Creating rights for people of color and immigrants that we
still depend on today
Causes Leading up to Civil War
Fugitive Slave Law-More severe
•
1793 version – slaves could escape to the north
•
1850 version – Runaway slaves could be captured,
even in the north
•
Abolitionists - furious
Missouri Compromise
1820 – limited spread of slavery in U.S.
Limited areas in new territories where slavery could be started
When new territories asked to become states, Congress had to
decide if they would be “slave” states or “free-soil” states
David Walker’s Appeal
Wrote incendiary pamphlet in 1829
Circulated among slaves in north and south.
“Black people, stand up and fight!”
Aroused black self-determination.
Overt abolitionism by a free black man
Walker, D. (1829). David Walker's Appeal in Four
Articles, together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World.
David
Walker’s Appeal
David Walker, while not a slave himself, wrote a pamphlet
titled David Walker’s Appeal (1829) that called for slaves to
revolt.
Even though many banned this pamphlet from circulating, it
still caused a stir amongst slaves and abolitionists.
Although he was born a freeman, David Walker saw slavery
first-hand during his childhood. Those experiences inspired him to write the Appeal,
a long pamphlet which called for slaves to revolt (violently, if necessary)
against their slave masters.
Republican Party formed
1854 – against slavery
1854 – against slavery
Started in Wisconsin.
Disaffected Whigs, some northern Democrats, some from
Liberty Party and Free-Soil Party
Wanted to halt what they saw as the relentless march of
slavery into new territories that would become states.
But even so, these early Republicans were not for equal
rights of blacks. Thought too many free blacks would compete with working-class
whites for jobs.
Dred Scott Decision
1857
1857
Dred Scott (a slave) sued in federal court. Claimed he was a
Missouri citizen and free man because:
His master had taken him to the state of Illinois and
Wisconsin Territory, both free.
He argued that because he had lived on free soil, he had
become free.
Case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
U.S. Supreme Court Judge rules against Dred Scott
Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney said no. (Name pronounced
“TAW-nee).
He was a slaveowner himself.
Residence on free soil did not render a slave a free person.
Taney: “A black person has no rights which a white man was
bound to respect.”
Northern abolitionists were incensed: “slave power has …
annihilated the boundaries of the states.”
Dred Scott decision fueled push to Civil War
It galvanized the Republican Party (who were primarily
against slavery).
The expansion of the territories and resulting admission of
new states could mean a loss of political power for the North in the U.S.
Congress:
Many of the new states might be admitted as slave states
And counting slaves as three-fifths of a person
(Constitution Article 1, Section 2,
Paragraph 3) would mean that the slave holding states would have
stronger political representation in Congress than the northern states.
John Brown - 1859
White abolitionist; believed radical force was the only way
to end slavery. Black men were in his rebel group.
He and his men raided the federal arsenal (weapon supply
depot) at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia
They successfully got in. Wanted neighboring slaves to
escape and join them to form a slave army.
But few slaves joined. Brown and men were caught. Whites
alarmed.
John Brown and Raid on Harper’s Ferry
John Brown was a very staunch abolitionist.
He got so incensed about slavery, he decided to take it on
with some of his sons and followers, not waiting for legislation.
Terrified white southern slave owners.
Abraham Lincoln as presidential candidate
1858: Lincoln Runs for Illinois senator against Stephen
Douglas – they debate slavery
Douglas for compromise on extending slavery, Lincoln for
keeping the it out of new territories and states
Lincoln however, did not believe in equality of blacks and
whites, although he was not a radical racist.
He believed free blacks would compete too much with whites
for labor.
Lincoln President in 1860
Shortly after Lincoln became Republican president, seven
southern states seceded
South Carolina
Mississippi
Alabama
Florida
Louisiana
Georiga
Texas
Later, after fall of Ft. Sumter (April 12, 1861) 4 more
border states seceded
Arkansas
Tennessee
North Carolina
Virginia (West Virginia separated and stayed in the Union)
The Secession of Southern States, 1860–1861 • pg. 505
Fired on Ft. Sumter 1861
Confederates fired on Ft. Sumter in Charleston, S.C. on
April 12, 1861.
Civil War officially began.
The Coming of the Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln initially insisted that slavery was irrelevant to
the conflict
Congress adopted a resolution proposed by Senator John C.
Crittenden of Kentucky, which affirmed that the Union had no intention of
interfering with slavery
The policy of ignoring slavery unraveled, and by the end of
1861, the Union military began treating escaped blacks as contraband of war
Blacks hopeful: saw the outbreak of fighting as heralding
the long-awaited end of bondage
The Coming of the Emancipation Proclamation
Steps Toward the Emancipation Proclamation as a military
maneuver
Since slavery stood at the foundation of the southern
economy, antislavery northerners insisted emancipation was necessary to weaken
the South’s ability to sustain the war.
Throughout these months, Lincoln struggled to decide.
Lincoln’s Decision
In 1862, Lincoln concluded that emancipation had become a
political and military necessity
On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the Preliminary
Emancipation Proclamation
The initial northern reaction was not encouraging
The Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln signed the final Emancipation Proclamation on
January 1, 1863
It only freed slaves in the Confederate south, not
the entire country. Not in the north.
The Proclamation was a military maneuver to take resources
from the Confederate Army and the south. Southern slaves were declared
“contrabands” of war, like other seized property.
The Emancipation Proclamation altered the course of the
Civil War because slaves escaping from the south meant there was hardly anyone
to do the work in the south or grow crops to provision (feed) the Confederate
troops.
The Emancipation Proclamation (Excerpt)
Emancipation Proclamation (1863): “…by virtue of the power
in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, I do order and declare that all persons
held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and
henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United
States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize
and maintain the freedom of said persons. . .”
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of
suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United
States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man
vessels of all sorts in said service.”
The Emancipation Proclamation
Other Key Presidential Military Proclamations and Executive
Orders in 20th Century: President=Commander in Chief of U.S. Armed
Services
World War II, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
-Executive Order 9279 forcing all services to officially end restrictions on
African Americans being inducted into military service. He compelled the
military to accept at least 10% of African Americans into service. Did not end
segregation in the military though.
1948, President Harry Truman-Executive Order 9981 officially
ending racial segregation within the armed forces. However, the practice of
segregation did not really end until 1954 and later (Korean War).
Back to Civil War- Emancipation Proclamation included
enrollment of blacks into Union military for Civil War
Enlisting Black Troops
Of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation’s provisions, few
were more radical in their implications than the enrollment of blacks into Union
military service.
Union Army was desperate for men.
By the end of the war, over 180,000 black men had served in
the Union army and 24,000 in the navy.
Most black soldiers were southern emancipated slaves who
joined the Union army.
Bill of Rights (First 10 Amendments)
Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of
assembly, the right to a fair and speedy trial–the ringing phrases that
inventory some of Americans' most treasured personal freedoms–were not
initially part of the U.S. Constitution.
At the Constitutional Convention, the proposal to include a
bill of rights was considered and defeated. The Bill of Rights was added to the
Constitution as the first ten amendments on December 15, 1791.
The fact that the Constitution did not include a bill of
rights to specifically protect Americans' hard-won rights sparked the most
heated debates during the ratification process.
Amendments-Aided Blacks
The 14th
Amendment ensured that all citizens of all states enjoyed not only rights
on the federal level, but on the state level, too. It removed the three-fifths
counting of slaves in the census. It ensured that the United States would not
pay the debts of rebellious states. It also had several measures designed to
ensure the loyalty of legislators who participated on the Confederate side of
the Civil War.
Amendments- First 10=Bill of Rights
The 1st
Amendment protects the people's right to practice religion, to speak
freely, to assemble (meet), to address the government and of the press to
publish.
The 2nd
Amendment protects the right to own guns. There is debate whether this is a
right that protects the state, or a right that protects individuals.
The 4th
Amendment protects the people from the government improperly taking
property, papers, or people, without a valid warrant based on probable cause
(good reason).
Amendments
The 5th
Amendment protects people from being held for committing a crime unless
they are properly indicted, that they may not be tried twice for the same
crime, that you need not be forced to testify against yourself, and from property
being taken without just compensation. It also contains due process
guarantees.
The 6th
Amendment guarantees a speedy trial, an impartial jury, that the accused
can confront witnesses against them, and that the accused must be allowed to
have a lawyer.
The 7th
Amendment guarantees a jury trial in federal civil court cases. This type
of case is normally no longer heard in federal court.
Amendments
The 8th
Amendment guarantees that punishments will be fair, and not cruel, and that
extraordinarily large fines will not be set.
The 9th
Amendment is simply a statement that other rights aside from those listed
may exist, and just because they are not listed doesn't mean they can be
violated.
The 10th
Amendment is the subject of some debate, but essentially it states that any
power not granted to the federal government belongs to the states or to the people.
See the Federalism
Topic Page for more information.
The 11th
Amendment more clearly defines the original jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court concerning a suit brought against a state by a citizen of another state.
Amendments
The 12th
Amendment redefines how the President and Vice-President are chosen by the
Electoral College, making the two positions cooperative, rather than first and
second highest vote-getters. It also ensures that anyone who becomes
Vice-President must be eligible to become President.
Amendments-Aided Blacks
The 14th
Amendment ensured that all citizens of all states enjoyed not only rights
on the federal level, but on the state level, too. It removed the three-fifths
counting of slaves in the census. It ensured that the United States would not
pay the debts of rebellious states. It also had several measures designed to
ensure the loyalty of legislators who participated on the Confederate side of
the Civil War.
14th Amendment (1868)- Crucial to Civil Rights in
20th and 21st Centuries
Brown v. Board of Education- U.S. Supreme Court case that
dismantled racial segregation in education in 1954.
Plyler v. Doe – U.S. Supreme Court case ruled that the Equal
Protection clause of the 14th Amendment guaranteed all children the
right to a public education regardless of their immigration status in 1982.
The DREAM Act (acronym for Development, Relief, and
Education for Alien Minors) first introduced to U.S. Congress in 2001, not yet
passed on federal level.
Dream Act Provisions (hotly debated)
This bill would provide conditional permanent
residency to certain immigrants of good moral character who:
1. graduate from U.S. high schools,
2. arrived in the United States as minors,
3. and lived in the country continuously for at least five
years prior to the bill's enactment.
4. If they were to complete two years in the military or
5. two years at a four-year institution of higher learning,
they would obtain temporary U.S. residency for
a six-year period (not permanent residency (a green card).
Dream Act Provisions still being debated
(If agreed in Congress)
Within the six-year period, they might qualify for permanent
residency if:
1. they have "acquired a degree from an institution of
higher education in the United States
2. or [have] completed at least 2 years, in good standing,
in a program for a bachelor's degree or higher degree in the United
States"
3. or have "served in the armed services for at least 2
years and, if discharged, [have] received an honorable discharge".
15 states have their own versions of Dream Act
As of November 2013, 15 states have their own versions of
the DREAM Act,
which deal with tuition and financial aid for state
universities.
These states are Texas, California, Illinois, Utah,
Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Washington, Wisconsin,
Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, and Oregon.
Dream Act Pros and Cons
Supporters argue that the Act would not create an
"amnesty program"
and would produce a variety of social and economic benefits,
Critics contend that it would reward illegal immigration and
encourage more of it,
Take money from U.S. citizens who need the benefits,
invite fraud and shield gang members from deportation.
2012 Presidential action supporting some Dream Act criteria
On June 15, 2012, President Barack Obama announced that his
administration would stop deporting young illegal aliens who match certain
criteria previously proposed under the DREAM ACT.
Obama administration’s new Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA) program.
Arizona and other border states did not want to comply.
The Social Construction of Race
Michael Omi and Howard Winant's definition of race does away
with concept that race is
1) a biological fact and 2) an illusion.
Instead: race very real social classification that has both
cultural ramifications as well as enforces a definite social order (54-55).
Racial Formation in the United States:
From the 1960s to the 1990s; Routledge & Kegan
Paul, 1986 and later editions.
“Race” is a social construction, not fixed, biological
categories
Race is a social construction which alters over
the course of time due to historical and social pressures.
Race is organizing principle
Race isn’t essence, it’s “an unstable and ‘decentered’
complex of social meanings constantly being transformed by political struggle”
(68)
Racial formation has been a process which changed over time
Racial formation is the process by which socio-historical
designations of race are created and manipulated.
Racial formation explains the definition and redefinition
of specific race identities.
Early contact with Africans – exotic curiosities
Contact with small numbers of Africans – cultural rather
than “racial” distinctions
Later contact with large numbers of Africans- Needed to
justify subservience
White and black indentured servants; then some blacks become
“slaves” for life.
Cultural
Hegemony
Karl Marx (1818–1883) His work in economics laid the basis
for the current understanding of labor and its relation to capital (money).
In Marxist philosophy, the term Cultural Hegemony describes
the domination of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class.
They manipulate the culture of the society — the beliefs,
explanations, perceptions, values, and mores — so that their ruling-class
worldview becomes the worldview that is imposed and accepted as the cultural
norm.
It becomes the universally valid dominant ideology that
justifies the social, political, and economic status quo as natural,
inevitable, perpetual and beneficial for everyone.
Ordinary people do not understand that this dominant
ideology is really a series of artificial social constructs that benefit only
the ruling class.
Cultural
Hegemony
Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937) developed the theory of cultural
hegemony. He was a young Italian radical intellectual.
In sociology, the term “cultural hegemony” carries
denotations and connotations derived from the Ancient Greek word hegemony
(leadership and rule).
Political hegemony is the geopolitical method of indirect
imperial dominance, with which the hegemon (leader nation-state) rules
subordinate states by the implied means of power (the threat of intervention).
For the most part, nowadays, dominant nations maintain power
by indirect threat of force, rather than by direct military intervention
(invasion, occupation, or annexation) tactics which used to be used in the
past.
America has a hegemonic "ruling class" – the top 1
percent
Who Rules America? Prof. G. William Domhoff, UC Santa
Cruz
America has a "ruling class," a circle of wealthy
and powerful families that run the banks, businesses, and government,
essentially controlling everything in America.
The top 1 percent are executives, doctors, lawyers and
politicians, among other things.
Within this group of people is an even smaller and wealthier
subset of people, 1 percent of the top, or .01 percent of the entire nation.
America has a hegemonic "ruling class" – the top 1
percent
According to Forbes Magazine
Those people have incomes of over $27 million, or roughly
540 times the national average income. Altogether, the top 1 percent control 43
percent of the wealth in the nation; the next 4 percent control an additional
29 percent.
Thus, the top 5 percent controls some 72% of the country’s
wealth.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneywisewomen/2012/03/21/average-america-vs-the-one-percent/
Many African Americans continue to follow the hegemonic
rules since Civil War but question at same
time
Nation of Islam argues:
“Do for self”
Have independent institutions
Throughout this country’s history, many African Americans
from the antebellum period to today have accepted the capitalist ideology that
they should try to accumulate money and property.
Not told that there are other possible ways of organizing
society along more equitable lines.
Caught in the middle – trying to follow the American Dream
but also critiquing it and working with other African Americans for greater
equity
Have we been caught up in capitalism since the Civil War to
no avail? Would communal sharing be btter?
Military
Recruiting
Pipeline to People of Color
Pipeline to People of Color
People of color targeted
Prison Labor Offers “Economic Incentives” for Corporations
With wages as low as 8 cents per hour and no unions, safety
regulations, pension, social security, sick leave nor overtime, prison labor is
a growing and economically competitive sector.
It is estimated that the federal prison industry produces
100% of all military helmets, id tags, bullet proof vests, canteens,
night-vision goggle, ammunition belts, tents, shirts, bags and pants.
The
Prison Industrial Complex
Prisoners manufacture military items today
Prisoners manufacture military items today
With wages as low as $0.23 per hour and no unions,
safety regulations, pension, social security, sick leave nor overtime, prison
labor is a growing and economically competitive sector.
Prison Labor manufactures military items for U.S. Dept. of
Defense
It is estimated that the federal prison industry produces
100% of all military helmets, id tags, bullet proof vests, canteens,
night-vision goggle, ammunition belts, tents, shirts, bags and pants.
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