History timelines for AA

Question 1

Reconstruction - Political

Answer 1

15th Amendment gave AAs equal voting rights By 1870 15% of public officeholders in South black, higher % than 1990. 22 AAs elected to Congress in 1870s.

Question 2

1877-1933 - Political

Answer 2

But AAs disenfranchised in every southern state by 1908 & disappeared from Congress until 1970s Supreme Court banned grandfather clause 1915 but poll taxes & literacy tests still used

Question 3

New Deal - Political

Answer 3

Black Cabinet set up to advise FDR on issues affecting AAs Attempts to pass bill to make lynching federal crime failed

Question 4

WW2 and after - Political

Answer 4

Smith v Allwright 1944 banned all white primary elections War raised AAs’ political profile but didn’t really gain voting rights until 1965

Question 5

Eisenhower 1953-61 - Political

Answer 5

Passed Civil Rights Acts 1957 & 1960 which improved AA voting rights only marginally Appointed Warren Chief Justice

Question 6

JFK 1961-3 - Political

Answer 6

Encouraged AA voter registration

Question 7

LBJ 1961-9 - Political

Answer 7

Passed landmark Voting Rights Act 1965 which led to rapid increase in AA voting & political participation to extent not seen since Reconstruction; for first time AAs could vote w/o intimidation

Question 8

Post 1960 - Political

Answer 8

In 1992 8000 AAs held public office compared with only 100 1964 & 36 AA congressmen elected Federal govt. & Supreme Court less sympathetic from about 1980 onwards, though Congress more so

Question 9

Reconstruction - Economic

Answer 9

Slavery abolished & Freedmen’s Bureau set up 1865 but abolished 1872 Black Codes introduced 1865; Congress officially outlawed them by 1867 but some states retained them

Question 10

1877-1933 - Economic

Answer 10

Sharecropping, convict leasing & peonage kept AAs in economic subjection to whites AAs benefited less from 1920s boom & suffered more from 1930s Depression than whites

Question 11

New Deal - Economic

Answer 11

PWA spent over $45 million on the construction of black schools, hospitals and housing WPA provided work for 350,000 African-Americans each year But 2/3 of AAs worked in agriculture, which was excluded from many benefits of New Deal; 200,000 AA sharecroppers evicted as result of AAA

Question 12

WW2 and after - Economic

Answer 12

Like WW1, WW2 enabled AAs to migrate north & thereby get better paid factory or office employment as opposed to poorly paid agricultural or domestic work By 1945 only 1/6 as many AAs unemployed as in 1940

Question 13

Eisenhower 1953-61 - Economic

Answer 13

AAs profited from economic boom & migration to North

Question 14

JFK 1961-3 - Economic

Answer 14

New Frontier extended minimum wage, welfare benefits & farm support

Question 15

LBJ 1961-9 - Economic

Answer 15

Great Society continued improvements in minimum wage, welfare & farm support to extent not seen since New Deal

Question 16

Post 1960 - Economic

Answer 16

Bifurcation: growing gap between AA middle class & impoverished underclass trapped in inner city ghettoes AAs still twice as likely to be unemployed as whites & wealth gap between whites & AAS actually widened, especially under “Reaganomics” in 1980s

Question 17

Reconstruction - Segregation

Answer 17

13th & 14th Amendments abolished slavery & gave AAs theoretically equal CR but these rights were difficult to enforce against white terror groups

Question 17

1877-1933 - Segregation

Answer 17

“Jim Crow” laws from 1880s onwards enforced segregation in public transport education etc; fully enforced in every state by 1908 & not effectively overturned until 1960s Lynching peaked in 1890s & there was wave of racial violence after WW1, including “Red Summer” riots 1919; 300 AAs died in Tulsa riot 1921

Question 18

New Deal - Segregation

Answer 18

TVA & CCCs discriminated against AAs & camps often segregated FLSA & Social Security Act excluded agriculture & domestic service in which most AAs worked

Question 19

WW2 and after - Segregation

Answer 19

Fair Employment Commission gave AAs access to fed gov employment

Question 20

Eisenhower 1953-61 - Segregation

Answer 20

Brown judgement 1954 challenged segregation: enforced at Little Rock but not in Lucy case or in South generally

Question 21

JFK 1961-3 - Segregation

Answer 21

Ended segregation on interstate bus facilities & forced Unis of Mississippi & Alabama to admit AAs Promised Civil Rights Act

Question 22

LBJ 1961-9 - Segregation

Answer 22

Passed landmark Civil Rights Act which gave Attorney General power to enforce desegregation & punish discrimination; most effective CRA ever Fair Housing Act 1968 ineffective

Question 23

Post 1960 - Segregation

Answer 23

Despite affirmative action & busing in 1970s, “white flight” to suburbs kept schools de facto segregated b/c of continued residential segregation Police violence highlighted by Rodney King case

Question 23

1877-1933 - Cultural

Answer 23

“Social Darwinism” upheld white supremacy & difficult for AAs to challenge this until after WW2 Harlem Renaissance Garvey encouraged pride in AAs’ African heritage in 1920s

Question 24

New Deal - Cultural

Answer 24

New Deal provided jobs in the world of entertainment and culture, with scholars getting black history and contemporary living conditions into the New Deal’s state guidebooks; black songs and oral reminiscences of slavery and hardship were recorded for posterity

Question 25

Eisenhower 1953-61 - Cultural

Answer 25

White public opinion began to be more sympathetic & AA more assertive Nation of Islam became more active

Question 26

JFK 1961-3 - Cultural

Answer 26

White public opinion continued to be more sympathetic & AA more assertive

Question 27

LBJ 1961-9 - Cultural

Answer 27

White public sympathy increased until 1965 but then diminished b/c AA CR achieved, riots & Black Power Rise of Black Power made AAs proud of African heritage & their profile in arts, sport & entertainment increased

Question 28

Post 1960 - Cultural

Answer 28

White public opinion never again as sympathetic after 1965 towards political action to help AAs BPP broke up but Black Power & higher AA profile in sport, arts & entertainment continued

Question 29

1877-1933 - Activism

Answer 29

Booker T Washington focused on gradual self improvement & Wells & NAACP formed 1909 but challenges to racism made little progress until after WW2 though Supreme Court in Moore v Dempsey 1923 quashed racist verdict secured through intimidation

Question 30

New Deal - Activism

Answer 30

Bethune active in Black Cabinet Randolph forced FDR to set up Fair Employment Commission 1941

Question 31

WW2 and after - Activism

Answer 31

Double V campaign Legal victories in Smith v Allwright 1944 & Morgan v Virginia 1946 (but Journey of Reconciliation failed) War made AAs more assertive: NAACP membership quadrupled & CORE formed 1942

Question 32

Eisenhower 1953-61 - Activism

Answer 32

MLK achieved victory in his first campaign at Montgomery 1956 SCLC formed 1956 NAACP achieved success at Little Rock 1957 Lunch counter sit ins 1960

Question 33

JFK 1961-3 - Activism

Answer 33

SNCC formed 1961 Freedom Rides 1961 Birmingham campaign & March on Washington 1963 led to CRA 1964

Question 34

LBJ 1961-9 - Activism

Answer 34

“Freedom Summer” 1964 & Selma march 1965 led to VRA 1965 Carmichael coined “Black Power” slogan 1966 & took control of SNCC Black Panther Party formed 1966

Question 35

Post 1960 - Activism

Answer 35

SCLC became less effective after MLK’s death Black Panthers broke up in 1970s, partly due to FBI harassment Political impact of AA activism declined