M7 -Slavery and Western Civilization

Slavery has been a presence as long as history has been recorded. History in the West records the reality of humans enslaving other humans, for labor, as trade goods and to serve the various needs of those who owned them. We have earlier noted the legal language of Hammurabi’s Code relating the relationships of slaves and masters as well as the social order in ancient Rome (among other civilizations) which functioned so efficiently in large part to the huge numbers of slaves pressed into servitude (Black, 2011).

Human slavery emerged from the ancient and Classical era, and continued to be an important factor in the Medieval and Renaissance periods, remaining a significant economic reality in the New World as colonial European masters and entrepreneurs utilized slave labor in construction, agricultural and other enterprises (Black, 2011).

This reproduction of a wood engraving was originally published in Captain Canot; or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver by Brantz Mayer. It depicts an African man being inspected by a white man while another white man talks with slave traders (ca. 1854)

Even as Jamestown, Virginia was establishing its presence on the eastern shore of North America in 1614, the Dutch slave trader White Lion traded some 20 of its human cargo for food and supplies where they served as indentured servants to the colonialists. As colonial migration to North America increased, so did the need for slave labor as Europeans succumbed to high rates of mortality due to disease, malnutrition and warfare with Native Americans. Thus grew the dependence on enslaved labor to work the fields, aid in the households and contribute to the economic growth of the colonies. While in time northern slaves would be freed and Congress would ban the importation of slaves from Africa, the story of slavery continued to witness numerous slave rebellions and ever increasing restrictions of the rights of African American slaves. It was not until 1862 that President Abraham Lincoln issued orders with the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the Confederate states. At this time the nation was on the path to ending the existence of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment officially ended slavery and was ratified on December 6, 1865. As is well known, the legal status of black Americans may have changed but the treatment, discrimination and prejudice against African Americans continued in all areas of society during the Jim Crow era, the Civil Rights period and to the present. We see evidence of this in the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, voting rights discrimination and financial redlining by banks and lending institutions, to name just a few of countless injustices. What can be said as well of racial discrimination of African Americans can be broadened in many ways to the situation of other, racial, ethnic, religious, sexual and disability minorities (Black, 2011).

When the disenfranchisement, discrimination and exclusion of a significant number of citizens is allowed, the opportunity to achieve their potential and growth in personal (and human) development is strongly affected. This creates a striking contradiction with what is perceived as the national experiment committed at least in principle to creating a more perfect society, espousing the ideals of liberty, justice and equal opportunity for all. Where our understanding of human nature runs directly up against not only our highest aspirations and ideals but also our basest prejudices and fears, we are left to reflect on and work together toward fulfilling that vision which is still an incomplete and imperfect reality.

M7 – African American Social Change

In the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Northern victory in the Civil War and the hope of Reconstruction to address the historic inequities of slavery and its manifold repercussions brought expectations for beyond what was actually realized The hope to bring the Southern Confederate states back into the Union along with the promise of a new day in race relations and an expansion of civil rights for the former enslaved members of the South was to shipwreck on the rocks of several shoals. The reasons are manifold, beginning with the chaotic political realities after the war in both North and South, the cost to the economy and the opposition of the Southern leadership to some extent with the willing cooperation of Northern Democrats who never fully bought into an equitable notion of Reconstruction, all led to an experiment that never achieved its aims. Following Reconstruction, the plight of African Americans was to remain throughout the era of “Jim Crow” as many new restrictions chipped away at the promise of equality among the races (Tuck, 2011). .

“At the bus station in Durham, North Carolina”, May 1940. Photo by Jack Delano.

Jim Crow laws touched every facet of life where it concerned contact between blacks and whites. Laws were passed determining where blacks could live, eat and drink, ride transportation, swim, vote, attend recreational activities and schools, work and join unions, be educated and a host of other natural human endeavors and activities. Separate Bibles were used to swear in witnesses in courts in Atlanta, Georgia. The effect was pervasive, maintaining segregation in housing, schools, churches, prisons, hospitals, orphanages and fraternal organizations to name but a few societal organizations and public places (Tuck, 2011).

World War II brought cracks in the social and racial barriers that separated and divided the races. The knowledge of Hitler’s’ fascist ideas of white supremacy became more widely unpopular, despite having originated in the ideals of eugenics espoused in the American progressive movement that preceded the great wars. President Truman urged Congress to end vestiges of racial segregation at the voting booth, creating fair voting and hiring practices and ending prohibitions on separate means of transportation where interstate travel was involved. He took steps as commander in chief of the armed forces to establish integration in the military and it was during Korea that integrated armed forces first fought together. The United States was getting a taste of a different way to coexist (Tuck, 2011).

In the 1950’s the NAACP made progress in challenging “separate but equal” in the courts. That effort changed the course of educational policy when the unanimous decision of the US Supreme Court ruled on four cases that bear the collective name of Brown vs Board of Education (Tuck, 2011).

Efforts to end racial discrimination in the public square grew under the leadership, teaching and actions of Howard Thurman, Martin Luther King Jr. Dorothy Height, Thurgood Marshall, Ida B. Wells, John Lewis and the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee, James Farmer Jr. and numerous Freedom Riders white and black along with myriad others whose efforts chipped away at the iceberg of racial inequality and segregation.

Attempting to block integration at the University of Alabama, Governor of Alabama George Wallace stands at the door of Foster Auditorium while being confronted by US Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach.

Through the 1950’s and 1960’s key events led to eventual change in public opinion and policy including: the murder of Emmett Till; the Montgomery Alabama bus boycott that brought Rosa Parks to national recognition; the Little Rock Arkansas school crisis; the Birmingham Alabama effort by Rev. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to use non-violent direct action bringing powerful media images to the nation; the 1963 Poor Peoples March on Washington, DC; the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts passed by Congress that offered legal standing to end segregation of public facilities and offer some protections for black voters; the rise of the Black Power movement; Malcolm X’s writing and murder; the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. – all led to a national sea change in creating unprecedented new opportunities, civil and legal rights for African Americans (Tuck, 2011).

Efforts sparked by the broader Civil Rights movement and the integral role women played in various campaigns to secure greater rights and freedoms for all. Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, disability rights advocates as well as the gay and lesbian rights movements were energized by the efforts of women towards greater organizing to gain equality rights for themselves in this country and elsewhere in the West. This was nothing new for activist women. The women’s movement can be said trace its roots to their involvement in the abolitionist movement which labored in the 19th century to end slavery (Tuck, 2011).

LGBTQ+ Fight for Equality

Another important civil rights movement followed in the footsteps of civil rights for African Americans and other groups in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The gay and lesbian rights movement found its catalyst in the ferment of this civil rights heyday. Similar to other movements, the roots of discrimination and oppression go back to the very start of American colonization. In 1624, Richard Cornish was executed in colonial Virginia for alleged homosexual acts with a servant. Other acts of punishment involving both gays and lesbians are recorded although not always resulting in their death. Their frequency and wide distribution lead to the conclusion that homosexuality was prevalent throughout our history. Also prevalent are the letters, poems, pictures, artwork and other evidence of same sex relationships. Gays have been present in all sectors of national life, some living openly but most often closeted and living their true identity out of public view. During WWII, suspected homosexuals were expelled from the military and barred from enlisting by military recruiters using an assessment developed by psychiatrists to identify and exclude gays. Harry Truman fired suspected homosexuals under his National Security Loyalty Program, ordering more than a thousand men and women fired from their Federal jobs which then led to the Lavender Scare of the 1950’s, promoted by McCarthy, in which eventually several thousand gay and lesbian civil servants lost their livelihood (Marcus, 2007).

The year 1960 saw the first national lesbian convention in San Francisco. The Student Homophile League formed the nation’s first gay student group at Columbia University in 1967. Homosexuality was considered pathological and disordered until 1973 when the American Psychiatric Association deemed it was not a psychiatric disorder. Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in New York City was one of few gay bars that served the community and permitted dancing. On June 28, 1969 gays, lesbian, transgender and nonconforming people resisted arrest while being harassed by the NYPD, with the African American transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson credited with throwing the first “shot glass heard round the world” and sparking a riot that marked the beginning of the gay rights movement. This brought the world’s attention to an entire community of LGBTQ peoples which were denied any civil rights and legal protections. Pushback from conservatives led to the organizing of anti-gay activists such as Anita Bryant who founded the “Save Our Children” effort to counter the gay and lesbian movement (Marcus, 2007).

By 1981 doctors had diagnosed the first cases of what was termed Gay Related Immune Deficiency (GRID) which seemed mostly associated with gay men and brought a reign of fear and anxiety to the gay community and the country at large. Widespread attention came as actor Rock Hudson revealed he

“It Gets Better: End Hate! Let’s Solve Real Problems”.

had been diagnosed with what has become known as AIDS – Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. At the outset of the AIDS epidemic, the Regan White house ignored it at best, and his administration even treated the “gay plague” as a joke. In fact over 10000 gay men had died before the president even uttered the word AIDS. President Clinton did little more than pay lip service to the gay community, abandoning his campaign promise to devote massive resources to eliminating the disease, instituting deportations of green card holders who tested positive for HIV, as well firing his surgeon general for recommending masturbation and condoms to reduce the chance of infection. As a response to this government apathy and to gain media and public attention, ACT UP (Aids Coalition to Unleash Power) was founded in New York City to marshal gay and lesbian activists to raise awareness of those dying from the disease. “Silence = Death” became their battle cry. Soon 500,000 and then 1million came to the nation’s capital for the Second and Third National March on Washington as a show of force for equality for the gay community. Eventually efforts by the medical community were directed toward better understanding this complex of conditions and community resources slowly started to be brought together to care for and provide services to AIDS victims (Marcus, 2011).

Further strides in mainstreaming homosexuality and bringing education to the larger society saw schools begin forming organizations such as Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA’s) and the Gay and Lesbian Independent School Teachers Network (GLSTN ). Straight allies joined the marches and clubs to offer solidarity and support to their gay and lesbian friends and school mates. The military has historically been unwelcoming of gay service people. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was a small step forward when implemented in 1993. On the national level, President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act which would deny benefits to same-sex spouses should gay marriage become legalized. The year 1998 witnessed the brutal murder of Matthew Shepherd outside Laramie, Wyoming, bringing national attention to the price homosexuals paid for being gay and inspiring the 2000 award-winning play, “The Laramie Project” which highlighted the reality of hate crimes and the lack of protection based in law for the LGBTQ community. The same year, Tammy Baldwin was elected from Wisconsin to Congress as the only openly gay person to serve her constituency (Marcus, 2007).

A series of state laws began to recognize civil unions between gay and lesbian couples (VT – 2000) and the legalization of same-sex marriage slowly began to spread. Starting in Massachusetts in 2004 and next in California, where it was legalized briefly in 2008 until revoked by Proposition 8 and then reinstated again in 2013 when the referendum banning gay marriage was overturned. Greater protection for gays came slowly, with recognition for partners and spouses serving as health care proxies, some states and cities passing laws prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation, the end of DOMA as the law of the land and in 2015 the decision of Obergefell v. Hodges by the Supreme Court making same-sex marriage legal throughout the country.

As much as can be cited in the way of improvements for the LGTQ community, violent hate crimes nevertheless continue against its members; bullying of gay, transgender and gender non-conforming young people is widespread; suicides continue at an alarming rate; legislation with religious liberty exemptions continues to be passed effectively legalizing discriminatory practice against LGBTQ individuals. The country has been slow in enacting nondiscrimination laws and civil rights protections are still not universal. All this affects the safety, emotional, psychological development and wellbeing of individuals across the lifespan. It is ever the truth that hate, discrimination and denial of human rights affects all, both survivors and perpetrators in society (Marcus, 2007).