History

The first chapter of African-American history is one of great sadness. The first Africans were brought to America in the 1600s as slaves. These slaves were brought across the ocean from Africa in a long, terrible journey known as the “Middle Passage.” The ships were crowded and the slaves had to endure inhumane conditions. Many died on the trip.

Millions of Africans were brought to America against their will. Many were treated horribly. They worked hard on farms, especially on plantations in the South. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 increased the demand for slave labor in the South.

In the North, many opposed slavery. Some states outlawed it. The abolition movement grew, causing a division in our country. Many in the North thought slavery should be outlawed everywhere. Many in the South thought slavery should be allowed.

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln, who was against slavery, was elected president. Shortly after that, several states decided to form their own country and seceded from the United States. In 1861, the Civil War started. This was a bitter war that lasted for four years, dividing families and leading to much destruction.

In 1863, the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution ended slavery in the United States. The Civil War ended in 1865 with the North winning, and the nation began to try to heal. The 15^th Amendment to the Constitution, passed in 1870, guaranteed the right to vote regardless of race or color.

After Reconstruction, beginning in the 1880s, the South passed a series of Jim Crow laws. These laws forced the segregation of African Americans. In the South, these laws forced blacks to sit in different railroad cars, to attend different schools, and to use different entrances to buildings. Marriages between blacks and whites were against the law in the South. These laws were unfair to African Americans, but were ruled to be constitutional by the Supreme Court in Plessy vs. Ferguson.

The next period of African-American history was one of discrimination and violence. Although blacks had the constitutional right to vote, in the South, Jim Crow laws, poll taxes, and threats of violence made it dangerous for blacks to vote.

Discouraged by the conditions in the South, many blacks moved north during the Great Migration. Between 1910 and 1930, nearly 2 million blacks moved north. Large groups of blacks moved to urban centers like New York and Chicago.

While new economic and political opportunities existed for blacks in the north, there were still many challenges. The U.S. economy was bad, and jobs were hard to find. Housing in the inner cities was crowded.

A bright spot was the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. This was a great period in African-American culture. Literature, music, theater, and arts thrived. Some of the great figures of this time included writer Langston Hughes, jazz musician Louis Armstrong, and blues singer Bessie Smith.

In the 1940s, over 1 million African Americans served their country by fighting in World War II. Blacks still faced job discrimination though. This began to change in 1941 when President Roosevelt issued an executive order saying there could be no government job discrimination on the basis of race or color.

The 1950s saw the start of the civil rights movement. Thurgood Marshall, head lawyer for the NAACP, began a challenge against school segregation. Finally, in 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Board of Education that “separate but equal” was not equal – school would need to desegregate, making the way for equal rights for blacks.

Despite the Supreme Court ruling, many southern states refused to desegregate their schools. The struggle for blacks continued.

Throughout the next decades, African Americans struggled for equal rights. In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man. Citywide boycotts of the buses followed. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. became known as a great leader and advocate for African-American rights during this time.

King and others encouraged African Americans to protest non-violently through acts of civil disobedience. This led to sit-ins, in which people sat quietly at stores, government offices, and other places to protest against the injustices against blacks. Both blacks and whites participated in sit-ins and other protests.

Activists also worked hard to increase voting rights for African Americans. They staged voter registration drives across the South. Some whites who did not want blacks to have equal rights fought them, often with violence. Black churches were burned. Black and white activists were threatened, beaten, jailed, and sometimes even killed. The activists of this time were brave and did much to help the cause of equal rights for blacks.

Witnessing the violence against civil rights workers in the South, Congress made important new laws. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, religion, or sex. The Voting Rights of 1965 provided federal supervision of voter registration. Many thousands of blacks were able to register to vote safely as a result.

Despite these gains, the struggle continued. Some African Americans, like Malcolm X and those in the Black Panther Party, thought that blacks should use violence to achieve their goals. In the 1960s, there were riots in Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, and other cities.

The 1970s and 1980s brought new opportunities for African Americans. They reached new levels economically and politically. African Americans were elected to high political offices and reached the highest level positions of both public and private agencies. Although challenges still exist, African Americans have achieved many great milestones through the work and progress of influential leaders like those described below.

Review Questions

1. When were Africans first brought to the Americas as slaves?

A) the 1400s
B) the 1500s
C) the 1600s
D) the 1700s

2. What is the Middle Passage?

A) a protest march in Washington
B) the longest part of the Underground Railroad
C) a naval battle
D) the terrible journey across the ocean that slaves had to make

3. Which of these leaders was opposed to slavery?

A) Jefferson Davis
B) Thomas Jefferson
C) Abraham Lincoln
D) George Washington

4. Which laws forced segregation even after the 13^th and 15^th Amendments were passed?

A) Great Migration laws
B) Plessy vs. Ferguson
C) Jim Crow laws
D) Brown vs. Board of Education

5. Which Supreme Court decision said that “separate but equal” was not equal and forced schools to desegregate?

A) Dred Scott vs. Sandford
B) Brown vs. Board of Education
C) Plessy vs. Ferguson
D) Marshall vs. Board of Education

6. What did Martin Luther King Jr. encourage people to do?

A) move to Liberia and start a new country
B) burn white churches
C) threaten people who were discriminating
D) protest non-violently for civil rights

Profiles

Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth (1787-1883) was an important member of the abolitionist movement and women's suffrage movement. She was born a slave in Ulster County, New York.

She spoke only Dutch until she was sold from her family as a child. She was treated cruelly by her new master. She learned to speak English quickly, but would continue to speak with a Dutch accent for the rest of her life.

She was sold several times and suffered many hardships under slavery. She escaped to Canada in 1827. She returned to New York when it had abolished slavery in 1829. In 1843, she was inspired by a spiritual revelation. She changed her name to Sojourner Truth and became a traveling preacher. Her new name, Sojourner, meant traveler. After months of travel, she arrived in Northampton, MA, and joined the utopian community The Northampton Association for Education and Industry, where she met and worked with abolitionists.

She wrote and spoke about her experiences as a slave. In 1851, she spoke at a women's rights convention in Akron, Ohio. It was there that she gave her most famous speech, Ain't I a Woman?

During the Civil War, Sojourner Truth helped support black soldiers and met Abraham Lincoln at the White House in 1864. While there, she argued against discrimination and segregation in streetcars. After the Civil War ended, she worked to help the newly freed southern slaves. She even asked Congress to give land to the ex-slaves.

Sojourner Truth spent her life helping African Americans and women to find freedom and to end racism, discrimination, and prejudice.

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was an abolitionist and author. He was born a slave. When he was 13, his master's wife taught him how to read. In 1838, he escaped from slavery in Baltimore by borrowing an African American sailor's “free papers” and impersonating him. He escaped to New York, where he changed his last name to Douglass. Then he got married and moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Douglass quickly became involved in the antislavery movement. In 1841, at an abolitionist meeting, he delivered an emotional speech about his experiences as a slave. He was immediately hired as a lecturer by the Massachusetts Antislavery Society. He was such an inspirational speaker that many could not believe that he was self-taught and had been a slave. Douglass wrote several autobiographies about his life. After his 1845 autobiography was published, Frederick Douglass left the U.S., because he was a runaway slave and was afraid that his book would get his old slave owner's attention. If he had been found, he would have had to return to slavery.

Douglass fled to Britain, staying from 1845 to 1847, giving speeches about abolition, slavery, racism, and discrimination. He earned enough money to purchase his freedom and returned to America. When he returned, he started publishing his first newspaper, North Star. Douglass later became the publisher of a series of newspapers.

Douglass was involved in politics as well. He urged President Lincoln to allow him to recruit African-American soldiers for the Union army during the Civil War. President Lincoln agreed in 1863. Douglass also met with Lincoln to argue for better treatment of African-American soldiers. As a result, the role of African-American soldiers was improved.

After the Civil War, Douglass held a number of important political positions. He served as President of the Freedman's Savings Bank, marshal of the District of Columbia, and minister-resident and consul-general to the Republic of Haiti. In 1872, he became the first African American to receive a nomination for Vice President of the United States.

Douglass dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of African Americans. He also spoke out for other disadvantaged groups, like women and other people of color.

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman (1820?-1913), also known as “Moses,” was an abolitionist and the most well known conductor of the Underground Railroad. She was born into slavery but escaped and emancipated herself.

(3)

In 1849, she was afraid she would be sold, so she decided to run away. On her way, she was helped by Quakers and other abolitionists, both black and white, who ran the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a network of people who helped slaves escape.

Tubman went to Philadelphia, where she found work and saved her money. The following year she returned to Maryland to help her brothers and sisters escape. She continued to go back into the South over 19 times in 10 years. She helped over 300 slaves find freedom on the Underground Railroad. She never lost one “passenger” on the Underground Railroad and was never captured. She was even successful at getting her own parents out of slavery.

During the Civil War, she worked as a cook, a nurse, and a spy for the North. She guided hundreds of slaves into Union camps during the Civil War. In 1863, she led a raid at Combahee River Ferry in Colleton County, South Carolina, allowing hundreds of slaves to get their freedom. This was the first military operation in U.S. history planned and executed by a woman.

Harriet Tubman was a brave woman, and she fought hard to bring freedom to her people.

W.E.B. DuBois

W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963) was a civil rights activist, sociologist, historian, writer, editor, and scholar. He was very smart, and at an early age, he was concerned about improving the lives of African Americans. When he was fifteen, he became a writer for the New York Globe. He wrote editorials and articles about African Americans and encouraged them to get involved in politics.

After graduation from high school, he wanted to go to Harvard. However, he could not afford the tuition. With the help of his friends and family and a scholarship, he went to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. It was there that DuBois experienced racism and discrimination first hand. He became determined to make a change.

DuBois became a writer, editor, and a speaker, speaking out against racism and injustice. He also spent two summers in Nashville teaching at a county school in order to learn more about the South and the African Americans living there. He saw extreme poverty, ignorance, and prejudice. He also learned that his people had a deep desire for knowledge. He was certain that ignorance was the cause of the race problem. He felt that knowledge would be the cure to racism and prejudice.

Later, DuBois left Fisk University and went to Harvard. In 1895, he became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard.

DuBois published many books on the topic of race. In 1905, he founded the Niagara Movement, which was an organization to help African Americans gain civil rights. In 1909, he formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). At the NAACP, DuBois worked as Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper for twenty five years.

Du Bois was a well known political activist for African-American rights. He strongly believed that African Americans should work together to fight prejudice and inequality. He used his education to help bring positive changes for African Americans.

Ida Wells

Ida Wells (1862-1931) spent her life fighting for the rights of African Americans. She was born to slave parents and was a slave herself for the first six months of her life. Her parents died of yellow fever when she was 16 years old. She was the oldest of eight children and raised them after her parents died.

As an adult, she worked as a journalist, teacher, and activist. In 1884, she refused to move out of a segregated railroad car in Memphis, Tennessee. She sued the railroad company for discrimination, because they forced her to leave her seat. She won her lawsuit, but it was later overturned by the Supreme Court in 1887. After three of her close friends were lynched, she became the voice of the anti-lynching movement. She wrote editorials and a book to speak out against lynching.

Ida Wells also created and formed a couple of very influential social organizations. In 1910, she founded and was also the president of the Negro Fellowship League. The Negro Fellowship League was aimed at helping African Americans who had moved to Chicago from the South. She also formed the Women's Era Club, the first civic organization for African-American women. She was dedicated to public service, and in 1930, she ran for the Illinois state legislature. She was one of the first black women ever to run for public office.

Ida Well's work brought attention to the problems facing the African-American community and helped improve life for many African Americans.

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was one of the most influential artists of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a time in New York during the 1920s and 1930s when African-American culture thrived. Many artists and writers became well known during this period.

Hughes was born in Joplin, Mississippi and began writing poetry when he was 13. He attended Columbia University, majoring in engineering, but dropped out to follow his passion for poetry and creative writing.

(4)

The first poem he published was The Negro Speaks of Rivers, at the age of 19. His first book of poetry was published in 1926. One of his most famous poems, Harlem (also known as A Dream Deferred) was the used in the play A Raisin in the Sun.

Hughes was very active in the performance art world and established the Harlem Suitcase Theater. His first play was his one-act show called Do You Want to be Free?, which was a huge success. He later founded two other theaters – one in Los Angeles and one in Chicago.

During his lifetime, Langston Hughes wrote 16 poetry books, two novels, three collections of short stories, volumes of editorial and documentary fiction, 20 plays, three autobiographies, a dozen radio and television scripts, and many magazine articles, children's poems, musicals, and operas.

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks (1913-2005) was a civil rights activist, who helped start the civil rights movement by refusing to obey racist Jim Crow bus laws.

Rosa Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. In 1932, she married Raymond Parks, who was an active member of the NAACP. She became involved with the organization and became secretary to the Montgomery chapter's President.

Parks became famous for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. On December 1, 1955 after a long day at work, Parks was asked to give up her seat because there was a white man who didn't have a seat. She refused and was arrested. Upon hearing about Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the first large civil rights protests. The boycott was originally supposed to last for only one day, but went on for 381 days. It ended when the Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was illegal.

Parks founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development in February 1987, in honor of her husband, who died from cancer in 1977. The institute runs bus tours that introduce people to important civil rights and Underground Railroad sites throughout the country.

Parks wrote two books. She was a small, quiet woman, but her work in the civil rights movement had a profound effect on the world.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) was a political activist and the most famous leader of the civil rights movement. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Morehouse College and Crozer Theological Seminary and received his Ph.D from Boston University.

(5)

King admired Mahatma Ghandi and believed in his philosophy of non-violent protests. The first protest King led was the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955.

King was elected President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957. SCLC was a group created to help organize black churches to conduct nonviolent protests for civil rights.

King organized and led marches for black voting rights, desegregation, labor rights, and other basic civil rights. In 1963, he led the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The march called for an end to racial segregation in public schools, civil rights legislation, an end to discrimination, and a $2 minimum wage for all workers. More than a quarter of a million people attended the event. At the time, it was the largest gathering of protesters in Washington's history.

At this event, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his most famous speech “I Have a Dream,” which electrified the crowd. This march and other work of King helped lead to laws such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

During the 1950s and 1960s, King traveled and spoke extensively.

In 1964, at the age of thirty-five, King became the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the further the civil rights movement. He was arrested more than 20 times and was assaulted at least four times for his civil rights work.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, King was assassinated. It was a tragedy for the nation.

On November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor Dr. King. This day is observed on the third Monday of each January.

King's work with the civil rights movement had a great effect on all Americans. His entire life was dedicated to helping people of all colors to be treated equally and fairly. His speeches, demonstrations, and protests forever changed America.

Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) was an outspoken advocate for women and African Americans during her seven terms as a Congresswoman.

Chisholm was born in Brooklyn, New York and spent part of her childhood in Barbados with her grandmother. She graduated from college in 1949, and earned a master's degree in child education from Columbia University. She taught at a Harlem nursery school, where she was confronted with the problems of the poor. This led her to run for a seat in the New York State legislature, which she won.

In 1968, Chisholm became the first African-American woman elected to Congress. During her first term in Congress, she hired an all-female staff and spoke out for civil rights, women's rights, and the poor. She also opposed the Vietnam War.

She joined the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969 as one of its founding members. While she is best known for her work in the African-American community, she was also a defender for other people of color such as Native Americans and immigrants. She supported improved employment and education programs, expansion of day care, income support and other programs to improve inner city life and opportunity.

In 1972, Chisholm ran for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. She was the first woman considered for the presidential nomination. Although she did not win the nomination, she did receive 151 delegates' votes.

Chisholm started the powerful National Political Congress of Black Women and served on the Advisory Council of the National Organization for Women. She also published two books.

Chisholm served in Congress until 1982. After leaving Congress, she taught at Mount Holyoke College. Over her life, she helped to improve life for African Americans, women, and other people of color.

Marian Wright Edelman

Marian Wright Edelman (1939- ) has been devoted to civil rights causes from her youth. Growing up in Bennetsville, South Carolina, she witnessed the negative effects of segregation and Jim Crow laws. She was determined to make a difference.

She graduated from Spelman College and Yale Law School. In 1963, she was the first African-American woman to be admitted to the Mississippi State Bar as a lawyer. She worked for the NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Office as a civil right's attorney during the civil rights movement. She also worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Poor People's March.

In 1973, she founded the Children's Defense Fund. The Children Defense Fund aims to give every child a healthy and fair start in life. The Children's Defense Fund has fought for funding for Head Start and other children's programs that provide health care, immunizations, food, and education for poor children and their families.

Marian Edelman has touched the lives of countless children and their families to help give them a better chance at life.

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou (1928- ) is one of the great contemporary voices of African-American literature. She is a poet, author, playwright, actress, lecturer, and civil rights activist.

Angelou has had many jobs throughout her life. She was a dancer, an actor, and even San Francisco's first black woman streetcar conductor. She fought for civil rights with Dr. Martin Luther King in 1960. She was the Northern Coordinator for the SCLC.

Maya Angelou is best known for her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which was published in 1970. She has received many honors including a Pulitzer Prize nomination for her works of poetry Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Die in 1971 and And Still I Rise in 1976. She has also had success as a director, producer, and spoken word poet.

She was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her screenplay, Georgia, Georgia. She was nominated for a Tony Award in 1973 for her role in the play Look Away and an Emmy for her role in the 1977 mini-series Roots. She was the first African-American woman admitted to the Directors Guild of America. She has won three Grammys for her spoken word CDs.

Although her life has been one of many hardships, she overcame her difficulties to become a success and an inspiration to many throughout the world.

Mae Carol Jemison

Mae Carol Jemison (1956- ) was the first African-American woman in space. At the age of 16, she went to Stanford University. She graduated in 1977 with a degree in chemical engineering and Afro-American studies. She graduated from Cornell Medical School in 1981. She served as a doctor in the Peace Corps, traveling to several developing countries, including Cuba, Sierra Lionne, and Liberia.

Dr. Jemison joined NASA in 1987. She was Science Mission Specialist on the STS-47 Spacelab J flight. She conducted experiments in life sciences and material sciences, and was co-investigator in the Bone Cell Research experiment in the Spacelab laboratory module.

(6)

Jemison resigned from NASA in March 1993. Her contributions to the medical and science fields are remarkable.

Colin Powell

Colin Powell (1937- ) as the U.S. Secretary of State, was the first African American in this high government position.

(7)

Powell was a professional soldier for 35 years. He served many ranks while in the military, with the highest rank being a 4-Star General. He left the army to become Ronald Reagan's National Security Advisor, from 1987 to 1989. From 1989 to 1993, he was the 12^th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which is the highest military position in the Department of Defense. During this time, he oversaw 28 crises, including the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

In January 2001, Powell became the 65^th U.S. Secretary of State. In this job, he worked to find non-military solutions to conflicts with other countries.

Powell has won a number of awards, including two Presidential Medals of Freedom, the President's Citizens Medal, and the Congressional Gold Medal.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama (1961- ) is the first African-American man from the Democratic Party to be elected to the U.S. Senate. He is the only African American currently serving in the U.S. Senate, the fifth to serve in U.S. history, and the third to serve since after the Civil War.

(8)

Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in political science and went on to graduate with honors from Harvard Law School. He was elected the first African-American editor of the Harvard Review.

In 1985, he moved to Chicago to work for a church-based group to improve conditions in poor neighborhoods. In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois State Senate.

Throughout his work, he has maintained his loyalty to his community. He continues to fight for the rights of the underprivileged and helps to bring education and improvements to those in need.

Review Questions

1. Why did Sojourner Truth take on that name?

A) It means freed slave.
B) It means traveler, and she became a traveling preacher.
C) It was her mother’s original name before slavery.
D) The mayor of her town gave her that name.

2. Who founded the Children's Defense Fund, which works to give every child a healthy and fair start in life?

A) Marian Wright Edelman
B) Rosa Parks
C) Shirley Chisholm
D) Oprah Winfrey

3. Who was the first woman considered for the presidential nomination?

A) Geraldine Ferraro
B) Shirley Chisholm
C) Mae Carol Jemison
D) Condoleezza Rice

4. What is an abolitionist?

A) someone who believes that non-violence is the best way to bring change
B) someone who fights for the right of women to vote
C) someone who fights to end slavery
D) someone who fights for the right for African Americans to vote

5. Who was a well-known writer in the Harlem Renaissance?

A) W.E.B. DuBois
B) Rosa Parks
C) Maya Angelou
D) Langston Hughes

Timeline

1619 – The first African Americans are brought to America at Jamestown.
1770 – Escaped slave Crispus Attucks leads colonial troops in the Boston Massacre.
1783 – Massachusetts prohibits slavery.
1793 – Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, changing cotton farming in the South and increasing the demand for slave labor.
1794 – Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island prohibit slavery.
1857 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules against Dred Scott, saying that the black man was not a U.S. citizen and that slaves could not automatically gain their freedom by entering free states.
1860 – Abraham Lincoln is elected president.
1861 – The Civil War starts.
1862 – Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, saying that slaves in Confederate states were free and that blacks could enlist in the Union army.
1863 – Congress passes the 13^th Amendment, ending slavery in the U.S.
1865 – The Civil War ends.
1870 – Congress passes the 15^th Amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race or color.
1896 – In Plessy vs. Ferguson, the Supreme Court rules that “separate but equal” accommodations are constitutional.
1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is started.
1941 – President Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8802 prohibiting government job discrimination on the basis of race or color.
1954 – In Brown vs. Board of Education, the Supreme Court overturns “separate but equal” and calls for desegregation.
1955 – Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama.
1960 – Students stage a sit-in protest at the white-only lunch counter at Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina.
1964 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1964 – The 1964 Civil Rights Act is passed, prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations and employment.
1965 – The 1965 Voting Rights Act is passed, providing federal supervision of voter registration.
1965 – Race riots in Los Angeles lead to destruction, injuries, and deaths.
1967 – Thurgood Marshall is the first black man appointed to the Supreme Court.
1968 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated
1984 – Jesse Jackson becomes a candidate for President.

Questions

1. Why did many African Americans move north in the early 1900s?
2. If you could meet one person in African-American history, who would it be? What questions would you ask him or her?
3. What civil rights issues are in the news today? How are these similar or different from issues of the past?
4. If Abraham Lincoln were alive today, what do you think he would say about the current state of civil rights in the U.S.?
5. How does diversity make our nation richer?

Vocabulary Quiz

Instructions: Choose the word that matches each definition.

Word	Definition
abolition activist boycott desegregate discrimination diversity emancipate segregation	the separation of a race or ethnic group
abolition activist boycott desegregate discrimination diversity emancipate segregation	to treat someone unfairly on the basis of race, religion, sex, or some other criteria
abolition activist boycott desegregate discrimination diversity emancipate segregation	to refuse to do something as a protest
abolition activist boycott desegregate discrimination diversity emancipate segregation	differences
abolition activist boycott desegregate discrimination diversity emancipate segregation	to free from the separation of races; to end the separation of races
abolition activist boycott desegregate discrimination diversity emancipate segregation	a person who works hard to bring about some change in society
abolition activist boycott desegregate discrimination diversity emancipate segregation	to become free; to free from the control of someone
abolition activist boycott desegregate discrimination diversity emancipate segregation	the end of slavery; a movement trying to end slavery

Glossary

abolition – the end of slavery; a movement trying to end slavery

activist – a person who works hard to bring about some change in society

advocate – a person who works to accomplish something

assassinate – to murder in a secret attack

boycott – to refuse to do something as a protest

civil disobedience – refusing to follow rules as a form of nonviolent protest

constitutional – in agreement with the U.S. Constitution; legal

cotton gin – a machine used to separate cotton from its seeds and hulls

(1)

desegregate – to free from the separation of races; to end the separation of races

discrimination – to treat someone unfairly on the basis of race, religion, sex, or some other criteria

diversity – differences

emancipate – to become free; to free from the control of someone

inhumane – savage; very cruel and mean

journey – a trip

lynch – to kill someone by hanging

persevere – to persist; to keep trying even when it is difficult

prosper – to succeed

secede – to separate or withdraw from a group

segregation – the separation of a race or ethnic group

suffrage – the right to vote

urban – in a city

utopia – a perfect place

 

Credits

1,2 – Reprinted with permission from ClipArt.com; copyrighted property of JupiterImages used with permission under license.

3,4,5 – Courtesy of Library of Congress.

6 – Courtesy of NASA.

7 – Courtesy of U.S. Department of State.

8 – Courtesy of U.S. Congress.

---

 

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow
of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went
down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn
all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

— Langston Hughes

 

Ain't I A Woman?
Delivered 1851
Women's Convention, Akron, Ohio

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, “intellect”] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.