What do you think about this perspective on US history?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqh6Ap9ldTs

Learning Objectives

Investigate the history of the US Civil Rights movement and the discrimination present after the abolition of slavery.

• What is this statue called?

• What does she symbolise?

• From this statue, how wouldyou expect Black Americans to

be treated in the USA?

Portrayal vs Reality

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal before God.”~ Declaration of Independence, 1776

From this declaration, the founding document of the USA, how would you expect Black Americans to be treated?

The Signing of the Declaration of Independence - 1776

• What observations can you make about this group?

• The year the Statue of Liberty was built, 300 Black Americans were lynched, whilst thousands more lived with laws that persecuted them for their colour.

• The Declaration of Independence states later in its text that ‘all men’ excludes women and that slaves are equal to one sixth of a white men.

• The Declaration of Independence was written by white men, for white men. All the signatories were slave owners.

When was slavery abolished in the USA?

This map shows the expansion of the USA.

8

Civil War• Increasing criticism, primarily in

North, of practice of slavery• As US expanded westward and

new states admitted to the union, slave/free issue continually bubbles below surface of national politics

• Election of Abraham Lincoln (Republican) in 1860 election leads to secession of Southern states from Union

• Lincoln order Union troops to secure the South

Slave states vs free states

Civil War

• Emancipation Proclamation (1863)– frees slaves in Confederacy

and in those parts of the country in open rebellion

– specifically exempts border states and areas currently occupied by Union army

• 13th Amendment (1865)– offically ends slavery in US

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Civil War

• 9 April 1865 Lee surrenders to Grant

• 14 April 1865 Lincoln is assassinated

• Johnson becomes new President

• The last Confederate armies surrender in June 1865

• Question becomes how to rebuild the Union coming out of the bloodiest war in US history (over 600,000 deaths)

Reconstruction

• 2 Phases of Reconstruction– Presidential Reconstruction (1865-1866)• Readmit confederate states• No Confederate officials eligible to serve in

government• Confederate states redraw constitutions to take

account of 13th amendment– Introduction of “Black Codes”

Reconstruction

• Union army occupies south• 13th Amendment (1865)• 14th Amendment (1868)• 15th Amendment (1870)• Civil Rights Enforcement Act (1870)• Civil Rights Act (1872) [anti KKK act]• Civil Rights Act (1875) [private discrimination

outlawed]

13th, 14th, and 15th Constitutional Amendments

• The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery to this day.

• The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are American citizens including African Americans.

• The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's race, colour, or previous condition of servitude.

Reconstruction

• First black political leaders elected to Congress

• Hiram Revels (MS) first black senator

• 6 blacks elected to serve in House in 41st and 42nd Congress

Reconstruction

• 1876 Presidential Election

• Rutherford B. Hayes (R)

• Samuel Tilden (D)

1876 Presidential Election

The End of Reconstruction

• In exchange for Hayes winning electoral college vote, Republicans agree to end occupation of the South

• 1877 Reconstruction essentially ends with end of occupation

• Southern governments and vigilante groups move to disenfranchise black voters