History

Jazz was the most popular music of this period, and it played an enormous role in the vital cultural scene in Harlem. Some say that jazz is the most unique form of creative expression of our times. By the 1920s, jazz had spread throughout the country and the world. Many jazz performers came to Harlem, … Read more

Born in Florida in 1903, Zora Neale Hurston studied at Morgan State, Barnard College, and Howard University. While at Howard, she published some short stories for Opportunity and was influenced by the black intellectual Alain Locke. She earned her degree in anthropology from Barnard (she was the first black woman to attend) and utilized this … Read more

Unable to participate in political life and without decent jobs after the Civil War, many blacks turned to religion for comfort. The Civil War also brought about a separation of white and black churches in the South. Most white southerners did not welcome African Americans into their church congregations. Those who did required blacks to … Read more

After Reconstruction, southern states enacted laws that made it nearly impossible for blacks to vote, which meant that political power was now held solely by whites. Where the races had been previously separated by habit, they were now separated by law. These laws were also called Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow was a buffoonish minstrel … Read more

Poll taxes were taxes that only blacks were required to pay if they wanted to vote. The rules on paying these taxes were deliberately confusing and unfair. Poll taxes were used throughout the South as a way to stop African Americans from voting.

In 1876, the results of the presidential election between Samuel J. Tilden, a Democrat, and Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, were disputed because of irregularities in the counting of votes. The two sides finally compromised: The Democrats agreed to the election of Hayes as president if he would guarantee that the states could rule themselves … Read more

By the 1930s, the Buffalo Soldiers had been reduced to tending horses. In 1944 the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry Regiments were deactivated, and the Buffalo Soldiers no longer existed. But in 1958, the Ninth and Tenth Regiments were reactivated, and today, the First and Second Tank Battalions of the Tenth Cavalry at Fort Knox, Kentucky, … Read more

These black codes, enacted to control former slaves in the South, were much stricter in some states than in others. In certain states, blacks could testify in court, but only in cases involving other blacks. South Carolina forbade freed blacks without a special license from doing any work except farming and menial jobs. Additionally, African … Read more

Under the Constitution, power is divided between the national (also known as federal) government and the state governments. The national government has the power to enforce constitutional laws. Each state has the power to regulate matters inside the state as long as they are within constitutional law. These powers are sometimes called states’ rights. Those … Read more

Whenever blacks came to register to vote, some southern states, such as Mississippi and South Carolina, required registrants who could not read to interpret a section of the state’s constitution after it was read aloud to them. Another test, the good-character test, required a registrant to bring a responsible witness along to vouch for his … Read more

Arthur Schomburg (1874-1938), a journalist, lecturer, and businessman, spent his life collecting books, manuscripts, and artwork by and about black people, a rare passion at a time when few people were interested in black culture. In doing so, he played an enormous role in the preservation of African and African American culture. In 1911, Schomburg … Read more

Black Fraternities. Alpha Phi Alpha (1906) Kappa Alpha Psi (1911) Omega Psi Phi (1911) Phi Beta Sigma (1914)

Booker T. Washington was highly respected by presidents William McKinley, William H. Taft, and Theodore Roosevelt. Because of Washington’s recommendations, African Americans were appointed to several important positions in the federal and local Washington, D.C., governments. Robert H. Terrell was appointed to a municipal judgeship in the District of Columbia in 1902, and William H. … Read more

Financial support was offered by wealthy philanthropists who wanted to help the cause of black freedom. The John F. Slater Fund, established in 1882, supported schools, especially those that trained teachers. Between 1911 and 1932, Chicago humanitarian Julius Rosenwald contributed over $4,000,000 to help pay for the construction of school buildings in the rural South. … Read more

Booker T. Washington founded the National Negro Business League in 1900. The organization provided a forum in which black businessmen could get encouragement and inspiration from one another. By 1915, the League had formed 600 state and local branches.

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), born a slave, was an educator who believed that freedom for African Americans would come through personal education, self-help, and economic advancement rather than fighting for integration and equal rights. He advised blacks to take responsibility for their individual situations, and he opposed civil rights. Militant blacks disagreed with his views. … Read more

Between 1900 and 1909, there were about 1,600 black college graduates. By 1915 that total had risen to more than 5,300. W. E. B. Du Bois referred to these college-educated blacks as the “Talented Tenth,” although they made up much less than one-tenth of the African American population, which totaled about ten and a half … Read more

In 1905, a group of African Americans led by William Edward Burghardt (W. E. B.) Du Bois founded the Niagara Movement at Niagara Falls, Canada. The group was considered radical because it demanded action rather than empty promises. Members of the Niagara Movement later became part of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored … Read more

Black cowboys drove cattle, scouted, and mined for gold. Nat Love, born into slavery in Tennessee in 1854, won a horse in a raffle at the age of fifteen. He rode it from his Texas home to Kansas, in the hope of becoming a cowboy. He made a name for himself by breaking the wildest … Read more

Alpha Kappa Alpha (1908) Delta Sigma Theta (1913) Zeta Phi Beta (1920) Sigma Gamma Rho (1922)

By 1900, almost one-fourth of all African Americans lived in cities. The largest black populations were in Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, Maryland; New Orleans, Louisiana; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York City; and Memphis, Tennessee. Each of these cities had more than 40,000 black residents. Bill Pickett was a well-known African American on the western rodeo circuit.

African Americans in rural areas lived by farming. In the cities, the most common jobs were carpenters, janitors, drivers, stonemasons, barbers, and cooks. Farm workers earned an average of $60 per year. Carpenters earned $.75 to $1.25 an hour. Cooks averaged $5 a month in 1902. Black businesses that became successful were in fields in … Read more

Blacks were attracted to the cities because of the opportunities for work, mostly in the iron and steel industries. They wrote letters back home to let friends and families know what opportunities were like: The people are rushing here by the thousands, and I know that if you come here and rent a big house … Read more

William Edward Burghardt (W. E. B.) Du Bois (1868, 1963) was a writer, sociologist, philosopher, scholar, and leader respected throughout the world for his militant, outspoken support of justice and equal rights for blacks worldwide. He helped to organize the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909, and was editor of … Read more

Even after gaining acceptance into military service, black soldiers suffered racist treatment from many of their white officers. They received half the pay of white troops and were given menial duties. The Confederates generally treated their black prisoners with brutality. When several hundred black Union troops were captured at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, in 1864, they … Read more

Harriet Tubman left her husband and brothers behind when she escaped from slavery, and her intelligence had enabled her to free hundreds of slaves without getting caught. She used this same ability in the Union army, where she served as a spy and a nurse during the Civil War. Her bravery and mastery of the … Read more

In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed, abolishing slavery in the entire United States. The Thirteenth Amendment was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted after the American Civil War. Below are the amendments. Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall … Read more

Brick and stonemasons (126) Building or general laborers (1,835) Carpenters (275) Clergymen (215) Compositors and typesetters (113) Coopers (148) House painters (286) Iron and steel workers (3,201) Janitors (1,822) Laborers (5,300) Laborers, porters, and helpers in stores (1,210) Lawyers (95) Machinists (431) Male servants (1,942) Musicians or music teachers (254) Non-store clerks (1,659) Physicians (195) … Read more

After President Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation, blacks rushed to join up to help the North win the war. A total of 178,985 fought in the war; 37,000 were killed in action and seventeen black soldiers and sailors were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest award for bravery in the United States. The … Read more

For forty years, the North and South had been resentful of each other for economic, social, and political reasons. The South was agricultural and produced crops such as cotton, tobacco, and sugar cane for export to the North or to Europe. But it depended on the North for manufacturing and business services important for trading. … Read more

The Civil War (also known as the War Between the States and the War of Southern Independence) was a military conflict between the United States of America (the Union) and eleven secessionist Southern states, organized as the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). It took place between the years 1861 and 1865, and was won … Read more

In Birmingham, Alabama, Arthur George Gaston formed the Booker T. Washington Burial Society in 1923 to collect money from blacks to guarantee them a decent burial. He also founded the Booker T. Washington Business College in 1939, offering courses in bookkeeping, shorthand, and typing for blacks who could not attend white business schools. Gaston also … Read more

In 1860, the slave-owning southern states began to worry that they would lose their power, perhaps even their slaves, under newly elected President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican. Between November 1860 and February 1861, those states seceded, or broke away, from the United States, renamed themselves the Confederate States of America (they were also known as … Read more

After 1773, the northern states slowly eliminated slavery because their industries did not need to use slave labor. In 1777, Vermont became the first state to abolish slavery outright.

By the late 1880s and 1890s, whites were lynching African Americans throughout the country. Infuriated about the gains that blacks had made since slavery ended, white American mobs lynched blacks to assert white control. Men and women were lynched for talking fresh, for not addressing a white person correctly, and for testifying against a white … Read more

Freedom’s Journal (New York City, 1827-1829) Rights of All (New York City, 1829) Weekly Advocate (New York City, 1837) Colored American (New York City, 1837-1841) National Reformer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1838-1839) Mirror of Liberty (New York City, 1838-1840) Northern Star and Freemen’s Advocate (Albany, New York, 1842) Mystery (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1843-1847) Ram’s Horn (New York City, … Read more

On April 25, 1822, a group of black settlers, sponsored by the American Colonization Society, landed at Cape Mesurado in Liberia. By 1839, they had formed a commonwealth and had elected a governor, Thomas Buchanan (a black cousin of James Buchanan, the fifteenth president of the United States). In 1847, the area known as Liberia … Read more

In the early 1800s, abolitionists, free blacks, politicians, religious leaders, and even President Thomas Jefferson debated whether sending blacks back to Africa would solve the problem of slavery. The idea was called the Return to Africa movement. Not everyone agreed. The abolitionist David Walker said, “America is more our country than it is the whites’. … Read more

The National Urban League was formed as a result of the merging of three different organizations. The National League for the Protection of Colored Women (NLPCW), founded in 1906 by white social worker Frances Kellor, worked to stop the exploitation of southern black women who had been lured north by “false representations regarding wages and … Read more

One of the most memorable abolitionists of her time, the dark, tall, and plainly dressed woman calling herself Sojourner Truth was born into slavery in 1797. After enduring years of physical and emotional abuse, Truth was freed in 1827 under New York State law. The bold, independent-minded Truth went on to become a moving and … Read more

Slaves played significant parts in the design and construction of plantations, churches, mansions, and public buildings. John Hemings was a slave artisan who managed the woodwork, or joiner’s, shop at Monticello, President Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia plantation. Hemings created at least eight items of furniture designed by Jefferson, bringing the president’s sketches to life as chairs, … Read more

After more than 200 years of slavery, African Americans now saw a chance to work for themselves by farming their own land and using their skills to make a living. It was now legal for them to come and go whenever they wanted, to learn to read and write, to stay with their families, and … Read more

President Lincoln pushed for strong laws to help the 4 million former slaves. Congress passed, and the states ratified, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. The Thirteenth Amendment, passed in 1865, stated that enslavement of any group of people was forever unlawful. The Fourteenth Amendment, passed in 1866, stated that every person … Read more

In 1905, nine African American college students at New York State’s Cornell University decided to form a society for fellowship and mutual support. On October 23, 1906, the friends formed the first black fraternity (another word for “brotherhood”), Alpha Phi Alpha. There were many white fraternities already in existence. Over the next several years, additional … Read more

In Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Providence, Rhode Island, antislavery crusader Prince Hall (1735-1807) organized a group of Masonic lodges for blacks beginning with African Lodge #459, America’s first black fraternal organization. By 1831, black communities in many cities had churches, fraternal orders, schools, and political organizations. Most of them were established to help blacks … Read more

By the early 1800s, writing had became an important part of the black struggle for freedom. It gave blacks a way to defend themselves publicly and share information quickly. In 1793, Thomas Gray, Absalom Jones, and Richard Allen (1760-1831), three prominent black leaders in Philadelphia, published long essays denouncing those who supported slavery and treated … Read more

Slave songs, also called spirituals, were songs of sorrow and hope, created by the slaves. They contained words or messages about their longing for freedom or their coming reward in heaven for their suffering on earth, as this example demonstrates: Nobody knows de trouble I see Nobody knows but Jesus Nobody knows de trouble I … Read more

Discrimination against free blacks was very strong throughout the United States in the 1800s. Although African Americans could vote in some northern states in the years after the Revolutionary War, there were laws limiting black political participation, ownership of land, and social contact with whites. In 1829 a white mob attacked an African American community … Read more

When the Fifteenth Amendment was passed, the large numbers of new black voters meant that blacks were finally participating in government. The Freedmen’s Bureau helped African Americans build schools, small businesses, and churches. Several black colleges were founded during this time. White teachers came to the South, opened schools, and trained other teachers; ministers and … Read more

After the end of the Civil War, blacks all over the United States gathered in groups of all sizes to discuss their future in America and American politics. One such gathering was the Colored National Convention, held April 5 to 7, 1876, in Nashville, Tennessee. There they discussed social and political issues such as who … Read more

The Freedmen’s Bureau, run by Major General Oliver O. Howard, offered a variety of services. It distributed food and clothing to freedmen who had been made homeless by the Civil War, and rented to them up to forty acres of land that had been abandoned or confiscated. Its health program established forty hospitals, and treated … Read more

Black schools were tremendously important to the African American community in the late nineteenth century. In addition to providing education, these schools also trained farmers and published newspapers. They educated blacks about land acquisition and encouraged more active participation in politics and government as well. Southern whites became incensed about the existence of these schools … Read more

On March 13, 1866, Congress passed an act, called the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which stated that all persons born in the United States were citizens with full rights and privileges of citizenship under the Constitution. In 1875, a second civil rights act, called the Civil Rights Act of 1875, was enacted. It stated … Read more

Between 1865 and 1877 the U.S. government passed laws that helped protect the rights of all free people in the United States. This period was called Reconstruction, because it was supposed to lead to a reconstructed, or repaired, society that included people of all races.

In sharecropping, poor blacks and whites sold their labor to planters for a share of the crop. The planter sold them cabins, work animals, tools, food, clothes, and other supplies on credit. At the end of the season, the sharecropper would pay off his debts with profits from the crop. But planters charged whatever they … Read more

Many tested their freedom by leaving their slave owners to go in search of lost relatives. Some adventurers took off with no special destination in mind. But few of the freed slaves (or freedmen, as they were called) had the experience or skills to begin an independent life. Most could not read or write, and … Read more

As more blacks participated in politics, the black vote became important. African Americans filled many elected and appointed positions, including those of sheriff, mayor, prosecuting attorney, justice of the peace, and county superintendent of education. Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Carolina each elected black lieutenant governors. Many changes were made in federal, state, and local laws. … Read more

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (or the Freedmen’s Bureau, as it was called), was created by the U.S. War Department to provide basic health and educational services to help make the slaves’ changeover to freedom easier. It existed from 1865 to 1872. There were about one hundred other privately financed freedmen’s aid … Read more

Because Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Georgia had the largest African American populations, those states had some of the first black elected politicians beginning in 1867. John Willis Menard of Louisiana and Jefferson F. Long of Georgia were among the first African Americans elected to Congress (in 1868 and 1870, respectively). In Louisiana, the black … Read more

The 1860 census listed 488,070 free blacks in the United States. Some, children of a slave mother and a white slavemaster, for example, had been freed privately. Some had been slaves who had saved enough money, from outside work, to buy their freedom. Others had been given their freedom as a reward for faithful service … Read more

Black Colleges Founded During Reconstruction: Knoxville College, Tennessee (1863) Emerson College, Alabama (1867) Howard University, Washington, D.C. (1867) Howard University Medical School (1868) Howard University Law School (1871) Morehouse College, Georgia (1867) Morgan State College, Baltimore, Maryland (1867) Johnson C. Smith College, North Carolina (1867) Talladega College, Alabama (1867) Hampton University, Virginia (1868) Dillard University, … Read more

In 1862, the Morril Act was created to provide funding for land grants for higher education. In 1890, the second Morril Act (or Land Grant Act) was passed. This act stated that the government had to pay for the creation and maintenance of technical and agricultural schools for blacks if they were going to provide … Read more

Some free northern blacks were already participating in politics. Many worked with white elected officials to abolish slavery. What they learned enabled them to help other African Americans understand how the U.S. government operated. Many of these northern blacks moved to the South after the Civil War, so that they could work where the majority … Read more

Paul Cuffe (1759-1817), a free black man, operated his own successful shipbuilding company in Connecticut in the late 1700s and early 1800s. He used the wealth he accumulated to help other blacks. Former Mississippi slave William Johnson, freed in 1820, earned a modest fortune operating barbershops in Natchez, Mississippi, in the 1830s and 1840s. He … Read more

U.S. Slave Population in 1860 Alabama: 435,000 Arkansas: 111,000 Delaware: 2,000 Florida: 62,000 Georgia: 462,000 Kentucky: 225,000 Louisiana: 332,000 Maryland: 87,000 Mississippi: 437,000 Missouri: 115,000 North Carolina: 331,000 South Carolina: 402,000 Tennessee: 276,000 Texas: 183,000 Virginia: 491,000

On March 5, 1770, an angry crowd gathered in the streets of Boston, Massachusetts, to protest the unfair taxes and laws in the American colonies. British soldiers rushed to control the crowd. Crispus Attucks, a black seaman and escaped slave, was the first to confront the British soldiers. When the soldiers retaliated, Crispus Attucks was … Read more

Life was hard for the black politicians during Reconstruction. They were seldom appointed to important committee chairmanships. They were not invited to socialize and did not receive special benefits that other congressmen did. They could not get into restaurants or hotels in the downtown Washington, D.C. area, and had to sleep at the homes of … Read more

By mid-1820, there were twenty-two states in the United States. Eleven allowed slavery, and were called slave states; the other eleven were called free states. In 1820, Missouri asked to become a state. In Congress, Northerners and Southerners fought about whether Missouri would become a slave state or a free state. Each group had the … Read more

The Constitution, adopted in 1788, is the document that describes the government of the United States. The Constitution was written very carefully so that government policies could not be made by one person or group. The people knew that any government with too much power could be dangerous, like the British rule they had recently … Read more

In 1783, Great Britain and the colonies, which now called themselves the United States, signed a peace treaty. Delegates from each state then tried to set up a nation that would stand for freedom and democracy as no nation ever had. In May 1787, they met to plan this new government. On September 17, 1787, … Read more

Some of the first accounts of black participation in the American military appear in the memoirs of Lucy Terry Prince (1730-1821). Prince, considered to be the first African American poet, tells of black women who disguised themselves as men to fight against the British in the Revolutionary War. Black women and white women often worked … Read more

Hcram R. Revels (Mississippi), 1870-1871: The first black U.S. senator; in 1852, as pastor at the St. Paul AME Church in St. Louis, he defied the law by allowing slaves to worship in his church and starting a school to teach black children to read and write. Blanche K. Bruce (Mississippi), 1875-1881: A former slave, … Read more

When war came, many of the colonies, particularly in the North, allowed blacks to take up arms. Early black fighting men were not drafted or obligated by law to serve the country; they volunteered. Many blacks volunteered to join the Continental army (the colonists’ army) because they believed that a free United States would also … Read more

The writers of the Constitution thought that it was more important to form a nation than to end slavery. They decided not to refer to slavery in the Constitution. This is why the original Constitution did not use the words “black,” “Negro,” ‘African;’ or “slave.” However, in three places in the original Constitution, it is … Read more

In June 1839, fifty-three captured Africans were brought from West Africa to Cuba, where they were sold to two Spaniards. On June 28, they were chained belowdecks on a ship, the Amistad, to be taken to their destination. On the fourth night at sea, the Africans, led by a young man named Cinque, broke their … Read more

Harriet Tubman was one of the more famous conductors in the Underground Railroad. She was a Maryland slave who escaped in 1849 by walking one hundred miles to Pennsylvania. Carrying a rifle, she made at least fifteen trips back to the South to help at least three hundred slaves escape, including her parents and six … Read more

When possible, conductors met them at Cincinnati, Ohio, and Wilmington, Delaware, which were at the northern borders of the slave states. Those escaping to Canada went to the lake ports of Detroit, Michigan; Sandusky, Ohio; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Buffalo, New York, where they could sail north. Each safe place long the Underground Railroad was called … Read more

Most of the fugitives came from the states of the upper South, such as Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky, because these states were closest to the North. They were usually young, single males. It was rare that whole families fled together, because it was very risky. The escapees usually sought out isolated stations or vigilance committee … Read more

The Underground Railroad was the name given to a secret network of houses and people who illegally helped escaping slaves reach safety in the non-slave states or Canada in the period before the American Civil War. It was also called the Liberty Line. The name also referred to the escape routes through the North as … Read more

Although most blacks were held in slavery in the 1700s and 1800s, and despite the fact that economic opportunities were rare and risky, even for free blacks, a few free blacks owned businesses. Some, mostly in the North, owned construction companies, inns, tailor shops, or other businesses.

Some free blacks did own slaves. Others bought their own relatives to get them out of slavery. There were also a number of skilled free blacks, such as tailors, shoemakers, and carpenters, who bought slaves and made them apprentices. In 1850, 19 percent of the black tailors in Charleston, South Carolina, owned slaves. According to … Read more

In 1833, the American Anti-Slavery Society was established in Philadelphia to advance the abolition of slavery in the United States. The first such society in America, it was made up of smaller local groups. The American Anti-Slavery Society was formed by Theodore Dwight Weld (1803-1895), Arthur Tappan (1786-1865), and Lewis Tappan (1788-1873), who were militant … Read more

The first known black church in America, the African Baptist or Bluestone Church, was established in 1758 on the William Byrd plantation in Mecklenberg, Virginia. The church was named after the nearby Bluestone River. Around 1774, the Silver Bluff Baptist Church in Silver Bluff, South Carolina, was founded by a slave preacher named George Liele. … Read more

Abolitionists had many methods and ideas. The Reverend Henry Highland Garnet called for a slave uprising at an 1843 meeting of black representatives. Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Maria Stewart, and others helped slaves escape through the Underground Railroad. Some fought slavery with the pen. Theodore Dwight Weld collected stories from slaves, slave owners, and slave … Read more

By the middle of the 1700s, the American colonists were very unhappy with the way they were being ruled by the English king. For example, the British had imposed heavy taxes that the colonists believed were unfair. When the colonists refused to pay, the British sent troops to harass them into paying the taxes. The … Read more

Education was one of the first steps toward unlocking the chains of slavery, but it was against the law for a slave to be taught to read or write. Those who wanted to learn used the Bible, or depended on abolitionists and young white school children who considered it an adventure to teach slaves. They … Read more

In the colonists’ opinion, Native Americans were not suited to be slaves because they caught European diseases too easily. Indentured servants were also unsuitable because there weren’t enough of them and they were protected by law from being enslaved. Africans were used as slaves instead because they were strong, not protected by laws, and could … Read more

During America’s colonial period, blacks were not allowed to join the military because colonists feared that blacks would harm whites or even revolt if they were given guns. Some also believed that blacks were inferior and incapable of fighting.

In 1776, the thirteen colonies voted to declare their independence from Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson put their declaration in writing. This document was called the Declaration of Independence, and was signed by fifty-six representatives of the colonies. The Declaration of Independence is written in language that is easy to understand. It has three parts. The … Read more

Frederick Douglass (1817-1895), born a slave in Maryland, escaped to New York at the age of twenty-one. He educated himself and became the greatest anti-slavery speaker of his time. In his speeches, he told of the conditions that slaves lived in, how they were treated, and how they felt. In 1847 he established the North … Read more