A brief look at black/white race relations in the U.S.Brea Barthel11/13/13

First, a word on words•“African-American” current preferred

term•“Black” usually okay•“People of color” okay; includes all non-

whites•“Colored” considered racist•“Negro” no longer acceptable; don’t say it•The N-word (“nigger”) highly offensive;

people get fired for using it

(But some older terms live on)•HBCU: “historically black colleges and

universities”•NAACP: “National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People”•UNCF: “United Negro College Fund”

Race relations in 2013To quote Charles Dickens,

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”

The best of times•Mixed-race president & African-American

wife•Mayor-elect of NYC & African-American

wife

Source: abcnews.go.com Source: touchfm.org

“post-racial America”? Not!

The worst of times?• “Birther movement” claims Obama is a Kenyan• Number of hate groups (neo-Nazi, Ku Klux Klan,

other white supremacists) & membership increased after Obama elected (Southern Poverty Law Center)

• Income inequality “defining issue of our times”(Obama, http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/29/opinion/sutter-explainer-income-inequality/)

• Changes in voter registration laws hurt blacks

Pre-1860s: Slavery• People legally defined as property• U.S. Constitution: a slave counted as three-fifths of a

person for national census (population affects each state’s number of members of Congress)

• Legal in New York until 1827• Legal in the south until 1865• “Abolitionists” fought to end slavery• “Underground Railroad”: individuals & groups

helped people escape slavery, even though that was illegal

1861-1865: Civil War• Bloodiest war in U.S. history (750,000+ deaths)• States in the South “seceded” from (left) the U.S. to

create the Confederate States of America• North (“Union” or “Yankees”; blue uniforms) vs.

South (“Confederates” or “rebels”; gray uniforms)• War has different names:

in border states, “War between the states”in Southern states “War of Northern Aggression”

1865: 13th amendment"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

(“their”? “United States” was considered plural, emphasizing states; soon after considered singular, emphasizing united.)

Source: http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment.html

1860’s – 1960’s: segregation•“Jim Crow” laws separated blacks & whites•Different schools, other legal restrictions•Violators punished severely•Blacks lynched (hung)

for minor or made-up reasons; lynchings often became public events

•“Strange Fruit”: songdrew attention to issue

Source: satiricalpolitical.com

1960s: Civil Rights movement•National movement for legal changes•Some major figures:

▫Martin Luther King, Jr.▫Malcolm X▫Thurgood Marshall▫Rosa Parks▫Fannie Lou Hamer

http://www.ibtimes.com/i-have-dream-speech-full-transcript-video-read-dr-martin-luther-king-jrs-1963-speech-its-50th

Rosa Parks, with MartinLuther King in background

1960s: Legal changes•Voting rights acts•Equal Rights act•“Affirmative Action” for jobs & schools•Quota systems tried, then dropped

Backlash from whites•Claims of “reverse discrimination” •Challenges to voting rights act

Current issues & events•Racial profiling: police targeting blacks for

“stop & frisk”•Racial differences in frequency of arrest,

decision of guilt, length/type of sentences, decision of death penalty

•Trayvon Martin: killed by “vigilante” in Florida in 2012

•Obama: “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon Martin.”

Issue: Mass incarceration

13th amendment: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

• High % of blacks in prison• Forced labor• Mistreatment

PovertyMost poor people are not black, and most black people are not poorBUT •higher poverty rates

Blacks = 25.8% / Whites 11.6%Source: http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acsbr11-17.pdf

•Lower rates of home ownership•Much lower average total family wealth

History affects today’s relations•Strong geographic separation in housing:

▫“White Flight” to suburbs in 1950s-1980s▫“the chocolate [black] city and its vanilla

suburbs”•Rise of street gangs in “inner cities”•Suspiciousness & tension on both sides

Best times? No. Worst times? No.•Many organizations work to reduce racial

tension•More acceptance of diversity in

workplaces•Improvement in media representation:

blacks shown in positions of power more often