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BLACK HISTORY TOUR |
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The United States is home to people of almost every race, religion, and nationality. The Indians and Eskimos have been here for thousands of years. Other groups arrived later and came in hope of finding riches, adventure, and a new life. And some, fleeing war, famine, and persecution, sought only safety and a chance to survive. Black people alone were brought here unwillingly, stolen from their homes and forced to live as slaves. In spite of this cruel beginning, black Americans have played a major role in defining and shaping American beliefs, customs and traditions. From the beginning they have helped insure the nation's security and economic well-being. Black Americans are among our earliest explorers and have been among the first people to expand and settle the frontier. Of the black Americans profiled on United States postage stamps, they were selected because of the contributions they made to our life and culture. They were also chosen because of the part they played at critical points in our history. U.S. postage stamps show black Americans as explorers, settlers, slaves and as patriots in vigorous pursuit of freedom, liberty, and equality. This Black History Tour via postage stamps is an attempt to tell the story of a way of life developed by black people in a white society.
AFRICAN HERITAGE (300-1619)
http://www.afroam.org/history/slavery/main.html
http://www.afroam.org/children/discover/discover.html The ancestors of most black Americans came from the African continent. Most of the Africans imported to the Americas came from Gambia, the Gold Coast, Guinea or Senegal. The natives of Senegal, who were often skilled artisans, brought the highest prices. On the other hand, the Eboes from Calabar were rated as undesirable merchandise, as they frequently preferred suicide to . Those from the Gaboons were considered weaklings.
The
slaves who
arrived at
the
African
slave
markets
came from
tribes all
over
Africa,
and they
were
thrown
together
in the
slave
ships
without
regard for
tribe or
language.
In http://www.afroam.org/history/slavery/africa.html For some time, slave masters did not realize that the drums the slaves made from hollowed-out logs or nail kegs, with animal skins tightly stretched over on end, were being used for communication. They thought the slaves were just making their African music. They knew these drum sounds carried far, even to the next plantation, but it didn't occur to them that the drumbeats were a sort of "Morse code" the slaves used to make plans for revolts or escapes. When it finally became clear to the slave masters that the drums were being used as a form of communication, drums were outlawed. But that didn't stop the slaves from keeping the drumbeat alive. Instead, they used their feet. INDENTURED SERVANTS AND SLAVERY (1619-1860) America's
colonial
period
starts
with the
establishment
of the
first
English
settlements
in the New
The English colonists of North America knew they needed helpers to build their homes, plow and harvest land, and work in their homes. The colonists used a variety of sources for this labor. Indentured servants were used by the colonists. They gave up four to seven years of labor just to pay for transportation to America. The colonists also used apprentices as a source of labor. Apprentices were orphans, or children of poor parents, who were given to a farmer or trades-man to be trained. These apprentices would be freed when they reached a specified age. And then there was slavery. The English colonist in the New World imported white indentured workers at first, but found there weren't enough of them. The Indians in the Americas refused to work or proved to be poorly fitted for long hours of hard labor. The Europeans found it easier and cheaper to import Africans as slaves. By the seventeenth century, the African slave trade was booming in the Americas. The slave dealers made so much money from their human cargoes that soon Africans came to be known as "black gold." Slaves could be secured in Africa for about $25 a head, or the equivalent in merchandise, and sold in the Americas for about $150. Later when the slave trade was declared illegal, Africans brought much higher prices. Many slave-ship captains could not resist cramming their black cargo into every foot of space, even though they might lose from 15 to 20 per cent of the lot on the way across the ocean. It is estimated that 7,000,000 Africans were abducted during the eighteenth century alone, when the slave trade became one of the world's great businesses. Since England had no laws that defined the status of a slave, the colonies made up their own. These "slave codes" protected the property rights of the master. The codes also made sure the white society was guarded against what was considered a strange and savage race of people. Slaves had almost no rights of their own. Some masters tried to treat slaves well. George Washington freed his slaves in his will. Thomas Jefferson's slaves lived in brick cottages. Jefferson Davis's slaves governed themselves with slave-run-trial courts. Harsh slaveowners also existed. They half-starved their slaves, worked them hard, whipped them often, treated them worse than cattle, and enjoyed making life miserable for them. When a master was cruel, the slaves had no legal protection from his brutal treatment. Enforcement of the slave codes varied from one area to another, and even from one plantation to another. Slaves who lived in cities and towns were less restricted than slaves who lived in the country. Slaves on small farms enjoyed more freedom than those on huge plantations. Plantation slaves often had little contact with their masters. Their supervisors were drivers and overseers. Drivers were slaves who were made into bosses by their master, so they were in a bad situation. Go easy on the workers, and when the work was not done, the driver would be flogged. Go too hard on the workers and the driver made enemies among his fellow slaves. Overseers were whites who took orders from the master. A few were soon managers but most were not. Even in the best of circumstances, slaves were property and could be bought, sold, lent, or rented out. Their opportunities to learn and achieve were very limited. The slaves had little personal incentive to work hard. Slavery offered little room for promotions. In the South, most slaves helped plant and harvest crops. The typical slave worked on a small farm with one or two other blacks alongside the master and his family. Other slaves worked in and around the master's house instead of out in the fields. In Southern towns and cities, blacks served as messengers, house servants, and craftsmen. In the North, farming was not as important to the economy as it was in the South. Black slaves therefore worked in a wider variety of jobs. They provided skilled and unskilled labor in homes, ships, factories and shipyards. EARLY SLAVE MUSIC How did slaves survive the uncertainty and the danger of harsh treatment? How did they make the best of a bad situation? Music was a relief for them. The slaves had their songs, and they would re-create their instruments and their music to keep their hearts and souls alive through nearly two hundred fifty years of slavery in the New World. They liked to dance, sing, and play the banjo, drums or fiddle. Despite their poor treatment, the land and the culture had become part of them. And in spite of the fact that most white Americans at the time did not consider blacks to be their equals, whites had taken into their own hearts certain elements of black culture. By the time the slaves were emancipated, they had given to America not just the sweat of their brows and the strength of their backs, but the seeds of the first truly American cultural gift to the world - American music. Blues, jazz, rock'n' roll originated with blacks. And white performers and groups from Benny Goodman to Frank Sinatra to the Beatles to Rod Stewart to Boy George have said that they owe their biggest debt to black music. By the time slavery was abolished, most ex-slaves would not go back to Africa, for Africa was no longer their home. America was. ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT Despite the risks, some blacks constantly tried to undermine the slavery system. Some slaves chose to destroy property or fake illness to avoid having to work. Others took bolder steps to overthrow their masters by joining slave revolts. Still others managed to escape. But many - perhaps most - slaves chose not to resists in the face of almost certain failure and death. Slaves were suspicious of whites who told them about the "Underground Railroad" that would take them to freedom. The Underground Railroad was composed of volunteers who would hide slaves traveling north to Canada. Slaves were hidden during daylight hours at stops along the route and, using the North Star, they moved in the dark to the next location 10 or 15 miles north. Until they reached Canada, they were never completely safe. If they were caught by a slave catcher or United States marshal, they would be returned to their master, who would probably make a great display of flogging them. It was risky for whites to be involved, but it was even more dangerous for blacks who helped slaves to escape. Facing a death sentence if they were captured, it took great courage for them to help slaves escape. In the abolitionist movement to help free slaves was Harriet Tubman, an Underground Railroad Conductor. Almost every year after 1830, the Underground Railroad assisted hundreds of slaves escape to places in the North. Abolitionists and Quakers established hundreds of stations on the Underground Railroad in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. In Illinois, the routes converged in Chicago, where slaves would leave by ship for Canada. Ohio, with the largest number of stations, was the center of the Underground Railroad activities.
In 1936 Ralph Bunche published "A World View of Race," in which he stated that racial prejudice exists because of economic needs. He wrote, "The Negro was enslaved not because of his race but because there were very definite economic considerations which his enslavement served. The New World demanded his labor power... but his race was soon used [as the reason for] the inhuman institution of slavery."
AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1776-1783) When the revolution started, some blacks were caught up in revolutionary fervor. At Bunker Hill, slaves and free blacks participated, and Salem Poor was praised by his superiors as "an excellent soldier." When Washington took command, he told recruiters not to enlist blacks, but some were already in the army. In October 1775, it was decided to bar blacks from the Continental Army. A month later, Governor Dunmore of Virginia declared that any black or indentured servant who joined the British army would be free. Slaves began deserting the plantations and enlisting in the Royal Army. Wherever the British army went, slaves flocked in. The seriousness of his mistake was made apparent to Washington when many of his own slaves escaped. Wisely reversing policy, in December 1775 Washington order that free blacks might be enlisted in the Continental Army. Most states permitted both slave and free black enlistment in their militia. Black soldiers participated in every major battle from Bunker Hill to Yorktown. They also served in the United States Navy. After the war for Independence ended, black Americans began taking part in the general development of the country. When any black stepped out from the crowd and showed that he or she could grasp a complex idea and express himself or herself well in writing or speech, that action weakened the premise that Africans were by nature inferior. Stereotypes may not be destroyed but they can be weakened. Records indicate that in 1772, on the north bank of what is now the Chicago River, Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable erected a large cabin and continued to build other structures such as barns and storehouses etc. This made him the area's first permanent settler and the founder of the city of Chicago. Du Sable also established a fur trading post there. It soon became a very busy trading center, and eventually the settlement of Chicago sprang up around the post. Benjamin Banneker is well known as a surveyor who helped to lay out the streets of the nation's capital. He also made the first clock constructed in this country. Banneker's work in astronomy attracted the attention of learned men on both sides of the Atlantic. Through the use of mathematics, he was able to plot the cycles of the 17 year locust and thus help farmers to anticipate them.
CIVIL WAR (1861-1865) The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, following an attack by southern troops on Fort Sumner, South Carolina. The disagreements between the North and the South dated back many years. They grew out of a variety of economic and political rivalries and issues, including whether a state had the right to sucede from the Union. Slavery was also a source of conflict, but the Civil War was not a war against slavery. From the beginning of the Civil War, black Americans in the North and South offered to volunteer for military service. The South was nervous about how slaves would react to the war. During the first year of the Civil War, participation by blacks was limited almost entirely to non-military service. Some blacks went to war as body servants to their masters, and others worked faithfully on plantations and farms. The government feared that the border states might join the rebels if blacks were enlisted and also that white troops might refuse to fight alongside black troops. Black Americans were limited to labor behind the lines as teamsters, camp attendants, waiters and cooks. Most slaves saw the war as their chance at freedom. Rather than risk getting caught by patrollers, they stayed on the farm and did as little work as possible, waiting for blue uniforms to appear on the horizon. When the right moment can, they joined a long procession of contrabands. RECONSTRUCTION (1865-1875) The Civil War finally came to an end on April 9, 1865 when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant near the Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. President Abraham Lincoln and most other white northerners were eager to put the country back together again as soon as possible. Their plans were to reorganize and rebuild the defeated South. This program was known as Reconstruction. But less than a week after the war ended, Lincoln was assassinated. His successor, Andrew Johnson, was a southerner who promised to continue Lincoln's policies. Even though President Johnson supported outlawing slavery, he made little effort to grant black civil rights protection or give them the right to vote. He tolerated anti-black violence in the South and did nothing to stop white governments in southern states from passing laws similar to the old slave codes. Republican leaders in Congress were afraid that President Johnson was just making it easier for white Democrats to gain control once again throughout the South. So they came up with a much harsher Reconstruction program. Under their plan, southern states would not be allowed to rejoin the Union until the Republicans had become stronger and until blacks were given the vote and guaranteed civil rights. Thus, during the Reconstruction period, Union policy evolved to embrace the total abolititon of slavery as provided in the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and passed in 1865. Government policy also moved toward equality of rights for blacks as reflected in the 14th Amendment, passed in 1868, and the 15th Amendment passed in 1870. There was oppositon to equal right for blacks. It was almost universal in the South and nearly so in the North. Passage of the 14th and 15th amendments had been primarily motivated by the desire of the Republican party to maintain political control in the former Confederacy. Blacks took an active part in all aspects of public life during Reconstruction. They voted in large numbers and were very active in the conventions that formulated new state constitutions in the South. Many blacks held political office at the local and state levels. Fourteen blacks were elected to the United States House of Representatives and two were elected to the United States Sentate. Blacks also pressed for and helped to establish public education systems where none had previously existed.
POST-RECONSTRUCTION (1876-1900) Rising racial tension and hard times in the postwar period caused some blacks to go West. In the West, black faces had always been rare, but explorers like fur traders Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable and James P. Beckwourth had been there before the war. America's
westward
expansion
has
traditionally
excluded
black
pioneers
and
Although
many great
black
scholars
had
written
about
black
history,
no one had
as yet
treated
the
subject so
systematically
as Carter
G. Woodson
also known
as Following the Civil War, a new group of black leaders came to the fore. By 1895 Booker T. Washington was the most famous black American; however, with Ida B. Wells writing and lecturing against the evils of lynching, and W.E.B. DuBois protesting the philosophy of accommodation to the staus quo, the ground was being prepared for the birth of the following organizations directly devoted to the cause of racial advancement. Whitney Moore Young is commonly credited with revitalizing the Urban League, organized in 1910 to assist blacks moving into northern cities to find jobs and housing. For almost forty years, A. Philip Randolph fought to improve working conditions and higher wages for all laborers. He was particularly vigours in his vocal oppositon to racial discrimination within the labor movement. He is best known for for organizing the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925. Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was founded in 1942, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was organized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1957 and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) which dates from 1960 was also founded. These groups and their leaders have different emphases and tactics but their objectives are in the historic tradition of black leadership: the achievement of a condition of freedom which would render the question of color irrelevant in American life. On April 6, 1909, history was made when two men, one Black and one White, planted the American Flag at the North Pole. Thus, Matthew A. Henson, a black man, became one of the first Americans to reach the top of the world. Yet, undoubtedly due to his race, he was for years denied recognition of his role in this discovery. THE VISUAL ARTS Removed from Africa and shackled as a slave to a plow and hoe in America, the African was forever divorced from his native artistry and culture. The creative African sculture, metalwork, weaving and pottery were no longer his to pursue in the new land. Thus black Americans as a group was denied creative expression for more than a century, and it was not until the planters and merchants of the South grew rich and began to ornament their mansions and buildings that their artistic talents were employed. When given the opportunity, black Americans probed to be fine carpenters, cabinet makers, wood carvers, blacksmiths, harness makers and artists. There is little doubt that the handicraft was a carryover from his ancestral Africa. Skill in slaves was sought and encouraged among the prosperous slave holders, who recognized that a skilled slave was worth more as a worker or when sold. Throughout the pioneer days and up to the industrial revolution in America the nation afforded little encouragement to the artists in the plastic and graphic arts. Individuals who amassed fortunes and began to acquire art, patronized the European artists. It was not until about 1870 that the American artists began to gain recognition. Henry O. Tanner, at the turn of the century, was the first black American artist to win international recognition. Tanner was known for his genre paintings (studies of people's daily life), landscapes and religious studies. RAGTIME After the Civil War, military band instruments were in plentiful supply and could be bought for the price of a little labor or cash. There were also make-shift instruments and musicians strummed on homemade guitars and banjos, played old pianos, blew horns, and beat on drums. The music came not from a book, but from the heart. The main motive was pleasure rather than financial reward or fame, but some managed to find all three. Regtime became popular around 1900. It was highly syncopated music, usually played on the piano, the left hand played the rhythm and the right hand played a bright and cheerful melody. The best know ragtime writer was Scott Joplin, whose fame came from such songs as "The Entertainer" and "Maple Leaf Rag." Eubie Blake, another famous ragtime musician, composed his famous "Charleston Rag" in 1899.
JAZZ Jazz grew out of ragtime and the blues. It is said that the blues grew out of the songs of the slaves and has a sorrowful sound and message. W.C. Handy wore the title "Father of the Blues," and two of the most famous blues song were written by him: "Memphis Blues" and "St. Louis Blues." The message of the blues is in both the words and the melody. Handy saw jazz as a third step on the continuum of black music: spirituals, ragtime, and the blues, and jazz. Jazz
was born
in New
Orleans
with both
African
and
European
music as
its
parents.
Although
the
precise
date of
origin is
unknown,
it is
clear that
by the
start of
the 20th
century,
jazz was
emerging
in New
Orleans as
a musical
form. At the time that the predominantly male jazz instrumentalists were creating new jazz sounds, dozens of black female singers were creating new blues sounds. The reason black women blues singers were more acceptable to the larger public than black men blues singers is probably the same reason black women performers were more acceptable in the nineteenth century - they were less threatening to whites, and perhaps also to blacks. The blues is a form of music very often about love, and whites were not ready to accept a black man singing about love. Also in the black community, it might have been viewed as unseemly for a black man to sing about love on a record because there was a strong tradition of manliness, which included keeping one's tender feeling to oneself. At any rate, women singers such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey became very popular in the 1920s. Ma Rainey also became known as the "Mother of the Blues." Robert Johnson's original blues compositions proved to be his most popular and enduring recordings. He was a blues singer and songwriter in the 1930s. Coleman Hawkins was one of the first grat jazz soloists of the 1930s. He was a jazz composer and saxophonist. Early in 1940 he put together a big band. His band was one of the first to record bebop. Jimmy Rushing, a jazz and blues singer is best known as a vocalist with the Count Basie orchestra from 1935 to 1950.
In 1917 the United States entered World War I under the slogan "Make the World Safe for Democracy." Within a week after the United States entered the war, the War Department stopped accepting black volunteers because colored army quotas were filled. No black men were allowed in the Marines, Coast Guard or Air Force. They were allowed in the Navy only as messmen. When drafting began, of the more than 2,000,000 blacks registered 31 percent were accepted to 26 percent of the white men. Blacks then comprising 10 percent of the population, furnished 13 percent of the inductees. World War I was a turning point in black American history. The small number of blacks moving out of the South after 1877 increased enormously as war industries and the decline of European immigration combined to produce demands for labor in Northern cities. The coming together of a large number of blacks in urban cities, the exposure of some blacks to European whites who did not hold the same racial attitude as American whites, and the war propaganda to make the world safe for democracy all combined to raise the hopes, dreams, and aspiration of blacks in America. Madam C.J. Walker, also known as Sarah Breedlove, was a hero to African American people in the United States. She invented many hair products for women of color. She was the first women of any race to become a millionaire. This happened by the company she opened in 1917 called Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company. Walker started this company with $1.50 and ended up with over two million dollars.
In
the decade
following
World War
I, an
artistic
explosion
occured
within the
Black
community
that
produced a
wealth of
music,
literature,
poetry,
dance, and
visual
art. The
Harlem
Resaissance
was a
period of
creativity
among
Black
artists,
writers,
musicians,
orators,
dramatists,
and
entertainers
and was
centered
in Harlem
in New
York. The
term
renaissance
was used
because
the
movement
built on
the
heritage
of black
Americans.
More books
were
published
by black
authors
during the
1920s than
in any
previous
decade in
American
history.
At the end
of World
War I,
Harlem
also
contained
the
largest
black
urban
population
in the
world and
quickly
became the
black
cultural
center,
attracting
immigrants
from Cuba,
Haiti,
Puerto
Rico, the
British
West
Indies,
and
elsewhere,
bringing
with them
their
languages,
religions,
foods,
music and
literature.
Music
during the
Harlem
Renaissance
The years 1921-1937 represent the early years of gosel music. Since its birth in the 1920s under the leadership of Thomas A. Dorsey, gospel music has played a major role in American culture. Gospel, which in Old English means "good news," encompasses songs expressing great joy and hope, religious conviction, and everyday problems in society, at home, and of the heart. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the first gospel singer to record with a major record company, started the "Golden Era" of gospel. Roberta Martin was founder of the multi-talented Roberta Martin Singers. Clara Ward, the leader of the most successful female gospel group in the 1950s, was a singer who is said to have "taken God's words to His people, wherever they were," and Mahalia Jackson, with her magnificant voice and fervent faith, was gospel music's first superstar.
The songs of legendary folk musicians also reflect the heart and soul of America's history. Huddy "Leadbelly" Ledbetter was an influential guitarist, singer and songwriter from Louisiana. He was called "The King of the 12-string Guitar." Ledbetter drew upon the breadth of southern black American music as it emerged during the later years of Reconstruction. Sonny Terry, a harmonica player who was also blind, advanced the art of harp accompaniment. His harp produced an astounding variety of sounds. Josh White played the New York City club scene in the 1940s. He performed his wide-ranging repertoire of folk songs and blues accompanied by a crisp guitar style. Interest in his music hit a high point when White performed at the White House for President Roosevelt and his family.
President Roosevelt's various recovery and reform programs - such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the National Youth Administration (NYA), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) - helped blacks as well as whites. Blacks welcomed the New Deal as a sign of hope and progress. There
were other
reasons
for
optimism
too.
Although
President
Roosevelt
relied on
white
advisors,
he also
turned to
a group
that came
to be
known as
his
"Black
Cabinet."
Among its
members
were
prominent
blacks in
a variety
of fields,
including
educator Mary
McLeod
Bethune
and
political
scientist Ralph
Bunche.
They kept
the
president
informed
about
issues of
interest
to black
Americans.
When Joe Louis won the heavyweight boxing championship in 1937, Jesse Owens won in the 1936 Olympics, and Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente were selected as the National League MVP in 1949 and 1966 respectively, the African American role in sports began to be important if not dominant. The names and faces of athletes change quickly, but it would require great imagination to think of professioanl football, basketball, baseball, boxing or track and field events without black athletes in key roles. WORLD
WAR II
(1941-1945) In late October 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. as brigadier general, making him the first African American to reach that rank. As an enlisted man and officer in the United States Army, Davis strove to help others surmount the barrier of racism. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States navel base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the United States entered World War II, a war that had already been raging in Europe. Life in the United States was immediately changed in a drastic way for nearly everyone because the energies and the resources of the country were fully committed to the war effort. Men went to war and women went into the factories. Food items and gasoline were rationed, and raw materials were directed from other industries to the war industries. Once the United States entered the war in 1941, hundreds of thousands of black Americans served in the armed forces. Their distinguished role in the victory, along with the growing black population in American cities, a rise in the literacy rate among blacks, and increasing economic opportunities, inspired new efforts to end racial discrimination. Leading the way was the NAACP.
BEGINNING OF MODERN JAZZ The music business was affected in a variety of ways. Many musicians were either enlisted or drafted into the armed services. Shortages of building materials caused new entertainment and club construction to come to a halt. Shortages of shellac drastically reduced the production of new records and even big companies such as Victor had to buy up old records and recycle them. Entertainers were asked to do their part for the the war effort by performing at war bond sales and for those men at various military bases around the country and abroad. The heyday of big-band music came to an end. In jazz history, the 1940s are regarded as the beginning of "modern jazz." as distinct from the "classical jazz" that had gone before. Modern jazz grew out of the swing era, and its major practitioners had played in the big swing bands of the 1930s. The first modern jazz style was call bop. Louis Armstrong first made famous - "do wop do bop," for example. Alto saxophonist Charlie Parker and pianist Thelonious Monk were also originators of bop. Charlie Parker is considered by most as the greatest contributor to the development of bop. People who were knowledgeable about jazz recognized that Nat King Cole was very important in the transition from swing jazz to modern jazz. He was one of the first pianists to introduce a lighter, more streamlined style of playing. Cole also perfected a style of accompanying in which chords are played in brief, syncopated bursts, a style that eventually became known as comping. For black music, the 1940s were years of transition. They saw the development of modern jazz from swing. They saw the popularization of singers, due to the public interest in ballards. They saw the first successful crossovers into the white music world by a few blacks like Nat King Cole. In the next decade, these developments would continue, and flower. In the 1940s Erroll Garner a keyboard artist played and composed by ear in the tradition of the founding fathers of jazz. Strong and bouncy left-hand rhythms and beautiful melodies are the trademarks of his extremely enjoyable music. John Coltrane, a musician and composer of the 1960s, was the most influential innovator in the development of modern jazz. He was always searching and seeking to take his music further in what he quite consciously viewed as a spiritual quest.
Dinah Washington, an important blues singer of this period, earned the title "Queen of the Blues." Black Americans had plenty to be blue about in the years after World War II. Though blacks had fought in large numbers and had distinguished themselves in the "war to make the world safe for democracy," they found that at home they did not enjoy the freedoms that they had fought to ensure for people abroad. They were still second-class citizens in the North and little more than slaves in the South. They were angry, but felt powerless to do anything about their situation. So many black singers expressed their feelings in their music.
As the courts destroyed what remained of legalized segregation, other branches of government took action too. Congress passed laws to make sure white southerners could not cheat blacks out of their right to vote. President Harry S. Truman banned segregation in the armed forces. Later President Dwight D. Eisenhower ended discrimination in federal assistance programs. In addition, civil rights committees assembled to investigate and report on injustices. Even though segregation and discrimination were against the law, they did not just disappear. Blacks turned their attention to fighting the kind of bias that was common in restaurants and hotels, on buses, and in other public places. Boycotts and sit-in became popular and effective ways to protest. Blacks achieved so much in the area of civil rights from 1954 until 1964 that some people started to think of the decade as "The Second Reconstruction." To them, the work of the first Reconstruction after the Civil War had been left unfinished, and now was the time for it to continue.
SOUL Soul
came out
of rhythm
and blues
and also
out of
gospel. In
fact, it
was closer
to gospel URBAN UNREST AND MILITANT PROTEST Violence against black and white civil rights activists was commonplace. Three civil rights workers were brutally murdered in Philadelphia and Mississippi in 1964. Four black children were murdered in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963 and dozens of black churches throughout the South were burned or bombed. Two whites and one black were murdered during the 1965 demonstrations in Selma, Alabama in 1968. Martin Luther King, Jr., the recognized leader of the civil rights movement was also assassinated in 1968. The federal response to the violent reaction of segregationists was the passage of several new laws. The Civil Rights Act (1964) undermined the remaining structure of Jim Crow laws and provided federal protection in the exercise of civil rights. This landmark Civil Rights Law of 1964 had barely gone into effect when a serious race riot erupted in Harlem. Racial disturbances occured that summer in several other northern ghettos. A year later, the black ghetto of Watts in Los Angeles, California, exploded in violence. For the next two summers, dozens of other riots broke out across the country. Many were sparked by fights between blacks and white police officers. A special presidential commission looked into the reasons behind the riots. They found that despite all of the court decisions, sit-ins, marches, and boycotts, the average black American was still living with the crippling effects of segregation, discrimination, and, above all, racism. The 1968 assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. - a champion of nonviolence - added to the sense of despair most blacks felt. When Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968, a new wave of riots spread across the country. A report by the National Advisiory Commission on Civil Disorders, appointed by President Lyndon Johnson, identified more than 150 riots between 1965 and 1968. In 1967 alone, 83 people were killed (most of them black), 1,800 were injured, and property valued at more than $100 million was destroyed. THE 1970s For the most part, the 1970s and 1980s casted a shadow over the dreams of black Americans for racial justice and equality. With the exception of Jimmy Carter's presidency from 1976 to 1980, it was a time when blacks first felt neglected, then threatened. There was little attempt to enforce existing civil rights laws. Very few blacks were named to top positions in the federal government. Schools and businesses felt less pressure to recruit minorities to make up for the unfair practices of the past, especially after white men began to complain about "reverse discrimination." Jimmy Carter's election to the presidency in 1976 held out the promise of a new way of thinking. He did name several blacks to high-level positions but President Carter did come under fire for not doing enough to help the vast majority of black Americans. A shaky economy marked by high inflation and gas shortages hit blacks especially hard during his administration. The Iran hostage crisis of 1979 added to the nation's depressed mood and paved the way for a return to Republican control of the White House in 1980. BLACK
PRIDE When President Ronald Reagan took office, blacks once again found themselves shut out of the highest levels of government. Although he insisted that his moves to strengthen the economy helped all Americans, blacks as well as whites, President Reagan opposed or ignored many issues of interest to black Americans. He also appointed conservative judges to various federal courts who struck down many programs that had been designed to make up for past discrimination against minorities. The increase in racially motivated violence against blacks during the 1980s supported the belief that racism was alive and well in America. Many blacks seemed resigned to the fact that America was still a nation of two societies - one black, one white - separate and unequal. Discouraged by these setbacks, some blacks decided that the only way to make progress on issues of importance to black Americans was to reject traditional politics. A few looked into alternative movements, including the Nation of Islam and Afrocentrism, which stressed the value of black culture and the black experience (especially its African roots). The chief characteristic of the black experience in the 1970s and the early 1980s was the development of black consciousness and black pride. These values found renewed vigor as increasing numbers of blacks came to believe that the key to dealing with problems of race in the United States was the way they felt about themselves as individuals and as a group. By the late 1980s, there were black mayors in many of our country's larger cities and some of its smaller ones too. Black representaion in state legislatures, school boards, and state courts was also increasing, especially in the South. When George Bush took office as president in January, 1989, some blacks thought he would reverse the trends of the Reagon years and revive the "Second Reconstruction." The early signs were really hopeful. President Bush named General Colin Powell head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and made Dr. Louis Sullivan secretary of Health and Human Services. He repeatedly expressed his admiration for the ideals of Martin Luther King, Jr. and observed the national holiday honoring the slain civil rights activists. President Bush also welcomed African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela to the White House in 1990. BLACK
AMERICANS
TODAY By mid-1990, many blacks began to question Preident Bush's sincerity on issues of importance to black Americans. They thought he was too eager to support the white minority government in South Africa. Blacks were outraged when he vetoed the 1991 Civil Rights Bill because it contained what he felt were unconstitutional employment quotas. In addition, many blacks did not support America's involvemnt in the Persian Gulf War or the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the United States Supreme Court. Years of anger and frustration came to a head in April, 1992, after four white Los Angeles policemen were found not guilty in the 1991 beating of black motorist Rodney King. Los Angeles experienced the worst riots in American history. Disturbances broke out in several other cities too. Not since the civil rights era of the 1950s and 1960s had there been so much protest. By the time of the election of President Bill Clinton as President in 1992, the ongoing economic recession, not the Los Angeles riot, was the topic on everyone's mind. That November, a large number of white voters joined with an overwhelming majority of black voters to demand a change. Republican George Bush was turned out of office after only one term and elected Democrat Bill Clinton instead. As a result of the elections, the Congressional Black Caucus grew from twenty-five members to thirty-nine.
Blacks in the United States today are mainly an urban people. They have migrated from the rural South to cities of the North and West during the 20th century. Their migration constitutes one of the major migrations of people in United States history. The black community has developed a number of distinctive cultural features that black Americans look upon with pride. Many of these features reflect the influence of cultural traditions that originated in Africa. Other features reflect the uniqueness of the black American in the United Stated such as their speech, extended family arrangements, dress and music etc.
WHAT
DOES THE
FUTURE
HOLD FOR The century is coming to an end. What does the future hold for black Americans? Blacks are torn between being optimistic and being pessimistic about the future. Is the future to be feared or welcomed? On the one hand, blacks are still scaling the heights of achievement. Recently, Dr. Bernard Harris became the first black astronaut to walk in space and Isabel Wilkerson won a Pulitzer prize for news features. Carlton Gutrie has become a successfull auto-parts manufacturer and Michael Johnson, often compared to Jesse Owens, set a Olympic record when he won both the 200 and 400 meter races at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. On the other hand, every day brings news of difficulties blacks face. Unemployment still remains high for too many blacks. Added to unemployment, the twin epidemics of AIDS and crack cocaine (drugs) have taken a disproportionate toll on black communities. Another factor is the instability of black families. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world. There are still wars, sickness, poverty, and injustice. And yes, even today, racism and prejudice, based on skin color still exist. The black American featured on United States postage stamps had to fight an uphill battle to obtain their basic human rights. The brave men and women honored on U.S. stamp issues came from different backgrounds. Some were poor and lacked formal education. Some fought on different battlefronts to bring an end to the injustices suffered by blacks in this country but each and every one of them believed in the principle that all men and women are created equal. And under the guidelines of the U.S. Constitution, these brave men and women struggled and fought for the rights of blacks. They fought for equal education and job opportunities, equal justice under the law, the right to vote, and open housing. They fought to make America a better world and a better place to live. It is common knowledge that ignorance is the cause of much of the racism and prejudice that exists today. However, as the world gets smaller and smaller, we must learn to live with and respect the lives, customs, and races of other people. Black Americans and all Americans owe a lot to the brave men and women who fought to end injustices and also for their contributions to America's history. Works Cited Asante,
Molefi K.
and
Mattson,
Mark T. Historical
and
Cultural
Atlas of
African
Americans.
New York:
Macmillan
Publishing
Company,
1992. Christian,
Charles M.
Black
Saga.
New York:
Houghton
Mifflin
Company,
1995. Cowan,
PhD and
Maguire,
Jack. Timelines
of
African-American
History-
500 Years
of Black
Achievement.
New York:
A
Roundtable
Press/Perigee
Book,
1994. Harley,
Sharon. The
Timetables
of
African-American
History -
A
Chronology
of the
Most
Important
People and
Events in
African-American
History.
New York: Hughes,
Langston,
Meltzer,
Milton,
Lincoln,
C. Eric,
and
Spencer,
Jon
Michael. A
Pictorial
History of
African
Americans-
From 1619
to the
Present.
New York:
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and
justifications
develop.
When
society
looks
at
labor
that
must
be
done,
most
often
they
turn
those
unpopular
jobs
over
to
those
who
have
no
choice
except
to do
them -
slavery.
Black
American
history
probably
got
its
beginnings
when a
group
of
black
slaves
were
forcibly
shipped
from
their
homes
in
Africa
to
America
where
they
were
compelled
to
work.
They
came
in
chains,
brought
to the
New
World
as
slaves.
They
did
not
immigrate,
seeking
greater
opportunity,
like
others
who
came
to
America.
They
were
seized
from
their
villages
and
homes
and
not
allowed
to
take
any
possessions
with
them.
fact,
slave-ship
captains
made a
point of
not
putting
slaves
from the
same
tribes
together,
for if the
slaves had
been able
to talk
with one
another,
they also
might have
been able
to plan
revolts.
The same
was true
of slave
owners in
the New
World. It
was in
their best
interests
that
slaves not
be able to
communicate
with one
another.
The
slave-ship
captains
and slave
owners did
not
understand
that the
slaves
were able
to
communicate
with one
another
quite well
through
their
music.
Through
their
songs, the
slaves
shared the
rhythms of
sorrow and
their fear
and their
hopelessness.
Through
the
rhythms of
their
make-shift
drums,
they
communicated
their
calls to
rebellion.
Some
historians
believe it
originated
in Congo
Square,
where
black
slaves had
performed
music and
chants
from their
African
roots.
Others
claim the
music
originated
in
Storyville,
a
prostitution
area,
where
black
musicians
entertain
their
white
clients.
Jazz is
thought to
borrow
from a
number of
sources:
the blues,
religious
hymns and
spirituals,
and parts
of old
French and
Spanish
music
heard in
Louisiana.
The first
jazz band
director
was Joe
"King"
Oliver,
who took a
basic
melody and
improvised
from it. 
ranged
from jazz
to rhumbas,
hymns to
parlor
ragtime,
and from
spirituals
to chamber
quartets.
In the
field of
popular
music, the
pianist 
make
and
distribute,
it
gave a
real
boost
to
record
companies.
More
and
more
people
were
buying
records
and
record
players.
Every
club
worthy
of the
name
had a
jukebox.
There
were
more
record
companies
that,
along
with
the
already
established
ones,
were
signing
up new
talent.
There
was a
greater
interest
on the
part
of
whites
in
black
music.
For
example,
in
Chicago,
the
Chess
Record
Company
already
had
contracts
with
bluesmen
because
it was a
hopeful
music, a
music that
celebrated
blackness
in a way
that black
music had
never done
before. 
I
Have a
Dream
Speech