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.

• Slaves werebrought to workin lucrative cropssuch as tobacco

• Most of themworked in the plantations of the south.

• According to the constitution, they weresecond-rate human beings

• For representation purposes, a black slave wascounted as 3/5th of a white man

1787 : The 3/5th Compromise

The American Civil War 1861 - 1865

Origins• The North was in favor of abolishing slavery• The South relied on slaves for most of its economy

opposed abolitionThe War• The war lasted only 5 years, but caused about 600,000

deaths in both campsThe Outcome• The 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 Right to vote.

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.

• 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

• 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 to give minorities increased opportunities for higher education and in the workplace

• Busing to promote desegregation

• In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.

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

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

HOWEVER • African-Americans tend to have a high dropout rate: only

15% complete 2 or more years of college Vs 26% of whites• Glass ceiling: For those who reach higher positions,

discrimination prevents them from the top positions and professional advancement

• They are hit twice as hard by unemployment as the rest of the population

• They live in inner cities where violence and crime are widespread

• The leading cause of death for a young black male is murder (very often by other black teenagers from different gangs.

• Half inmates of American prisons are black• Housing segregation leads to poor social integration