting took a gamble and aired the epic Roots mini-series after Alex Haley’s novel.  January 1977 Roots was educational to the masses and showed a harsh and accurate glimpse what slavery was like approximately 110 some odd years prior when slavery was abolished. 

Black history during the 1980s had an abundant of firsts, which is not going to be mentioned during this decade.  On November 2, 1983 President Ronald Reagan made Martin Luther King Jr. Day a federal holiday, that is observed on the third Monday in January.  A month later December 3, 1983 the music landscape changed forever with Michael Jackson’s smash hit Thriller that debuted on MTV.  

“But the album’s success can’t be measured by sales alone. As Jackson moonwalked his way into music history, “Thriller” set a new benchmark for blockbusters that changed how the music business promoted and marketed superstar releases. It also changed MTV, breaking down the cable network’s racial barriers and raising the bar for video quality.”

Mitchell, G. (2009, July 3). From Billboard: https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/268212/exclusive-how-michael-jacksons-thriller-changed-the-music-business

Black history during the 1990s The beginning of the decade was highlighted by police brutality that blacks have been voicing for decades.  It was finally seen worldwide when motorist Rodney King was caught on camera getting beaten by Los Angeles police officers.   “On March 3, 1991, King was violently beaten by LAPD officers during his arrest for fleeing and evading on California State Route 210. A civilian, George Holliday, filmed the incident from his nearby balcony and sent the footage to local news station KTLA. The footage clearly showed King being beaten repeatedly, and the incident was covered by news media around the world.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King)  On April 29, 1992 after a predominately white jury deliberated for 7 days found four white officers “not guilty” in the beating of King.  The results, a community fed up and enraged, the beginning of the LA riots had begun.  The riots lasted for about 6 days with 1 billion in damages, approximately 60 deaths, 16,000 riot related crimes, 7,000 fires, and about 14,000 troops deployed it’s understandable to the staggering price tag.             The Rodney King beating brought to light racial injustice and the uncomfortable topic of race that divided America.  Ironically approximately five weeks prior, on January 27 1991, across the nation in Tampa Florida, Super Bowl XXV national anthem unified a nation.  At the age of 27, ten days after the Gulf War began, Whitney Houston sang the greatest rendition of the Star Spangle Banner.

Since 2000 we seen a lot of first that are not going to be mentioned except for one.  In 2005 a natural disaster demonstrated how a person’s social economics status can be a life and death situation.  Hurricane Katrina pounded New Orleans causing levees to collapse under the immense hurricane winds and storm surge.  The population of New Orleans at the time was approximately 60% African American, unfortunately, many of the blacks resided in low lying areas susceptible to flooding. These areas at time would be easily 10 feet below sea level and have the deepest of waters where many had to climb onto rooftops to escape the flooding.  No real plan was in place, if you had money you can take a plane, bus, or train the poor was forced to ride out the storm with thousands heading to the super dome.

November 4, 2008 Barack Obama became the first African American president of the United States.  Born from a white mother and a Kenyan father, Obama won approximately 53% of the popular vote to Arizona Senator John McCain’s approximate 46%.  Four years later Obama defeated Mitt Romney to become a two-term president.  In the eight years as Commander in Chief, Obama, racked up some impressive accolades.  Obamacare, ending the great recession, saving the U.S. auto industry, capture and killing Osama Bin Laden, and Fought for LGBTQ rights and marriage including many more.  During Obama’s tenure technology advanced by leaps and bounds.  The device that is a lifeline to us all, the cell phone, changed when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in January 2007 with a launch in June that same year.  Although launched at the end of President George W. Bush’s presidency it was not until the 3^rd generation that a video camera was introduced.  Along with Android phones people essentially have pocket computers, that can do many things, one of them capturing video.  And with these videos, many can finally see the horrible truth that happens in black communities for a long time, police killings of black men and the brutality of people of color.

On February 27, 2012 Trayvon Martin was killed by community watch captain George Zimmerman, in Florida, with the states controversial “Stand Your Ground” law as his defense.  Similar in nature to the killing of a young black male with Emmitt Till in the 1950s which contributed to the Civil Rights Movement, Martin’s death and acquittal of his murderer started another movement, Black Lives Matter.  August 9, 2014 a police shooting in Ferguson Missouri added fuel to the flames.  Mike Brown an unarmed black teen was shot by police six times resulting in Browns lifeless body remaining in the center of the street.  The aftermath a movement has risen in Black Lives Matter and some would call the disruptors who would not be ignored.  Riots lasted for over a week with attempts of Ferguson officers not only attempting to stop the violence but suppress the freedom of press by arresting journalists from doing their jobs.  Black Lives Matter received more notoriety during Ferguson but continued its mission in later police shootings.  Summer of 2016 with the killing of two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, in the hands of the police days apart captured by video made national headlines.             Approximately a couple of months later the issue of police brutality was brought back on the national stage during the San Francisco Giants third preseason game.  People noticed that quarterback Colin Kaepernick didn’t stand for the national anthem.  The post-game interview Kaepernick explained “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”  The following game of the preseason Kaepernick received advised from a veteran that kneeling would more appropriate during his protest.  Along with a couple of teammates the decision to kneel became common with the kneeling spreading to other teams throughout the NFL.

January 26, 2020 a helicopter crash in Calabasas California killing nine, including Kobe Bryant and 13-year-old daughter Gianna created shockwaves across the globe.  A year removed after winning an Oscar, Bryant was transitioning to his second act after basketball with a tremendous amount of time focusing on his family and the support of women athletics.   The people who he touched was incredible where tributes from the NBA, NHL, UFC, PGA, soccer, and tennis players.  Fans from India, Philippines, Italy, and United States were painting murals in his honor, Bryant’s death signifies the importance of sports in our daily lives. 

May 25, 2020 Memorial Day, a day where two events one in Central Park and another in Minneapolis with the death of George Floyd, shows that the United States has a long way to go on the subject on race and police brutality.  The incident in Central Park is an example of a series of events in recent years where white women would call the police on primarily African Americans also other people of color for doing daily activities.  “Karen’s,” now known as, has called police on Blacks for doing the following activities:

-Barbecuing at a park

-Sitting in a Starbucks

-Shopping at a CVS

-Selling water

-Mowing lawns

-Going to the store

-Returning from a late night at work

-Playing golf

-Staying at an Airbnb

-Napping on a couch

-Visiting a pool

-Running a business

-Cashing a check

                               Source: USA Today

  Christian and Amy Cooper’s (not related) incident made national headlines due to the lengths Amy Cooper went to attempt to get Christian arrested.  The video shows her using an elevated voice and distress to appear as if her life was in imminent danger while choking her dog in the process.  By the time the police arrived at the scene they had both left.  Recently, it was reported 911 had called her back, she stated that Christian tried to assault her.  The results from the incident were swift, Amy lost her job once she was identified and temporarily got her dog taken away from her.  Now she faces possible jail time for filing a false police report.  As a result, some local governments are attempting to curb this trend by arresting people who file false police reports.

            Slightly over 1,100 miles away in Minneapolis later that evening George Floyd was getting arrested for possibly passing off a counterfeit bill to pay for cigarettes.   Responding officers Derek Chauvin, Tao Thao, James Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Kiernan Lane arrested Floyd while on lookers watched and recorded.  Initial video shows officer Chauvin callously kneeling on Floyds neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds while Floyd can be heard repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe”, “Please”, and “Mama.”  A second video was released later showing that the other two officers Kueng and Lane kneeling on his torso and his legs.  With the combined compression of three men there was no way Floyd could have gotten up.  While onlookers pleaded to the officers to get off him and to check his pulse, it was too late George Floyd died in the hands of the police sparking a global movement and protest like no other. 

“File:Protest against police violence – Justice for George Floyd, May 26, 2020 25.jpg” by Fibonacci Blue is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Protest against police violence – Justice for George Floyd” by Fibonacci Blue is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“A protester at 38th Street and S. Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis on Tuesday after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota” by Lorie Shaull is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

“The Day Miami Burned” by Mike Shaheen is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“DSC03302” by BAMCorp is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

The following has occurred after the death of George Floyd:

• A police officer was fired 3 months after the death of Breonna Taylor.
• Minneapolis officials agreed to disband the police.
• New York Mayor Bill De Blasio agreed to move resources from the police department toward youth and social services.
• Officials in several states vowed to ban choke holds and make steps toward police reform.
• Democrats in Congress have also unveiled sweeping legislation on police reform, including banning chokeholds and forcing federal police officers to use body and dashboard cameras.
• A new database has been set up to collect video footage that documents police violence at the demonstrations across the country.
• Demonstrations has been the toppling of several confederate and slavery-linked statues around the world.
• The protests have also sparked wide-ranging conversations about the responsibility industries and organizations — including the media — must address institutional racism.
• Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian stepped down from the company’s board of directors, urging the company to fill his board seat with a Black candidate.
• The entertainment industry has reacted to the movement. After 32 seasons, the reality TV show “Cops” was canceled by Paramount Network.
• The Grammy’s also announced that they would no longer use the word “urban” to describe music of Black origin.
• PepsiCo Inc., which owns the Aunt Jemima pancake mix brand, said it would rebrand “to make progress toward racial equality.” Other brands such as Uncle Ben’s, Mrs. Butterworth, and Cream of Wheat are considering rebranding.
• Johnson & Johnson also announced it would stop selling products that had been used by some people to lighten their skin tone.
• White voice actors stepping down on portraying minority animated characters.
  • Source: Business Insider