Florida schools now teaching students that slavery brought "personal benefit" to Black people

[BeaverFever]

Florida schools now teaching students that slavery brought "personal benefit" to Black people
 

The state's education board approved new standards that distort historical events and omit important context

Tatyana Tandanpolie
 

In the newest leg of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' crusade against "wokeness," the state's Board of Education on Wednesday approved new standards for its African American history curriculum that distort historical events and omit important context, The Daily Beast reports. Florida middle schoolers will soon be taught that Black people received a "personal benefit" from slavery because they "developed skills," while high school students will be taught that the deadly white mob attack of Black residents of Ococee, Florida, in 1920 included "acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans."

Members of the board maintain that that distorted portrayal of the racist massacre, in which dozens of Black people were killed to keep them from voting, is factually accurate. MaryLynn Magar, a DeSantis-appointed member of the board, said during the Orlando meeting that "everything is there" in the new standards and "the darkest parts of our history are addressed," the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

The majority of the speakers who provided testimony during the Wednesday board meeting protested the standards, warning that they skirt key context, gloss over atrocities and, in some instances, will teach students to blame Black Americans. "When I see the standards, I'm very concerned," state Sen. Geraldine Thompson said at the board meeting, adding that if she were still a professor, she'd give them an incomplete grade. "It recognizes that we have made an effort, we've taken a step. However, this history needs to be comprehensive. It needs to be authentic, and it needs additional work."

 

https://www.salon.com/2023/07/20/florida-schools-now-teaching-students-that-slavery-brought-personal-benefit-to-black-people/

[SpankyMcFarland]

Internet trolling brought into the school curriculum. Utterly shameless. Where will this madness end? 

 

[Guest]

11 hours ago, SpankyMcFarland said:

Internet trolling brought into the school curriculum. Utterly shameless. Where will this madness end? 

 

The abolishing of gender.

[reason10]

14 hours ago, BeaverFever said:

Florida schools now teaching students that slavery brought "personal benefit" to Black people
 

The state's education board approved new standards that distort historical events and omit important context

Tatyana Tandanpolie
 

In the newest leg of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' crusade against "wokeness," the state's Board of Education on Wednesday approved new standards for its African American history curriculum that distort historical events and omit important context, The Daily Beast reports. Florida middle schoolers will soon be taught that Black people received a "personal benefit" from slavery because they "developed skills," while high school students will be taught that the deadly white mob attack of Black residents of Ococee, Florida, in 1920 included "acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans."

Members of the board maintain that that distorted portrayal of the racist massacre, in which dozens of Black people were killed to keep them from voting, is factually accurate. MaryLynn Magar, a DeSantis-appointed member of the board, said during the Orlando meeting that "everything is there" in the new standards and "the darkest parts of our history are addressed," the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

The majority of the speakers who provided testimony during the Wednesday board meeting protested the standards, warning that they skirt key context, gloss over atrocities and, in some instances, will teach students to blame Black Americans. "When I see the standards, I'm very concerned," state Sen. Geraldine Thompson said at the board meeting, adding that if she were still a professor, she'd give them an incomplete grade. "It recognizes that we have made an effort, we've taken a step. However, this history needs to be comprehensive. It needs to be authentic, and it needs additional work."

 

https://www.salon.com/2023/07/20/florida-schools-now-teaching-students-that-slavery-brought-personal-benefit-to-black-people/

A couple of educated responses.

1. Anyone who cites Salon is a M0RON.

2. Oprah Winfrey THAT VERY RICH BLACK WOMAN WHO IS ALTERNATELY THIN AND FAT, benefited from slavery. Her ancestors were brought here by Democrats. Republicans freed her family and gave them the equal rights to make her rich. Relatives she left behind in Africa were probably eaten by lions.

3. This fall, I'll be subbing at some middle schools. I'll look for the Social Studies classes and check it out. That's the quickest way to let you know that once again Salon is LYING.

[Aristides]

Nothing Florida does surprises me anymore. What a shithole.

[NYLefty]

Yes and the Righties say that putting them Ingunes on them reservations was good for them. Along with my favorite, Hitler did good for Europe and really didn't mean to murder all those Jews.

[BeaverFever]

Florida Board fails hilariously at proving "Slavery taught skills"

 

So, in their attempt to defend Florida from the vicious attacks by Vice President Harris, Ron Desantis proclaimed that being an enslaved person “taught skills” which could be used later in life. (Presumably as a free person). 

Alex Wagner and Jelani Cobb destroyed this argument.

But wait it gets worse.  There’s a statement from the people who wrote these new standards defending their position again claiming that it is “well documented” that people who had been slaves gained skills during their enslavement that they could later use. 

I love this part.

“Any attempt to reduce slaves to just victims of oppression fails to recognize their strength, courage and resiliency during a difficult time in American history.  Florida students deserve to learn how slaves took advantage of whatever circumstances they were in to benefit themselves and the community of African descendants.”

They could make that point by talking about the black church which was developed during slavery, and how that crossed over into the creation of negro spirituals, and then gospel, and later jazz, blues, R&B, funk, Rock ‘N Roll and Hip Hop. Or they could talk about black cuisine and soul food, blending African tradition with Southern foods. Or they could talk about black art, or black literature and scholarship.  But no, they have to make it about “job skills” because — being conservatives — that’s the only thing they apparently value.

Or then again, did they gain job skills?  Join me over the jump for the sad truth.

Here’s what VP Harris had to say in Jacksonville pointing out the Rape, Torture, Human Trafficking and Terrorism that was a part of the Slave trade which of course, is worth tolerating if only you could “gain a skill.”

[Besides the point as pointed out in the comments that most slaves were bought and sold specifically because of the skills they already had, and the fact that blacksmithing already existed in Africa] The simple fact is that many of the names on their list of examples — were not slaves.  And that most of those who had been slaves gained their business and personal skills — AFTER that slavery.

For example, there’s Ned Cobb who was born in 1885 — 20 years after Slavery ended.

Then there’s Henry Blair.

Here's Ron Desantis come back where he says it beneficial to “parlay” being a blacksmith — like Henry Blair — as a benefit “later in life.”  Besides the fact that Blair was born a free man when he became a blacksmith, American Chattle Slavery was for life, exactly when was that “later time” supposed to be? In the afterlife?

The fact that DeSantis thinks training a slave to use a hammer and tongs would be considered a good idea simply shows how he fails to understand the “at seige” nature of the slave. trade and the fear of potential uprisings.

And then there’s #2 Lewis Lattimer, also a blacksmith, who’s parents had been enslaved but he was actually born in Massachusettes as a free man.

The first possible former slave listed is John Henry who was forced to work the railroad as a prisoner under the Black Codes following Slavery and also is a folk hero who may not have actually existed.  [He did exist.] Henry was not a blacksmith, he was a railroad worker who famously battled a mechanical device at driving railroad spikes with his hammer until he died.

Skipping to the chase James Forten, Paul Chuffe, John Chavis, William Whipper were also all born free men.

The seventh name on the list is extra ridiculous because it’s George Washington’s WHITE sister. 

How exactly to people who call themselves “educators” put George Washington’s sister on a list of people who “gained skills from slavery” never mind the fact that that didn’t happen and she wasn’t a slave, she’s not African either so it doesn’t even make the point the during slavery many African-Americans became prominent businessmen and women.

Now, of the people who were slaves on the list, most of them didn't actually gain their business skills from slavery itself.

Hammon was born into slavery on Long Island.  In most of the South, teaching a slave to read and write was illegal.  So he gained a “skill” that wasn’t even offered to most slaves at the time and certainly couldn’t be consider an example “things I learned from slavery.”

Attucks is the second actual slave on their list and he gained the skill of being a sailer AFTER he escaped from slavery.  That’s 0-2 so far.

Then we get to number 12.

“But it was her enslaved mother who taught her how to do that.”  Gaining the skill of being a seamstress had nothing do to with her enslaved condition, it was passed down from mother to daughter which would have likely occurred if both of them had been free.  Technically it was probably common for one slave to teach another slave a particular skill, but this is not a good example of that. So we’re at 1 for 3 out of the enslaved and 1 for 12 out of the entire list.

Finally, we have our first real example with James Thomas.

Not a tailor, a barber.  Not a slave exactly, his freedom was technically bought when he was 6. He learned his skill again as a free person even though he was “considered” a slave by law.  2 for 13.

Then we have another example with Betsey Stockton.

She became a teacher after she had become a fully free person, so this one is again a NO.

Then there’s Booker T. Washington and the totals.

While enslaved Booker was illiterate and then taught himself to read after emancipation. Slavery did not make him a teacher.

16 people were listed and apparently, only 2 of them learned a skill while being a slave, and yet that skill wasn’t taught to them because they were a slave but rather in spite of or incidental to it.

This is f*cking ridiculous.  It’s dumb.  It’s sloppy. It’s not even up to the standards of a half-@ssed google fact check.

“It is disappointing, but nevertheless unsurprising, that critics would reduce months of work to create Florida’s first stand-alone strand of African American history standards to a few isolated expressions without context.”

I actually appreciate looking up and learning about all of the successful African American business persons during the Antebellum and Civil War periods.  That was actually instructive - but apparently *they* didn't bother to really look this up themselves. And yet, they worked on this for months? How in the world does someone who calls themself an “educator” get things this hilariously wrong? How does George Washington’s sister get on a list of people who “learned skills from slavery?”  How does Ned Cobb get on the list when he was born 20 years after Slavery ended?

Unless pushing an agenda that diminishes the real impact and damage of slavery is exactly the point.  This is some weak-ass Thomas Sowell/Candace Owens nonsense.

 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/22/2182832/-Florida-Board-fails-hilariously-at-proving-Slavery-taught-skills

[Mako]

As usual the corporate media narrative is BS.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/kamala-harris-is-brazenly-lying-about-floridas-slavery-curriculum/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=featured-content-trending&utm_term=second

 

[reason10]

13 hours ago, BeaverFever said:

Florida Board fails hilariously at proving "Slavery taught skills"

 

So, in their attempt to defend Florida from the vicious attacks by Vice President Harris, Ron Desantis proclaimed that being an enslaved person “taught skills” which could be used later in life. (Presumably as a free person). 

Alex Wagner and Jelani Cobb destroyed this argument.

But wait it gets worse.  There’s a statement from the people who wrote these new standards defending their position again claiming that it is “well documented” that people who had been slaves gained skills during their enslavement that they could later use. 

I love this part.

“Any attempt to reduce slaves to just victims of oppression fails to recognize their strength, courage and resiliency during a difficult time in American history.  Florida students deserve to learn how slaves took advantage of whatever circumstances they were in to benefit themselves and the community of African descendants.”

They could make that point by talking about the black church which was developed during slavery, and how that crossed over into the creation of negro spirituals, and then gospel, and later jazz, blues, R&B, funk, Rock ‘N Roll and Hip Hop. Or they could talk about black cuisine and soul food, blending African tradition with Southern foods. Or they could talk about black art, or black literature and scholarship.  But no, they have to make it about “job skills” because — being conservatives — that’s the only thing they apparently value.

Or then again, did they gain job skills?  Join me over the jump for the sad truth.

Here’s what VP Harris had to say in Jacksonville pointing out the Rape, Torture, Human Trafficking and Terrorism that was a part of the Slave trade which of course, is worth tolerating if only you could “gain a skill.”

[Besides the point as pointed out in the comments that most slaves were bought and sold specifically because of the skills they already had, and the fact that blacksmithing already existed in Africa] The simple fact is that many of the names on their list of examples — were not slaves.  And that most of those who had been slaves gained their business and personal skills — AFTER that slavery.

For example, there’s Ned Cobb who was born in 1885 — 20 years after Slavery ended.

Then there’s Henry Blair.

Here's Ron Desantis come back where he says it beneficial to “parlay” being a blacksmith — like Henry Blair — as a benefit “later in life.”  Besides the fact that Blair was born a free man when he became a blacksmith, American Chattle Slavery was for life, exactly when was that “later time” supposed to be? In the afterlife?

The fact that DeSantis thinks training a slave to use a hammer and tongs would be considered a good idea simply shows how he fails to understand the “at seige” nature of the slave. trade and the fear of potential uprisings.

And then there’s #2 Lewis Lattimer, also a blacksmith, who’s parents had been enslaved but he was actually born in Massachusettes as a free man.

The first possible former slave listed is John Henry who was forced to work the railroad as a prisoner under the Black Codes following Slavery and also is a folk hero who may not have actually existed.  [He did exist.] Henry was not a blacksmith, he was a railroad worker who famously battled a mechanical device at driving railroad spikes with his hammer until he died.

Skipping to the chase James Forten, Paul Chuffe, John Chavis, William Whipper were also all born free men.

The seventh name on the list is extra ridiculous because it’s George Washington’s WHITE sister. 

How exactly to people who call themselves “educators” put George Washington’s sister on a list of people who “gained skills from slavery” never mind the fact that that didn’t happen and she wasn’t a slave, she’s not African either so it doesn’t even make the point the during slavery many African-Americans became prominent businessmen and women.

Now, of the people who were slaves on the list, most of them didn't actually gain their business skills from slavery itself.

Hammon was born into slavery on Long Island.  In most of the South, teaching a slave to read and write was illegal.  So he gained a “skill” that wasn’t even offered to most slaves at the time and certainly couldn’t be consider an example “things I learned from slavery.”

Attucks is the second actual slave on their list and he gained the skill of being a sailer AFTER he escaped from slavery.  That’s 0-2 so far.

Then we get to number 12.

“But it was her enslaved mother who taught her how to do that.”  Gaining the skill of being a seamstress had nothing do to with her enslaved condition, it was passed down from mother to daughter which would have likely occurred if both of them had been free.  Technically it was probably common for one slave to teach another slave a particular skill, but this is not a good example of that. So we’re at 1 for 3 out of the enslaved and 1 for 12 out of the entire list.

Finally, we have our first real example with James Thomas.

Not a tailor, a barber.  Not a slave exactly, his freedom was technically bought when he was 6. He learned his skill again as a free person even though he was “considered” a slave by law.  2 for 13.

Then we have another example with Betsey Stockton.

She became a teacher after she had become a fully free person, so this one is again a NO.

Then there’s Booker T. Washington and the totals.

While enslaved Booker was illiterate and then taught himself to read after emancipation. Slavery did not make him a teacher.

16 people were listed and apparently, only 2 of them learned a skill while being a slave, and yet that skill wasn’t taught to them because they were a slave but rather in spite of or incidental to it.

This is f*cking ridiculous.  It’s dumb.  It’s sloppy. It’s not even up to the standards of a half-@ssed google fact check.

“It is disappointing, but nevertheless unsurprising, that critics would reduce months of work to create Florida’s first stand-alone strand of African American history standards to a few isolated expressions without context.”

I actually appreciate looking up and learning about all of the successful African American business persons during the Antebellum and Civil War periods.  That was actually instructive - but apparently *they* didn't bother to really look this up themselves. And yet, they worked on this for months? How in the world does someone who calls themself an “educator” get things this hilariously wrong? How does George Washington’s sister get on a list of people who “learned skills from slavery?”  How does Ned Cobb get on the list when he was born 20 years after Slavery ended?

Unless pushing an agenda that diminishes the real impact and damage of slavery is exactly the point.  This is some weak-ass Thomas Sowell/Candace Owens nonsense.

 

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/22/2182832/-Florida-Board-fails-hilariously-at-proving-Slavery-taught-skills

Daily Kos? You really are an idi0t.

[impartialobserver]

what would have happened to those in Africa had Europeans and Americans never had slavery? Interesting question. My guess is that slavery would have continued but with different customers.. Arabs, indians (subcontinent), Persia. Now as for colonialization not happening.. far less severe civil wars. They would still happen but the national boundaries set by Europeans did not line up with existing settlement patterns and stirred the pot unnecessarily. 

[reason10]

On 7/22/2023 at 6:42 PM, Aristides said:

Nothing Florida does surprises me anymore. What a shithole.

Only the large blue cities (Miami, Orlando, St.  Pete) come close to being shitholes, but they are  PARADISE compared to the REAL shitholes: Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, San Fagcisco, Detroit, etc.

But Florida schools are NOT teaching that slavery was anything positive. Kamala the Ugandan Giant is LYING through her teeth on that one. I posted a credible link in another thread that EXPOSES THE LIE.

But please keep thinking that Florida is a shithole. If you live in a blue state, PLEASE tell every welfare state scumbag BLUE STATE IDI0T you know that Florida is a shithole and that they should not move here. We've got plenty of uneducated scumbags on the left and we don't need any more.

[Nationalist]

On 7/20/2023 at 11:51 PM, BeaverFever said:

Florida schools now teaching students that slavery brought "personal benefit" to Black people
 

The state's education board approved new standards that distort historical events and omit important context

Tatyana Tandanpolie
 

In the newest leg of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' crusade against "wokeness," the state's Board of Education on Wednesday approved new standards for its African American history curriculum that distort historical events and omit important context, The Daily Beast reports. Florida middle schoolers will soon be taught that Black people received a "personal benefit" from slavery because they "developed skills," while high school students will be taught that the deadly white mob attack of Black residents of Ococee, Florida, in 1920 included "acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans."

Members of the board maintain that that distorted portrayal of the racist massacre, in which dozens of Black people were killed to keep them from voting, is factually accurate. MaryLynn Magar, a DeSantis-appointed member of the board, said during the Orlando meeting that "everything is there" in the new standards and "the darkest parts of our history are addressed," the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

The majority of the speakers who provided testimony during the Wednesday board meeting protested the standards, warning that they skirt key context, gloss over atrocities and, in some instances, will teach students to blame Black Americans. "When I see the standards, I'm very concerned," state Sen. Geraldine Thompson said at the board meeting, adding that if she were still a professor, she'd give them an incomplete grade. "It recognizes that we have made an effort, we've taken a step. However, this history needs to be comprehensive. It needs to be authentic, and it needs additional work."

 

https://www.salon.com/2023/07/20/florida-schools-now-teaching-students-that-slavery-brought-personal-benefit-to-black-people/

Is it your proclivity to lie daily? Or is this just a mistake...

[Boges]

To imply that slavery was some sort of internship that taught slaves valuable life skills is astoundingly stupid and racist. 

[BeaverFever]

On 7/24/2023 at 12:01 PM, impartialobserver said:

My guess is that slavery would have continued but with different customers.. Arabs, indians (subcontinent), Persia.

Arab/Indian/Persian salve trades are all dwarfed by the massive scale of the Euro-American transatlantic slave trade. They were importing slaves for local labour sure but the Euro American economies were EXPORTING huge numbers slaves to the other side of the world to toil in their New world colonies. Unlike the others you mentioned the Euro-Americans were involved in GLOBAL not local trade and their much larger economies were powered by slaves from Africa,  the Americas, southeast Asia, Pacific Islands…even  from India. 

[BeaverFever]

On 7/24/2023 at 12:01 PM, impartialobserver said:

what would have happened to those in Africa had Europeans and Americans never had slavery? Interesting question. My guess is that slavery would have continued but with different customers.. Arabs, indians (subcontinent), Persia. Now as for colonialization not happening.. far less severe civil wars. They would still happen but the national boundaries set by Europeans did not line up with existing settlement patterns and stirred the pot unnecessarily. 

 

3 hours ago, Nationalist said:

Is it your proclivity to lie daily? Or is this just a mistake...

It’s the confirmed truth, sucker  

The scumbags in Florida even confirmed it and doubled down, which I also mentioned in a follow up post. . You really need to read to the end before reacting 

[BeaverFever]

On 7/24/2023 at 3:24 AM, Mako said:

As usual the corporate media narrative is BS.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/kamala-harris-is-brazenly-lying-about-floridas-slavery-curriculum/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=homepage&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=featured-content-trending&utm_term=second

 

It’s not a lie. Your conservative opinion  piece in a conservative outlet is not a source of unbiased truth.   His argument that it is a “fact” that slavery was “beneficial” to some is not a fact but an opinion (see my many statements that conservatives can’t tell the difference between facts and opinions) and its yet another flimsy opinion. 
 

Second he goes on to say that it’s only a “tiny” piece of the lesson and the horrors of slavery were also taught.  Evn if itnis a tiny part it’s the part that tries to justify the rest of it.
 

And imagine if someone said the holocaust was “beneficial” to survivors who learned skills in Nazi concentration Camps.  Or that 9-11 was “beneficial” to some survivors because they were motivated to improve their lives. Even if it were true, out of respect for the victims and the sheer horror of the atrocities, nobody would dare say those things out loud much less make it mandatory school curriculum.  But that kind of respect is yet another privilege that Black people don’t receive in places like Florida. 

[Nationalist]

52 minutes ago, BeaverFever said:

 

It’s the confirmed truth, sucker  

The scumbags in Florida even confirmed it and doubled down, which I also mentioned in a follow up post. . You really need to read to the end before reacting 

LOL...you "truly" are a dry sponge for stupid...ain't ya Beav?

[Boges]

3 minutes ago, Nationalist said:

LOL...you "truly" are a dry sponge for stupid...ain't ya Beav?

Useless commentary.

Feel free to justify Slavery because it taught important life skills. 

[reason10]

Actually, the progress Africans slaves made occurred AFTER they were freed by Lincoln and the Republicans.  Black schools opened up and the children of slaves were permitted to be educated. Bear in mind the DEMOCRATS responded with the JIM CROW LAWS, which promoted segregation, but blacks AFTER THE REPUBLICANS ENDED SLAVERY, were able to attend school.

Hillsdale College (one of two universities the REFUSE all government money whatsoever because government demanded attendance records based on race, and Hillsdale gave the government the finger) is the FIRST American university to graduate a BLACK FEMALE. 

Meanwhile. the DEMOCRATS kept blacks at separate water fountains and separate lunch counters, until the REPUBLICANS ended this in the Sixties.

It is the DEMOCRATS who supported slavery, then AND NOW.

[Boges]

10 minutes ago, reason10 said:

Actually, the progress Africans slaves made occurred AFTER they were freed by Lincoln and the Republicans.  Black schools opened up and the children of slaves were permitted to be educated. Bear in mind the DEMOCRATS responded with the JIM CROW LAWS, which promoted segregation, but blacks AFTER THE REPUBLICANS ENDED SLAVERY, were able to attend school.

Hillsdale College (one of two universities the REFUSE all government money whatsoever because government demanded attendance records based on race, and Hillsdale gave the government the finger) is the FIRST American university to graduate a BLACK FEMALE. 

Meanwhile. the DEMOCRATS kept blacks at separate water fountains and separate lunch counters, until the REPUBLICANS ended this in the Sixties.

It is the DEMOCRATS who supported slavery, then AND NOW.

Yes because political parties never change their political leanings. 

Why is it that 100 years later Republicans in the South fought civil rights and it took a Democrat POTUS to enshrine Civil Rights into Law AND why is it that a Republican-controlled SCOTUS has repeatedly rolled-back Civil Rights legislation? 

Edited July 25, 2023 by Boges

[Boges]

What political party did Governor George Wallace belong to? 

The same Wallace who said: 

 

Quote

In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.

 

[reason10]

12 minutes ago, Boges said:

Yes because political parties never change their political leanings. 

Why is it that 100 years later Republicans in the South fought civil rights and it took a Democrat POTUS to enshrine Civil Rights into Law AND why is it that a Republican-controlled SCOTUS has repeatedly rolled-back Civil Rights legislation? 

Actually, THAT IS A LIE.

THIS RACIST

standing in front of a school door to prevent blacks from entering, was a Democrat.

The Emancipation Proclamation was signed by THIS REPUBLICAN.

Jim Crow laws were written by DEMOCRATS.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/democrats-jim-crow-a-century-of-racist-history-the-democratic-party-prefers-youd-forget/

What Do We Mean When We Say “Jim Crow?”

 

 

Before delving further into the topic, it is important to define precisely what we mean by Jim Crow and why it is a distinct form of legal codes in United States history. While Northern and Western cities were by no means integrated, this integration was de facto, not de jure. In many cases, the discrimination in the North was a discrimination of custom and preference, discrimination that could not be removed without a highly intrusive government action ensuring equality of outcome. Northerners and Westerners were not required to discriminate, but nor were they forbidden from doing so.

Compare this to the series of laws in the American South known for mandating segregation at everything from public schools to water fountains.

No one is entirely sure where the term “Jim Crow” came from, but it’s suspected that it comes from an old minstrel show song and dance routine called “Jump Jim Crow.” Curiously, the first political application of the term “Jim Crow” was applied to the white populist supporters of President Andrew Jackson. The history of the Jim Crow phenomenon we are discussing here goes back to the end of Reconstruction in the United States.

The Reconstruction Era

Briefly, Reconstruction was the means by which the federal government reasserted control over the Southern states that had previously seceded to form the Confederate States of America. This involved military occupation and the disenfranchisement of the bulk of the white population of the states. The results of the Reconstruction Era were mixed. Ultimately, Reconstruction ended as part of a bargain to put President Rutherford B. Hayes into the White House after the 1876 election. The lasting results of Reconstruction are best enumerated for our purposes as the Reconstruction Amendments:

• The 13th Amendment abolished involuntary servitude for anyone other than criminals. It was once voted down and passed only through the extensive political maneuvering on behalf of President Abraham Lincoln himself and the approval of dubious Reconstruction state governments in the South. It became law in December 1865.
• The 14th Amendment includes a number of provisions often thought to be part of the Bill of Rights, such as the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause, which are, in fact, later innovations. Birthright citizenship’s advocates claim that the Constitutional justification can be found in this sprawling Amendment, which also includes Amendments barring former Confederate officials from office and addresses Confederate war debts. This Amendment became law in July 1868.
• The 15th Amendment prevents discrimination against voters on the basis of race or skin color. This law was quickly circumvented by a number of laws discriminating against all voters on the basis of income (poll tax) or education (literacy tests). The Southern states eventually figured out how to prevent black citizens from voting while allowing white ones through grandfather clauses.

The Reconstruction Amendments were the first amendments to the Constitution passed in almost 60 years, and represented a significant expansion of federal power.

Perhaps the most important thing to know about the Reconstruction Amendments is that they were largely ineffective. Ranking public officials of the Confederacy were elected to federal government, blacks were disenfranchised as quickly as they were elected to the Senate, and Jim Crow, an entire system of legal discrimination, was erected to return black Americans to their subservient status. With the exception of citizenship for blacks and an end to involuntary servitude, the substance of the rest of the Amendments were largely discarded.

Black Disenfranchisement as a Prologue to Jim Crow

The process of black disenfranchisement at the end of the war is important historical context for understanding the rise of Jim Crow. It’s impossible to discuss this period without discussing the role of the Ku Klux Klan and other Democratic Party-allied white supremacist terrorist organizations. You can read more about this in our lengthy and exhaustive history of American militias and paramilitary organizations.

The first attempt to roll back the gains made by black Americans, thanks to the Reconstruction Amendments, was a poll tax introduced by Georgia in 1877. However, the legal rollback of voting rights in particular did not really ramp up until the turn of the century, when Republicans ran on joint tickets with the insurgent People’s Party, also known as the Populist Party. This threat to entrenched Democratic Party political power (and all of the patronage that came with it), while certainly related to the racial question, was arguably a bigger motivator than race. In many cases, such as with poll taxes, there were explicit attempts to exclude white voters sympathetic to the Republican cause alongside black voters. The specter of unity between poor blacks and poor whites loomed large.

Mississippi drafted a new constitution in 1890, which required payment of a poll tax as well as the passing of a literacy test as qualifications to vote. This passed Constitutional muster in 1898, with Williams vs. Mississippi. Other Southern states quickly drafted new constitutions modelled on that of Mississippi. This was known as “the Mississippi Plan.” By 1908, every Southern state had either drafted a new constitution or passed a suffrage amendment to better craft the state electorate to their liking. In 1903, Giles vs. Harris strengthened federal court support of such laws.

Another method of maintaining control was the white primary. In 1923, Texas became the first state to establish primary voting for whites only. This was quickly deemed unconstitutional, so the state simply drafted a new law saying that the Democratic Party could determine its own voters for the primary. The state party quickly moved to exclude all non-white voters, which was entirely legal and Constitutional, because the Democratic Party was a private organization.

This caught the eye of some Congressmen. By 1900, there was discussion of stripping Southern states of some of their Congressional representation in accordance with provisions contained within the Reconstruction Amendments. Not only was the “Solid South” a large voting bloc, due to the one-party nature of many Southern elections, but they were also in charge of a goodly number of committee chairs, meaning that any attempt to strip Southern states of seats was probably going to go precisely nowhere.

Reliable statistics from the era are few and far between, but historians believe that somewhere between one and five percent of eligible black voters were registered by the late 1930s. Very few of these actually voted in general elections, which were a foregone conclusion. In many states, prior to the first and second Great Migrations, the black population ranged upwards of close to 50 percent.

Five border states (Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky and Maryland) all attempted to pass similar legislation to “the Mississippi Plan,” but failed to do so.

Redeemer Governments and the Election of 1876

The disenfranchisement of black Americans in the South was the political precursor for Jim Crow. In addition to legal disenfranchisement, there were also paramilitary actions against both black Americans and Republican voters and candidates. It was not uncommon for Democratic Party-allied paramilitary groups to simply force the Republican candidate or even office holder out of town. Voter fraud was also a tool. As elections became closer, violence against blacks and Republicans increased to keep them away from the polls.

These Southern governments are known collectively as the Redeemer governments. They ruled over most of the South from 1870 until 1910. As we discuss in our history of militias in the United States, the white, pro-Democratic Party militias of the South were largely obsolete by the end of the 19th Century – Democratic Party state governments were doing their jobs for them.

All of this was facilitated by the Compromise of 1877 or the Corrupt Bargain of 1877, depending on one’s point of view. In exchange for certifying Southern votes for Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes, Hayes agreed to:

• Remove federal troops from Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana, the final states where they remained. Hayes campaigned on doing this prior to the bargain.
• The appointment of one or more Southerners to the Hayes Cabinet. This was fulfilled by appointing David M. Key from Tennessee as the Postmaster General.
• A transcontinental railroad passing through the South, using the Texas and Pacific line.
• Legislation to industrialize the Southern economy.
• Northern hands off the South when it came to racial questions.

The first two are often emphasized, however, they are probably the least important parts of the compromise. As stated above, Hayes had already planned to withdraw the remaining troops from the South. The cabinet appointment of Postmaster General was certainly a bigger deal than it would be today, when far fewer people rely upon the mail. The post has not even been a cabinet-level position since the 1970s. The next two are arguably beneficial to everyone in the South, black or white, and in any event, were never enacted.

It’s also worth noting that the Compromise was seen as a way to avoid a potential new wave of bloodshed. At the time, it was widely feared that American politics were going to go the way of Mexico – meaning military strongmen and state violence would resolve closely contested elections. In this context, the Compromise is rather shrewd as Hayes gave up very little with regard to the first two provisions and never enacted points three and four.

The final provision, however, is the one that makes Jim Crow possible. This makes it, historically speaking, perhaps the most significant of the Compromise provisions.

The Democratic Party Coup d’Etat in Wilmington, North Carolina

The end of Reconstruction and the subsequent disenfranchisement of blacks and poor whites by Southern Democratic state governments were not entirely without resistance. However, this resistance was met with sharp and swift reprisal. For example, in November 1898, when the brother of a Republican candidate tried to collect affidavits from black voters that they were being prevented from voting, he was savagely beaten by cronies of the local Democratic Party leader. Four days of rioting followed, including 13 blacks and at least one white dead and hundreds injured.

The same month and year in Wilmington, North Carolina, there was an orgy of violence and an effective coup d’etat against the duly elected Fusionist government (blacks represented by Republicans and whites represented by Populists) of the city. Here the Democratic Party explicitly called themselves “The White Man’s Party,” forcing whites to join political and labor organizations. People were literally marched out of their homes in the middle of the night and forced to sign membership forms under threat of death.

Following a speech from former Democratic Party Congressman Alfred Moore Waddle, Red Shirts in attendance left the convention hall and began terrorizing black citizens. The eventual election was rife with fraud. The local black newspaper, The Daily Record, was, along with many others around the state, burned to the ground. Waddell led a group to the Republican mayor of the town, forcing him and the entire city council to resign at gunpoint. The new city council was installed and elected Waddell as mayor.

The organizer of the coup, Charles Aycock, became the 50th Governor of North Carolina as a Democrat. Other participants became the first female Senator (Rebecca Felton), Secretary of the Navy (Josephus Daniels), a state Senator and U.S. Congressman (John Bellamy), a state Senator and Governor of North Carolina (Robert Glenn), House Majority Leader and Ways and Means Committee Chair (Claude Kitchin), Congressman and Governor of North Carolina (W.W. Kitchin), another Governor of North Carolina (Cameron Morrison) and a Lieutenant Governor (Francis Winston).

The disenfranchisement leading up to Jim Crow went deeper than simply stripping the right to vote. It also included removing black citizens from juries and preventing them from being eligible to run for public office.

What Were the Jim Crow Laws?

Jim Crow laws, for the most part, are relatively simple. Most states (over 30), including those outside of the South, had laws against interracial marriage, a crime known as miscegenation. The remaining laws against this were overturned by the Supreme Court in 1967, in the Loving v. Virginia case. Some states went further than this, such as Florida, which banned both interracial dating and cohabitation. Schools, restaurants, theaters and cinemas, hotels and train stations were commonly separated by law, but sometimes baseball teams and prisons were segregated by law, as in Georgia. Mississippi criminalized anti-Jim Crow propaganda. North Carolina banned the sharing of books between black and white schools.

Edited July 25, 2023 by reason10

[reason10]

23 minutes ago, Boges said:

Useless commentary.

Feel free to justify Slavery because it taught important life skills. 

Only Kamala the UGANDAN GIANT is spouting that lie.

[Boges]

Just now, reason10 said:

Only Kamala the UGANDAN GIANT is spouting that lie.

VP Harris is half Indian and Jamaican.

You're comparing her to an old WWE rassler because you're a racist POS. 

[Boges]

The curriculum indeed states: 

Quote

“slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit,”

That's like saying slaves were fed food and given medical care for their personal benefit.

It's irrelevant to the nature of discussing slavery and only serves to make slavery seem less awful.