African Americans Their History, t heir Culture, and How to Teach it

1. African AmericansTheir History, their Culture, and How to Teach it Summary and Reflection by Michael Foster

2. Early History • Starts with helped establishment of St. Augustine, Florida. • Bondage became more common for West African captives. -The Armistad -The Middle Passage

3. Slavery • 1619, first Africans arrived as indentured servants. • Slavery more profitable • Dehumanized and convinced of being inferior. • Reinforced White supremacy • Plantation life was hard and painful. • Worked sunrise to sundown under overseer • Africans still developed sense of community. • Family was important

4. Early Rebellion • Harriet Tubman was a leader the Underground Railroad. • Guided by the North Star to freedom • Poisoning their masters’ food • Actual Rebellion • Most successful, Nat Turner, 1831. • Armed crew killed about 60 whites, went on for about 48 hours.

5. Abolitionists • 1800s, these groups denounced slavery harshly. • American Anti-Slavery Society • Most militant, but headed by whites and used blacks just as symbols. • Frederick Douglass • African Abolitionist, edited and published the North Star despite objections from white abolitionists.

6. Civil War and Reconstruction • For Africans, it seemed God-sent, but in reality it was a fight to preserve the Union, not to end slavery. • Emancipation Proclamation • Slaves were never actually freed, but gave moral uplift. • 13th and 14th Amendments • Abolished Slavery and recognized Blacks as citizens. • Reconstruction Act • Confederate states need to ratify 14th before allowed back into Union.

7. White Supremacy • Hayes becomes President • Federal troops removed from South • Whites reestablish control in Government • Grandfather Clause, literacy tests, poll taxes. • Ku Klux Klan • Lynching • Jim Crow Laws • Segregation of public facilities • Plessy v. Ferguson • Stripped 14th and 15th Amendments of meaning and declared poll taxes and literacy tests constitutional.

8. Organizations to fight Racism • Niagara Movement • W. E. B. DuBois, militant spokesman. • NAACP • Concentrated on improving African American legal status. • UNIA • Marcus Garvey, preached Black Pride and urged them to return to Africa • Aimed at lower-class African Americans.

9. Harlem Renaissance • 1920s and 1930s, African American artists, writers and musicians bloomed. • Emphasized Black pride and protested racism and discrimination. • Some of the best novels and music was written and composed. • Langston Hughes • Development of Blues and Jazz

10. Harry S. Truman • Took steps to improve race relations. • Desegregated the armed forces. • Ended discrimination in industries working with the Federal Government • Set the expectations and racial tolerance for African Americans.

11. Brown v. Board of Education • Ruled school segregation as inherently unequal. • Proved against the decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. • This was the biggest case in bringing forth the Civil Rights Movement.

12. Civil Rights Movement of 1960s and 1970s • Montgomery Bus Boycott • Rosa Parks was high point • Stayed boycotted until desegregation of the busses. • SNCC, head by Martin Luther King Jr. • Used civil disobedience tactics. • March on Washington for Freedom • Civil Rights Act of 1964 • African Americans still felt poor and without power. • Carmichael and Rap Brown provide examples into militaristic approaches. • Black Panther Movement

13. Today • Census facts state progress in education, economy, and politics. • Still have challenges in income, housing, and social mobility. • Large amount remains in the inner-city, low-income communities. • Female headed households are common. • Less than half, 47%, of households are of married couples. • 45% of them being headed by females. • Median Household Income is highest ever, but is still the lowest among all racial groups. • 34% of African American children still live in poverty.

14. What to make of this • Blacks are a community oriented racial group, and as a teacher, we need to understand that. • These children are also largely poverty-stricken, so materials and supplies used in your classroom may need to be supplied yourself. • Also, African American children tend to defend themselves from others verbally. • These children also have the idea that their “future holds little hope”, and that their enthusiasm may be low or unmotivated. • They also have self-esteem issues because of they white-oriented schooling they have been through, which leads to low motivation. • But you can not forget, these are generalizations.

15. Teaching Strategies • To help teach African American history and culture, here are some ideas: • Tell students stories of slave mutinies and ask them to act them out in role-play situations. Then question them on what you believe they should have learned. • Have students understand African American Organizations by studying a selected organization, writing a paper, or comparing organizations and what they believed in.