Concluding Analysis: The Struggle Continues
To what extent did Founding principles of liberty, equality, and justice become a reality for African Americans in the first half of the twentieth century?
- I can interpret primary sources related to Founding principles of liberty, equality, and justice in the first half of the twentieth century.
- I can explain how laws and policy, courts, and individuals and groups contributed to or pushed back against the quest for liberty, equality, and justice for African Americans.
- I can create an argument using evidence from primary sources.
- I can analyze issues in history to help find solutions to present-day challenges
Directions: Sort the documents into the categories listed in the table below. Some documents might fit in multiple categories. Then fill in the table based on your groups. Include a short explanation for your choice.
Document Title and Date | Laws and Policy | The Courts | “We the People” – individuals and groups |
---|---|---|---|
Ida B. Wells, “Lynch Law,” 1893 | No help from government agencies in stopping or punishing those responsible for the violence | No help from courts in trying those responsible for the violence | Black leader highlighting common and abhorrent practice of lynching African Americans |
John Hope, “We Are Struggling for Equality,” 1896 | |||
W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, 1903* | |||
Giles v. Harris, 1903 | |||
W.E.B. Du Bois, Niagara Movement Speech, 1905 | |||
Map of the Migrant Streams of the Great Migration, 1910–1930 | |||
Residential Segregation in City Zoning Laws, 1910–1911 | |||
Booker T. Washington, “My View of Segregation Laws,” 1915 | |||
Images of the Silent Parade, July 28, 1917 | |||
Chicago Race Riot Images, 1919 | |||
A Man Was Lynched Yesterday Flag (Replica), 1920–1938 | |||
Tulsa Race Massacre Images, June 1921 | |||
Racial Restrictive Covenants, Chicago, 1924–1946 | |||
Langston Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” 1926 | |||
Zora Neale Hurston, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” 1928 | |||
Langston Hughes, “Let America Be America Again,” 1936 | |||
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Underwriting Manual, 1938 | |||
A. Philip Randolph, “The Call to Negro America to March on Washington,” 1941 | |||
Bayard Rustin, “Nonviolence vs. Jim Crow,” 1942 |
- What methods did Black Americans advocate for and/or use in the struggle for equality and justice in this time period?
- How did segregation become entrenched during this time period? Why would this development make desegregation more challenging?
- What, if any, causes for optimism were there in the fight for the equality of the Black American community by 1945?
- How were laws, courts, and individuals and groups’ words and actions complementary and how were they in conflict during this period? In other words, did the courts and laws support each other, or did they contradict each other? Did individuals and groups work within the confines of current laws or policies or push back against them? Give examples from specific documents to support your answer.
- To what extent did the Founding principles of liberty, equality, and justice become a reality for Black Americans in this time period? Support your answer using evidence from the primary sources provided, as well as your own knowledge of U.S. history.