Passing contexts Flashcards
(10 cards)
the Great Migration (1910s–1940s)
- Over 6 million African Americans moved from the rural South to urban centers in the North (like New York, Chicago, Detroit
- fled racism, violence, and economic oppression under Jim Crow laws, seeking opportunity and safety.
Harlem became a major destination and transformed into a vibrant Black cultural hub.
Jim Crow laws
in the south
legally separated Black and white Americans in nearly every aspect of life
segregated schools, public transport
Harlem renaissance
in south dream of better life but by late 1870s = white supremacy
hate groups like KKK = lynchings, campaigns of terror to stop AA voting or fundamentaal rights
= great migration
Alain Locke = “ spiritual coming of age” where AAs transformed “ social disillusionment to race pride”
Langston Hughes “ expression of our individual dark-skinned selves”
Lynchings
social and racial control to terrorise black Americans into submission
US south from 1877 to 1950
‘ Lynch mob’
physical torment, typically hung from a tree and set on fire ‘
often aided by law enforcement, encouraged by police
symbolic, show of domination, a warning not to challenge white supremacy
turned to celebration
‘ a very popular show’ - 1930 editorial
victims dismembered into human trophy’s
Booker T Washington
dominant figure black public FFAIRS FROM 1895
founded Tuskegee Normal and Industrial institute
education to keep blacks ‘ down on the farm’ and in the trade but in reality help them rise up and improve their opportunities
wanted to equalise public educational opportunities and to rescue racial violence
wants limited social change to then prove themselves to white people , slow gain of freedom where civil rights come later on
DuBois
‘The souls of black life’= most provocative and influential works of 20 C
” the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the Color-line “ = opening line tp book
militant and progressive - demands full civil rights immediately
convinced would only come through agitation and protest
Carl Van Vechten- real life Hugh wentworth
famous novel ‘nigger heaven’ , controversy VS praised
how AA lived in Harlem not suffering of south
(lynchings/racism)
divided = depicted people “ alien and strange “ or good representation AA with complexity and flaws
problematic = white man talking on black struggles
DuBois criticised “ cheap melodrama”
in early writings claimed black people born to be entertainers and sexually “free”
Rhinelander case
Social prominent wealthy rhinelander family vs working class bi racial woman , daughter of English immigrants
1925 divorce trial
interracial marriages in NY legal but rare
succumbs to family demands, leaves wife and signs annulment
physically examined in court = undignified treatment , humiliation
Racial integrity act 1924
reinforced racial segregation , prohibited interracial marriage
feudal law - not whole of US but majority agreed
The “Tragic Mulatto” Myth
A literary stereotype portraying mixed-race people (esp. women) as doomed, conflicted, and emotionally broken.
don’t fit into either side
light enough to pass for white, hates blackness go herself, hates whites but seeks their approval
death = only way out
