ETHNIC MINRORITIES I

AFRICAN AMERICANS

Slavery

Slave Trade

Between 1525 and 1866 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World.

10.7 million survived the dreaded Middle Passage.

They disembarked in North America, the Caribbean and South America.

They were brought by English and French Traders.

Slave Trade

Slave Trade

Slaves were brought to work in lucrative crops such as tobacco

Most of them worked in the plantations of the south.

Slavery

According to the constitution, they were second-rate human beings

For representation purposes, a black slave was counted as 3/5th of a white man

1787 : The 3/5th Compromise

The American Civil War 1861 - 1865

OriginsThe North was in favor of abolishing slaveryThe South relied on slaves for most of its economy

opposed abolitionThe WarThe war lasted only 5 years, but caused about

600,000 deaths in both campsThe OutcomeThe war ended the debate over slavery that had

divided North and South since the drafting of the Constitution in 1787

The 13th 14th and 15th Amendments

1865 - The 13th Amendment officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery to this day.

1868 - The 14th Amendment citizenship to African Americans.

1870 -The 15TH Amendment Right to vote.

The Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement

• The Movement Begins Nearly 100 years after the Civil War

• The 1960s were called the civil rights decade

• Anti-discrimination organizations:

- The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured people NAACP - - The National Urban League NUL

- The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee SNCC

The civil rights of African Americans were limited by state laws and discrimination.

In the early 1950s, segregation was legal.

An Alabama law said that African Americans had to sit at the back of the bus.

Civil Rights

In 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a bus. She was arrested.

African Americans boycotted the buses until buses were desegregated.

Black Residents Walking, Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955

Martin Luther King Jr. helped lead the boycott. He believed in nonviolent protest.

He wanted people to fight back using peaceful actions.

In 1954, the Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of public schools.

In 1956, the Supreme Court said that segregation on buses was illegal.

Civil Rights Victories

Civil Rights Victories

In 1960, African Americans held sit-ins in 54 cities.

They sat at lunch counters that only served food to white people. They would not leave until they were served.

In 1963, Congress was discussing a bill to end segregation.

Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders organized a protest march in Washington, D.C., to show support for the bill.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned segregation in schools, at work, and in public places.

Affirmative action: minorities granted opportunities for higher education and employment

Busing to promote desegregation

Civil Rights Victories

MLK ASSASSINATION

In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot by confirmed racist and small-time criminal named James Ray

Many at that time feared it would bethe end of the strategyof nonviolence

SEPARATISTS

Along with non-violent protest the rise of separatist movements:

Nation of Islam & its leader(s) Louis Farrakhan & Malcolm X

Blamed for advocating black supremacy and described as a hate group.

Not yet equal…

African-Americans high dropout rateGlass ceiling: discrimination prevents them

from the top positionsHit twice as hard by unemploymentInner cities: violence and crime widespreadLeading cause of death of young black male is

murder (often by other black teenagers from rival gangs)

Half inmates of American prisons are blackHousing segregation leads to poor social

integration