African-American History

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer looks at the lives of African-Americans after the Civil War. The writer discusses slave labor and the sharecropping system. The writer then discusses the Great Migration in the early 1930s when 1.5 to 2 million African-Americans left the South for industrial cities in the North. The writer studies the Negro-American revolution and black society of the time. The writer then examines how the Great Depression affected the African-American community. Finally, the writer discusses Martin Luther King and racial violence.

Outline:
The Sharecropping System
The Great Migration
New Negro Movement
The Great Depression and World War II
World War II
Non-Violence

From the Paper:

"Slave labor was very important to Southern economy until the 18th century. The hierarchic social structure before the Civil War had the slaves at the bottom and the plantation owners at the top. White landowners, who were the minority, exploited the Black majority. This Black majority had to suffer constant humiliations in the process. The white landowners viewed the Blacks as inferior so as to justify slavery. So as to deliberately justify their underpayment, white landowners must treat or view them as less ambitious and content with a low life status. Whites enjoyed the benefits while Blacks suffered severe disadvantages. The Blacks had no political or legal entitlements or economic rights. Plantation life, especially in the lower South, was difficult and perilous. However, it attracted large numbers of slaves because it offered greater chances of establishing slave families and communities. They often worked under the task system. Under this system, a slave received a task each day and worked until the task was completed. When this happened, the rest of the day became the slave's own time. Each task was extremely hard but the slaves took it because he somewhat exercised some control over the work pace and the length of the work day. They worked in groups called gangs, headed by slave drivers, on crop rows, plowing, planting, cultivating or picking, depending on the season."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Barkerville, J. (2000). The rural to urban Black "great migration" : a brief history. The African- American Historical and Cultural Museum. 7 pages. Retrieved March 21, 2007 from http://ci.coe.uni.edu/factstaff/zeitz/museum/migrate.html
• Berlin, Ira, general editor (2003). Records of southern plantations from emancipation to the great migration. 52 pages. A guide to the Microfilm Edition. Lexis Nexis. Congressional Information Service. Retrieved March 18, 2007 from http://www.lexisnexis.com/documents/academic/upa/cis/10974_PlantsEmanGrMigSerBPt4.pdf
• Cullom Davis Library (2007). African-American culture. 2 pages. Bradley University. Retrieved March 18, 2007 from http://www.bradley.edu/las/eng/lotm/kingcotton/african
• Horton J. O. (2007). African-American history. 11 pages. Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia: Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved March 18, 2007 from http://encarta.msn.com
• Library of Congress, The (2002). Great depression and World War II (1929-1945). 2 pages. American Memory. Retrieved March 18, 2007 from http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndpedu/features/timeline/deprewwii/depwar.html

More papers on African-American History:

• Research Paper # 95325 : "African-American History"
• Term Paper # 108973 : "Reconstruction in African-American History"
• Term Paper # 125529 : "African-American History"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: