american dream week 3 part 2

The American

Dream

Week 3, Part 2

Keiser University eCampus

Week 3

Struggle for Inclusion:

Part 2, African Americans

Timeline of American Slavery

20 Africans are

brought to

Virginia as slaves

in 1619.

There are about

500,000 black slaves

in the colonies in

1775.

Eli Whitney invents the

cotton gin in 1793,

creating a boon in the

cotton industry.

The first of the

Fugitive Slave Laws is

signed in 1793.

All Northern

states

abolish

slavery by

1804.

The slave

population

reaches nearly 4

million by 1860.

In 1860-61,

eleven states

secede from the

Union to form the

Confederate

States of

America.

In 1831, a slave

revolt led by Nat

Turner results in

the death of

more than 60

whites.

In 1820, the Missouri

Compromise is

signed.

In 1861, the

Confederate Army

fires on Union

troops in Fort

Sumter, beginning

the American Civil

War.

On April 9, 1863,

General Lee

surrenders at the

Appomattox Court

House, signaling the

end of fighting.

In 1688, the first

antislavery

resolution is

adopted by the

Pennsylvania

Quakers.

Massachusetts is

the first colony to

legalize slavery in

1641.

Exclusion from the American Dream

As the New World was settled by Europeans, the need for laborers grew.

However, the environment was harsh, workers were difficult to find, and

the mortality rate was high.

Many immigrants who came to the New World in the 1600s and 1700s

did so as indentured servants. These workers agreed to work for a

period of time in order to pay for their passage to the New World. After

the agreement was fulfilled, the immigrants were released from service.

Another way the need for laborers was met was through the enslavement

of Native Americans. Many Native American tribes used war prisoners as

slaves, and this practice sometimes resulted in the sale of such slaves to

the European settlers. The escape rate was high because of the

knowledge the Native Americans had of their environment, and as a

result, many were sold into slavery far from their homes.

As a result, another option to obtain workers grew in popularity: the

Atlantic slave trade.


The Atlantic slave trade seemed to provide an answer to the problem of insufficient

workers. Atlantic slave trade lasted nearly four centuries, and millions of African men,

women, and children were sold into slavery. European ships traveled to Africa to trade

goods for slaves and then took the slaves to the Americas. The ships then typically

took goods from the Americas back to Europe, creating a triangular trade.

BBCWorldService. The story of Africa: Slavery [image]. Retrieved from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/9chapter4.shtml


The voyage from Africa to the Americas was a harsh one. People were

packed into the ships to maximize the number of slaves that could be

transported, and millions of Africans died during the trip across the Atlantic.

Encyclopedia Britannica. Transatlantic slave trade [image]. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/transatlantic-slave-trade


Slavery grew in the American colonies, mainly in the south. Slaves were

used as labor on tobacco, rice, and cotton plantations, and the invention of

the cotton gin in 1793 further established the importance of cotton (and the

slave labor used for it) to the south’s economy.

Slaves were property and were bought and sold as such. Slaves who did

not meet their master’s expectations or attempted to escape were

sometimes subjected to harsh and cruel punishments, including beatings,

starvation, whippings, mutilation, branding, and sexual abuse.

The first Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1793. Under the law, local

governments could capture and return slaves to their owners, and anyone

who helped a fugitive could be punished.

In 1850, the second Fugitive Slave Act was passed. It provided even

harsher penalties for anyone aiding a runaway slave.


The Underground Railroad was a network that helped slaves escape. There

were safe houses where runaway slaves could hide on their journey north to

Canada. The number of slaves who actually escaped successfully was

small, but coordinated efforts such as these served to challenge the

institution of slavery.

The opposition to American slavery continued to grow and was reflected in

literature in the form of slave narratives and abolitionist texts.

Examples of slave narratives include Frederick Douglass’s Autobiography

and Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Abolitionist texts

include Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Liberator, an

abolitionist newspaper, founded by William Lloyd Garrison.


Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) was born into slavery. As a

child, she was able to live with her parents, even though

they had different masters. Her mistress, a woman named

Delilah Horniblow, taught her to read and write, which was

unusual.

After her mother’s death, Jacobs was sold to Dr. and Mrs.

James Norcom. Dr. Norcom was determined to abuse her

sexually and was somewhat obsessed with her, and

Jacobs devised a way to attempt to earn her freedom. She

initiated an affair with an unmarried white attorney, Samuel

Sawyer, and had two children with him, thinking that it

would provoke Norcom into selling her. Her plan failed;

instead, Norcom planned to force Jacobs’s children to work

hard labor in the fields.


Afraid for herself and for her children’s safety, Jacobs ran away. Sawyer

purchased his children from Norcom and allowed them to live with Jacobs’s

grandmother. Unknown to Sawyer and the children, Jacobs was living in the

small attic at her grandmother’s house. She stayed there for seven years,

hiding from Norcom, and later escaped to the North. She lived with the Willis

family, who eventually bought her freedom.

Reward announcement posted by

James Norcom.


Like Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) was born into

slavery and later escaped.

After he published his autobiography in 1845, Douglass traveled to

Great Britain, in part as a speaking tour and in part to avoid

potential capture under the Fugitive Slave Laws. While in Europe,

Douglass earned enough money to buy his freedom.

After returning to America, Douglass settled for a time in Rochester, New York, where

he published a newspaper called The North Star and was active in the Underground

Railroad.

On July 5,1852, Douglass gave a speech in Rochester. Instead of delivering a

speech to celebrate American freedom, he spoke about the hypocrisy of slavery.


The Harlem Renaissance (1917-1937) was a literary, intellectual, and art movement

that shaped African American identity.

Following the end of the Civil War, more African Americans had access to education

and opportunity, which resulted in the forming of a black middle class. However, in

1896, the Plessy v. Ferguson case heard by the Supreme Court established

segregation as constitutional, stunting the hope of racial equality. Segregation and

racism were especially powerful in the South, and a result of continued oppression and

poor economic conditions in the South, millions of African Americans moved north. This

movement was known as the Great Migration.

An abundance of housing in Harlem led to many African Americans settling there,

including many talented artists and entrepreneurs. Art, music, and literature celebrated

African American culture and became a way to express ideas related to civil

rights. This explosion of cultural expression became known as the Harlem

Renaissance. Writers such as Langston Hughes, a poet, and Richard Wright, a

novelist, had a significant impact on the Harlem Renaissance. They wrote about

African American life, racism, and identity in America.


Richard Wright (1908-1960) was born near Natchez,

Mississippi. His father abandoned the family when Wright was a

young child, and Wright was raised by relatives. He had a difficult

childhood--he lived in poverty, and his constant shifting between

relatives gave him an unstable educational environment. In

addition, he was a victim of the racism and oppression that

existed in the Deep South.

Wright moved to Memphis on his own at age 17. He began to understand the deep-

rooted anger felt by many African Americans, and he came to believe that people could

only move beyond their anger by first acknowledging it. In much of his work, Wright

expressed a theme "of the devastating effect of relentless, institutionalized hatred and

humiliation on the black male's psyche" (Baym et al, 2013, p. 2245). This theme is

evident in his short story "The Man Who Was Almost A Man" and in his novel Native

Son. Native Son achieved critical success and earned Wright a Pulitzer Prize. It was

also successfully produced on Broadway by Orson Welles.

Like his contemporary Langston Hughes, Wright was drawn to the Communist Party's

theme of racial equality. He eventually became dissatisfied with the Communist Party

and broke from it in 1944.


Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) grew up in Oklahoma and originally

studied music. He eventually turned to writing, his most

famous work being Invisible Man.

Ellison took some criticism for not writing “social protest”

works. Think about that as you read the short excerpt we are

reading this week. In what ways is the work about race, an

what ways does it transcend race?


Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) is well known for his

activism. He was the leader of the Civil Rights Movement

from the mid-1950s until his death in 1968.

King’s father was a minister, and he became a pastor as

well.

His 1963 speech “I Have a Dream,” delivered in Washington, D.C., is one of his

most famous and most anthologized. As you read it, look for ways in which King

applies rhetorical devices to make the speech so powerful. Specifically, look for

his use of allusion, metaphor, imagery, and repetition.

Take a few minutes to compare King’s speech to Douglass’s speech. How are

they similar? How are they different?

It may help you to listen to the speeches. Scroll down to a link in the “Links to

Explore” section of this lecture.


In the last two weeks, we have touched on how women, members of the LGBTQ

community, Native Americans, and African Americans have been excluded from the

American Dream. We have explored how the idea of “hard work brings success” does

not always apply to everyone.

Next week, we’ll talk about the how the American Dream applies to today’s society. Is

the American Dream alive and well for all Americans, or is it a dream from the past?

or

american dream week 3 part 2

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