HISTORY OF THE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST AFRICAN AMERICANS
THE SLAVE TRADE (1619-1863)
During the 15th century, the prince of Portugal, Prince Henry (better known as Henry the navigator), was the first person to have discovered and explored Africa. From then on, the Portugals began to kidnap the people of West Africa, bringing them back to their country. Kingdoms from Europe also contributed to this act, trafficking Africans to their continent as well, along with the United States, since by 1619, 19 people were shipped to Virginia.With these acts continuing on until the late 19th century, the slave trade became a thing, worldwide. The purpose of this trade was to benefit the economy of Europe and Portugal, as they were forced into harsh labour work. The outcome was the introduction of what is now considered, everyday products, including; tobacco, sugar, cocoa, and coffee.
The beginning of the use of the cotton gin (invented by Eli Whitney, a school teacher) was commenced after South America was facing an economic crisis, and the states were also dealing with low quantities of slaves. Here the cotton gin was used in labour work by the slaves to continue the production of American cotton, to be sent to England. How the cotton gin impacted the slave trade was its benefits towards the Americans and Portugese, as they were able to continue the use of slaves, putting them into rough labour work.
During this period of time, the African women (sometimes even children) were normally forced to be within the vicinity of the enslavers, where they had to deal with sexual, physical and emotional abuse. A case study (est. 2016) showed that almost 17% of American-Africans’ ancestors were from Europe, corresponding to the ancestors who were raped. The acts that the whites did to the ones affected, left a mental scar, causing them to have PTSD, and mental health issues.
The slave trade lasted for 400 years, from the 15th century, to the late 19th. Within this period, the slaves did not remain silent. There were some recorded cases of acts of rebellion against the Europeans and Americans, where the first dates back into 1687, where a riot occurred in Virginia, United States. It wasn't until a century after this riot, that the state, Vermont, abolished slavery in 1777. Almost nine decades after (1863), the 13th amendment was agreed upon by who was the president at the time, Abraham Lincoln. The 13th amendment declared
AFTER THE 13TH AMENDMENT
Montgomery bus boycott (1955-1956)
Although Africans were free of slavery, the discrimination continued on. Rules were made to segregate the whites from them, including public transport rule. This rule was made so the African Americans would have to sit in the back of a bus, while everyone else sat at the front. If no seats were vacant, and a white person was left standing, then the African Americans were to give them their seat. This law lasted for a minimal amount of time, up until in 1955, Rosa Park, an African American, refused to give up her seat. This act of rebellion sparked tremendous publicity, as she was taken into custody. The consequence for her was to pay a fine of $14.
Rosa’s courageous act of refusing her seat began a social protest, as on December 5, 1955, Martin Luther King began the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The purpose of this boycott was to show the outrage the public transport law had caused. A rally stood by Martin Luther King’s side, protesting against the use of public transport. This boycott lasted for a whole 381 days, with the outcome of the Supreme Court ruling out the segregation rules applied on all public transport.
Bloody Sunday (1965)
Bloody Sunday was the name given to what was intentionally a peaceful protest from Selma to Montgomery on March 7, 1965. This march was led by Amelia Boynton, an active civil rights protester. This protest took a violent turn just when it was about to begin, when state troopers attacked the 600 unarmed protestors with batons and tear gas. The result of this violent act was the death of 14 protestors.
Two weeks after Bloody Sunday, Martin Luther King Jr, gathered two thousand other protestors to redeem the peaceful march. This went on for five days, achieving upto around 54 miles. Dr. King then made the decision to turn around at Edmund Pettison Bridge. This decision was influenced under the words of three other people, suggesting to turn around, abiding court laws. After praying for the victims of the violent brawl, Martin Luther King, and everyone else, turned around, returning back to Selma.
14TH AND 15TH AMENDMENT (1968 AND 1970)
Three years after Bloody Sunday, under the Jim Crow Laws, the constitution of the 14th amendment was declared, by the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson. This amendment allowed black people to have the same safety security as the whites. Then came along the 15th amendment on February 3rd, 1970, where black men were given the rights to vote. This was commenced by 37th president, Lyndon John B. The importance behind these amendments is the freedom they allowed for all African Americans, including the ability for them to become an American citizen, use the same restrooms, and residencies.
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT (1954-1965)
Black Power (1960’s and 1970’s)
Black Power was a movement, and slogan in the 1960’s-70’s with a similar goal to push for racial equality, the only difference was physical enforcement was included if necessary. This slogan was made by Stokely Carmichael, and Willie Rickist. Both social activists were striving for their voices to be heard by everyone in the United States, and so the slogan was made in order for them to become more vocal about their motives, as it was to oppose white supremacy in a more physical way; violence.
The effect of this movement in relation to the Civil RIghts movement was the attention CNCC and the BPP was getting, allowing the power and progress the movement had, and its impact on fellow african americans. Black Power has also set an influence on today’s Black Lives Matter protests, where some protests have resulted into riots, in order to go against the police brutality against african americans. Modern day protests have resulted in taking down statues of racist historical figures, including Christopher Columbus, and burning police stations, such as the Minneapolis Police Department.
Black Panther Party
In October 1966, college students Bobby Seale and Huey Newton commenced a political organisation named the Black Panther Party, where they promoted the movement. The organisation had over 2,000 members, where all also followed the Black Power movement. Their goal was to end police brutality against races, and for more black employment within the United States political organisations. Although they achieved social issues such as free health clinics in black communities, and free breakfast for primary students, they were unsuccessful with achieving their end goal, due to the controversy the police had against them. BPP was considered a communist organisation, going against the government. Due to the vocal conflict between the two organisations, police officers and the FBI were involved with physical confrontations against members. According to his autobiography, Revolutionary Suicide, Newton was accused of murdering John Frey, a police officer from Oakland in 1967. Due to this accusation, he was sentenced to court for manslaughter, and was sentenced to prison for two to fifteen years. The trial lasted for 2 years, and he was set free in early August, 1970.
This however, was not the only criminal case BPP was involved in. Their newspaper editor, Eldridge Cleaver, and fellow member Bobby Hutton, were both involved in a shootout against policemen in 1968. The end result was the death of Hutton, who was only 17 years old. A year after this conflict was the murder within the organisation itself of Alex Rackley, who was suspected as a police informant. By 1972, the organisation was disbanded, due to criminal reports of alleged drug dealing within the organisation.
IMPACT OF CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT ON TODAY’S WORLD
As of May 25 2020 -also known as the death of George Floyd by policeman Derek Chauvin- global protests and riots have occurred, in honour of the tragic death. The influence behind these movements are the Black Power movement and the Civil Rights Movement, as the intention behind today’s protests are to stop police brutality against all African Americans. The hashtag, #blacklivesmatter was created in order to showcase that they are in need of help right now from everyone, in order to stop the discrimination they are all facing currently. The purpose of this hashtag is to also spread the message that not all lives matter until black lives do.
On social media, people have been using a black fist icon as their profile picture, in order to show their support of the movement happening. The fist represents black liberation, influenced under the Black Power movement, and athletes, Tommy Smith and Jimmy Carlos; the athletes who raised their fists during the 1968 Mexico Olympics, protesting alongside with the Black Power movement.