NAACP In The 19th Century

The NAACP was established in 1909 in New York City by a gathering of bi-racial activists.

As a result of Addams hard work and reputation, she was then drawn into a larger field of responsibility. She was one of the first members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She was appointed to Chicago’s Board of Education, and in 1909 she became the first woman president of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections. “In 1911, she was elected vice president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.” Years later, in 1915, she accepted the chairmanship of the Women’s Peace Party. Addams also served as president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom until 1929. These advancements in her career led her to be very admired by her peers but also led to disapproval of her thoughts. When Addams began making speeches against World War I, she was no longer invited to speak to groups. “In 1931 Addams became the second woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This important award honored her work for peace. She received a peace medal and $16,480… She gave the money to the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.”

Examine the condition of African-Americans in the late nineteenth century and explain why the Thirteenth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Fifteenth Amendment, which were enacted to aid the new freedmen, actually did little.

The Abolitionist movement during the Antebellum period, was a critical time in American history. The goal of this movement was to emancipate all slaves immediately, and end discrimination, as well as segregation. The brave men and women involved in this movement were called abolitionists and antislavery advocates. The antislavery advocates stood for freeing slaves gradually, and abolitionists wanted slavery gone immediately. No matter how fast, these people all wanted to spread opposition against slavery across the United States. Northern churches started liking this whole idea of abolishing slavery, which started conflict between the North and South. These arguments led up to the Civil War.

African Americans have fought a great battle to become a part of society in America. Since being taken from African as slaves in the 1600’s there has been a continuous battle for equality since. Since the end of slavery Black Americans have had many accomplishments along with hardships. In this paper I will discuss some of the Major events in African American history beginning with the end of slavery which has lead to the America we know today.

In order to achieve their goals, the NAACP relies on funding and support from outside entities. A substantial portion of the NAACPs income came from donation. “The NAACP has received funding from the AT&T Foundation, the Bauman Family Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Freddie Mac Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the JEHT Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Sara Lee Foundation, the Scherman Foundation, the Verizon Foundation, the Tides Foundation and Boeing. In the 2010-11 fiscal year, the National Education Association (the largest labor union in the United States) donated $25,000 to the NAACP” (group snoop).

What if social tensions between whites and blacks were relieved? For most African Americans, that was not the case. The early twentieth century was characterized by racial segregation and great economic hardship. While many were subject to the threat of Jim Crow laws on a daily basis, others became victims of farmers’ debt. Unsurprisingly, this phenomenon fueled the Great Migration, where more than six million African Americans escaped from the rural South and migrated to major communities in the North and West in search of economic opportunity and success. Located in the heart of New York City, Harlem served as a transit neighborhood, harboring around 200,000 African Americans in 1920 (Norton, Sheriff, and Blight). An acclaimed historian, Clement Prince, once said, “Notwithstanding the memories of slavery, and in the face poverty, ignorance, terrorism, and subjugation still deeply woven into their lives, the embittered past of blacks was taken onto a much higher plane of intellectual and artistic consideration during the Renaissance,” (Clement). The words of Clement Prince describe the Harlem Renaissance, also known as the New Negro Movement, an intellectual explosion that brought unprecedented changes to African American music, poetry, dance, and literature. One of the many influential figures in the Harlem Renaissance was Adelaide Hall, a prominent African American entertainer and jazz singer. Through her pioneering of jazz and scat singing, Adelaide Hall sparked an

In the 1920s, Whites were attracted to the Negro clubs and cabarets in Harlem. Some Negroes were not fond of the idea of whites coming into their clubs just to view their behavior for entertainment. Despite this, the clubs were more focused on making profit rather than the concern of their own people. Hughes’ intended audience for this passage of his autobiography is anyone who has ever felt uncomfortable with someone coming into their territory. "So thousands of whites came to Harlem...firmly believing that all Harlemites left their houses at sundown to sing and dance in cabarets." If someone comes to a place that is specifically for a certain group, then not only is that sign of disrespect, but it also a sign of selfishness. Whites have their own clubs, yet they chose to go to Negro clubs for

In the 19th and 20th centuries Europe was thriving and wealthy while most of their colonies in Africa were suffering under their rule. The Europeans all wanted a piece of Africa’s land with its plentiful resources and free labor. Around this time, Europe was going through the industrial revolution and because business was booming the European countries need more resources than they already had. The Africans had the land the Europeans wanted to use to continue having booming businesses, they also had African slaves and workers that they can use so they don’t have to pay for labor. In the 19th century leader of the Europeans countries want to discuss how they will divide Africa without the leaders of Africa knowing. The Europeans then started to invade Africa and take control over the citizens. As the Europeans got more powerful, the Africans become more miserable. Unable to match the guns Europe had, African countries began getting claimed, one by one with the exception of two. The Europeans ruled in a cruel way that left many Africans dead or suffering. Many countries tried and successfully broke away from Europeans after many years under colonization. The Europeans had a negative impact on the lives of many Africans in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially with racism and assimilation. People were taught to be a human they had to be like a European which led to many racist views on African people and culture and is why some nations like France used assimilation to make

Whites have always considered themselves superior to blacks, no matter if they were slave owners or not. Blacks were considered lower than humans, making them a main target of oppression of whites. So even when a small group of blacks were given their freedom, they weren’t truly liberated from the chains of slavery and oppression. Blacks were freed in the early 1800s, giving a limited amount of blacks the freedom they deserved. These blacks were usually rural, uneducated, and unskilled domestic servants who had to work hard to survive in the society that shunned them. Free blacks were still given restrictions and laws because of their status in society. In the early 1830s, a law in Virginia was made to prohibit all blacks from getting their education. They even took it to the level where free blacks who went out of state to educate themselves were not able to come back and return to their own state. The worst restriction was that blacks could not testify in court. When a slave owner claimed that a free black was their slave, they could not defend themselves, and would have to conform back to their slavery. Despite the terrible treatment given to blacks, some rose above the oppression and became successful, therefore achieving their goals and potentials of being a free black man, leaving a huge impact on society in the 1800s.

Could you imagine the life as a Jew or African American when everything was against you? Certain races face inequality every day, but it was worse in the 1800s and 1900s. Many things can change the way we see or feel about someone. There are many different similarities and differences in the periods of oppression among African-Americans and Jews. Slavery began in the early 17th century, slaves were to do whatever their master told them.

In 1800 over 1 million settlers lived between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains. Most of these settlers were farmers and merchants, looking to ship their products to the New Orleans port. The United States and Spain signed the Pinckney Treaty to give Americans the right to sell their products. But in 1801, a Spanish governor had given New Orleans and the Louisiana Territory to Napoleon Bonaparte. Then in 1802, the Spanish Governor of New Orleans withdrew from the Pinckney Treaty, outraging Americans. Jefferson figured the best option was to buy the port of New Orleans.

The Roaring Twenties is seen as a peak in American life the creation of the Model T, flappers, and speakeasies made American living fun. On the other hand, The Ku Klux Klan, a group of white Americans with a strong protestant belief and racist mindset, made American living difficult for those they saw unfit, such as blacks, catholics, those involved in an interracial relationship, the mentally challenged, immigrants, radicals, and those with psychological problems. The Ku Klux Klan was revived in the 1920s by Colonel William Joseph Simmons “after seeing D.W. Griffith’s film “Birth of a Nation”, which portrayed the klansmen as great heroes (Ku Klux.” The Klansmen prided themselves in their lifestyle. “It is said that “the KKK’s presence was

During the early 19th century, Spain wanted to increase productivity in Florida and encouraged migration of mostly Southern slave owners. By the second decade of the 1800s, Anglo settlers occupied plantations along the St. Johns River, from the border with Georgia to Lake George 100 miles upstream. Spain began to lose control of the sparsely European-populated Florida as the area quickly became a haven for slave smugglers bringing illicit human cargo into the U.S. for lucrative sale to Georgia planters. Plantation owners grew apprehensive about the growing numbers of slaves running to the swamps and American Indian controlled areas of Florida. American slave owners pressured the U.S. government to confront the Spanish authorities. Southern slave owners refused to quietly accept the continued presence of armed blacks in Florida. During the War of 1812, a ragtag assortment of Georgia slave owners joined by a plethora of armed opportunists seized Fernandina and raided Spanish and British-owned plantations along the St. Johns River. These private citizens received U.S. government help on July 27, 1816, when U.S. army regulars attacked the Negro Fort (established as an armed outpost during the war by the British and located about 60 miles south of the Georgia border).

I often wonder what the year 1919 would have looked like had whites not felt so threatened by black advancement and progress. Although there are many underlying causes of race riots, black prosperity is one of the sparks that ignited the flame of hatred and cold -blooded murder against blacks in 1919. During post reconstruction America, Blacks tried to prosper and recreate themselves, despite extreme disenfranchisement. The New Negro that emerged in the 1910s, was not completely subservient like his ancestors. The New Negro believed he was equal to whites and desired his rights as an American, and moved anywhere he could to achieve the negro version of the “American dream”. The new negro wanted adequate housing that could raise a family safely and not trap them to the problems of the ghetto. The New Negro wanted representation in government. The new Negro believed they found a way out of poverty through employment in industrial cities like Chicago, other than sharecropping which was almost identical to slavery. Whites wouldn’t make it easy. In their eyes, black achievement was a synonym for white failure. How dare we allow blacks to take our jobs, allow them to live in our neighborhoods, and have a say in our government? In my paper, I plan to explore these 3 beliefs that would hinder the negro man and eventually cause riots and violence in the 1910s. The New Negro had no place in 1919, and ultimately the forthcoming of a new black consciousness would be too radical for the