A+Guide+To+African+American+History

**African-American History (Post 1865)**

**Freedmen's Bureau (1865)** geared to train recently freed blacks through education, work offers, etc. not very effective but first significant movement towards economic equality.

**14th amendment (1868)** granted citizenship and suffrage to all citizens = MOMENTOUS STEP. AT LEAST LEGISLATIVELY, African-Americans counted as citizens.

**15th amendment (1869)**  guaranteed all blacks the right to vote.  => of course, did not really guarantee voting rights; blacks hindered by poll taxes and literacy tests.

**Civil Rights Act of 1875 (1875)**  guaranteed that everyone, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, was entitled to the same treatment in "public accommodations"  => overwritten by Congressional codes, symbolic of lasting racial prejudices in legislation

//**Plessy v. Ferguson**// **(1896)**  enforces "separate but equal" law  => political pretension of "racial equality"; ironically, only worsens local racial codes as racists used this law to justify their discriminatory laws

**Founding of the NAACP (1910)**  Founded by W.E.B DuBois, the first organization to to work for & demand full equality for blacks <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> => momentous step towards gaining racial equality

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">**Harlem Renaissance (1920s-1930s)** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">an outpouring of black literary creativity in Harlem. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">http://mrwoodkis.phoenix.wikispaces.net/Culture

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">**Founding of CORE (1942)** <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> Congress of Racial Equality, an extension of the NAACP, is formed. The organization responsible for organizing the Freedom Rides, school desegregation in Chicago, March on Washington.

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">**Montgomery Bus Riots (Rosa Parks)** <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> - From December 1, 1955-December 26, 1956. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> - Began when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a White person and move to the back. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> - A number of African-Americans, along with a few Whites, protested against segregation in Alabama after the event. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> - Led to the rise of Martin Luther King Jr., and eventually, a decision by the Supreme Court opposing segregated busing.

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">**Little Rock Nine (1957)** <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> An event that occurred at the Little Rock Central High School. After the Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, prevented nine African-American students from entering the school, President Eisenhower intervened which enabled the nine students to attend the racially segregated school.

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">**Greensboro Sit-Ins (1960)** <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> An event that was started by four African-American students at Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro. After the lunch counter refused to take their orders, the students remained in their seats even when asked to leave. Sit-ins became one of the most significant acts of civil disobedience.

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">**Civil Rights Act of 1964 (1964)** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">- Was the law that prohibited discriminatory acts, based on race, in public facilities. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> - Supported, and strengthened, the government's opposition to segregation in schools. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> - Title VII of the act led to EEOC. (see below)

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">**March on Washington (1963)** <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> - Took place on August 1963. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> - Was in support of assuring legal protections to African-Americans, and was backed by the Kennedy legislation. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> - Led to one of the most important events of the Civil Rights Movement--> Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">**Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, EEOC (1965)** <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> An agency established by the government to enforce independent federal law. The agency was made official under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC is in charge investigating any complaints concerning discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, intelligence, or disability.

<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">__**TO SUM IT UP:**__ <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> - Initial legislative measures such as 14th & 15th amendment, civil rights act of 1875, DID NOT REALLY GUARANTEE EQUALITY. they were only legislative flourishes. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> only later on with the rise of the NAACP & the Civil Rights Movement did the African-Americans gain actual political & economic power. but even then (and arguably, even now), they had to confront social stigmas and outlash.