African-Americans

Examples of African-Americans in the following topics:

• African Americans in Southern Politics

  • A few African Americans were elected or appointed to national office.
  • African Americans voted for white candidates and for blacks.
  • As a result, states with a majority African-American population often elected only one or two African-American representatives in Congress.
  • Because he preceded any African American in the House, he was the first African American in the U.S.
  • Senator Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first African American in Congress.

• The Great Migration and the "Promised Land"

  • By 1900, about 90% of African Americans still lived in Southern states.
  • African Americans moved as individuals or small family groups.
  • In 1910, the African American population of Detroit was 6,000.
  • African American migrants were often resented by the urban European American working class, often recent immigrants themselves, because African Americans migrated in large numbers over a short period of time.
  • Many African-Americans migrated North in search of a better life.

• Race and Opportunity

  • By 1810, 75 percent of African Americans in the North and 13.5 percent of all African Americans in the United States were free.
  • Free African American males enjoyed wider employment opportunities than free African American females, who were largely confined to domestic occupations.
  • The African American community also established schools for African American children, who were often barred from entering public schools.
  • While the majority of free African Americans lived in poverty, some were able to establish successful businesses that catered to the African American community.
  • Per the court, African Americans could never be citizens of the United States.

• African Americans in the Military

  • Army during the American Civil War that were composed of African-American ("colored") soldiers.
  • In actual numbers, African-American soldiers comprised 10 percent of the entire Union Army.
  • Losses among African Americans were high, and from all reported casualties, approximately 20 percent of all African Americans enrolled in the military lost their lives during the Civil War.
  • Despite these numerous contributions, discrimination persisted against African Americans in the armed forces.
  • Discuss recruitment and treatment of African Americans in the armed forces during the American Civil War

• Slavery and the Revolution

  • Many African-Americans viewed the American Revolution as an opportunity to fight for their own liberty and freedom from slavery.
  • Some African Americans also saw the Revolution as a fight for liberty--their own liberty and freedom from slavery.
  • During the American Revolutionary War, African Americans served in both the Continental Army and the British Army.
  • Because of manpower shortages at sea, both the Continental navy and Royal Navy signed African Americans.
  • Some African Americans were captured from the Royal Navy and used by the Patriots on their vessels.

• African American Migration

  • The Exodus of 1879, also known as the Kansas Exodus or the Exoduster Movement, refers to the mass movement of African Americans from states along the Mississippi River to Kansas in the late nineteenth century.
  • This sudden wave of migration came as a great surprise to many white Americans, who did not realize that black southerners were free in name only.
  • The Exodus was not universally praised by African Americans.
  • Summarize the patterns of African American migration in the late nineteenth century

• Black Power

  • Disillusioned, many African Americans turned to those with more radical ideas about how best to obtain equality and justice.
  • The Nation of Islam advocated the separation of white Americans and African Americans because of a belief that African Americans could not thrive in an atmosphere of white racism.
  • The Black Panther Party believed African Americans were as much the victims of capitalism as of white racism.
  • African American abolitionist John S.
  • Black Pride urged African Americans to reclaim their African heritage and, to promote group solidarity, to substitute African and African-inspired cultural practices, such as handshakes, hairstyles, and dress, for white practices.

• Legally Free, Socially Bound

  • Though the Reconstruction Amendments guaranteed them equal rights, African-Americans experienced widespread discrimination after the War.
  • In 1868 the 14th amendment granted full U.S. citizenship to African-Americans, and the 15th amendment, ratified in 1870, extended the right to vote to black males.
  • After the Union victory over the Confederacy, a brief period of progress followed for African Americans in the South.
  • From 1865 to 1877, under protection of Union troops, some strides were made toward equal rights for African-Americans.
  • After the end of Reconstruction in 1877, African-American Southerners fared less well.

• Fighting for Liberty

  • Prior to the Revolution, many free African-Americans supported the anti-British cause, although this caused contention amongst some leaders.
  • The Battle of Bunker Hill also had African American soldiers, fighting along the side of the white Patriots.
  • Because of manpower shortages at sea, both the Continental navy and Royal Navy signed African Americans into the navy.
  • Some African Americans had been captured from the Royal Navy and used by the Patriots on their vessels.
  • Many African Americans supported the anti-British cause.

• Minstrel Shows

  • Blackface minstrelsy, which portrayed African Americans in stereotyped, troubling ways, was the first distinctly American theatrical form.
  • On the one hand, it had strong racist overtones; on the other hand, it afforded white Americans a singular and broad awareness of what many considered to be African-American culture.
  • One such popular routine was “Jump Jim Crow,” a song-and-dance routine portraying a caricature of an African American first performed in 1832 by white actor Thomas D.
  • Many minstrel songs and routines were depicted as authentically African American; however, this often was not the case.
  • As African Americans began to make advances politically, legally, and socially against racism and prejudicial treatment, minstrelsy lost popularity.