Black History

By: Wang Zhi

Agenda

• Slavery• The Civil War• Jim Crow Laws• The Civil Rights Movement• Montgomery Bus Boycott• Scottsboro trials• Traits of southerners• Harper Lee

Slavery

• The first record of African slavery was made in 1619.

• Slavery began because the plantations needed many workers.

• Before slaves were brought from Africa, some early settlers tried to make slaves of the local people.

• Later, slaves where brought from Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Slavery

• A slave is defined as “a human being, who is by law deprived of his or her liberty for life, and is the property of another. ”

• Death penalty for those who aid any slave in running away or departing from his master.

• In the novel, the morals of slavery greatly clashed with the morals of Christianity.

• Southern society classified Negroes as not human, but of an inferior race.

The Civil War

• Abraham Lincoln proclaimed war against the south.

• Southern States: Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana.

• It was fought from 1861 to 1865 over slavery.• In To Kill A Mockingbird, the black and white

had conflicts.

Jim Crow Laws

• Jim Crow is not a person, but a 19th century stereotype of African Americans. 

• They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans.

• The blacks didn't like it because it went against everything they believed in as a race.

• When Tom Robinson is being put on trial, the black people and white people are separated into different areas of the courtroom.

The Civil Rights Movement

• It began in 1955.• It was about  the movements in the United

States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights in Southern states.

• President John F. Kennedy supported it.• As the result, African-Americans became

equal to whites.

The Civil Rights Movement

• Significant Events:• Brown v. Board of Education, 1954• Desegregating Little Rock, 1957• Sit-ins, 1960• In the novel, Rosa Parks refused to give up her

seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955.

Montgomery Bus Boycott&Scottsboro trials

• Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign that started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama.

• It intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system.

• Scottsboro trials served as one of the inspirations for Harper Lee's novel.

• They are similar in the time they took place which is in the 1930s.

Traits of a Southern Belle

• Pants and trousers were not allowed on girls.

• They spent time to make tea.

• They clean the house.

• Mrs. Dubose was a stereotypical Southern Belle.

Traits of a Southern Gentleman

• Calling one Sir or Ma'am

• Opening doors for ladies

• Removing their hats when in the presence of a lady

• In the novel, Atticus is a gentleman

Harper Lee

• She was born on April 28, 1926.• She was awarded the Presidential Medal of

Freedom of the United States for her contribution to literature in 2007.

• The book was significant as it deals with the issues of racism that were observed by the author as a child in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama.

Harper Lee’s writings

• "Love—In Other Words". (April 15, 1961) Vogue, pp.64–65

• "Christmas to Me". (December 1961) McCall's• "When Children Discover America". (August

1965) McCall's• "Romance and High Adventure" (1983)

Thank You!

The End