For many years our educational system made little mention of the struggles and experiences of the men, women and children whose ancestors endured and survived being enslaved. Black history really hasn’t been taught in our American culture and it’s not hard to understand why – it’s a painful history. Nonetheless there is a whole lot to be learned and there are more than a few magnificent heroes to inspire us.
What we would like to do in this writing, is validate the importance of Black History Month and offer some Black history that readers may not have thought about, which is the reason for the ‘month’. As readers likely know, we are still culturally burdened by racism and that must come to an end.
Segregation – What Was Done and Why
After slavery ended, our history books tell us about reconstruction, Jim Crow, and segregation. Let’s look at what segregation actually was and what it accomplished. According to the History website [LINK], the first ‘official’ segregation was Black Codes. From the website we read:
“These were laws passed throughout the South starting around 1865, that dictated most aspects of Black peoples’ lives, including where they could work and live. The codes also ensured Black people’s availability for cheap labor after slavery was abolished.”
The next enforced policy was called Jim Crow laws. “Segregation soon became official policy enforced by a series of Southern laws. Through so-called Jim Crow laws (named after a derogatory term for Blacks), legislators segregated everything from schools to residential areas to public parks to theaters to pools to cemeteries, asylums, jails and residential homes.
“In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that segregation was constitutional. As part of the segregation movement, some cities instituted zoning laws that prohibited Black families from moving into white-dominant blocks. In the 1920s, Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover created a federal zoning committee to persuade local boards to pass rules preventing lower-income families from moving into middle-income neighborhoods, an effort that targeted Black families.”
And official segregation continued on and on. During the great migration period from 1916 to 1970 “Whites Only” signs not only appeared in the South but in the North too. This included segregated schools and neighborhoods. Red-Lining, which mapped Black areas of the cities as bad risks for mortgages, continued into the 1970s.
The article concludes by pointing out that segregation persists in the 21st Century. “Studies show that while the public overwhelmingly supports integrated schools, only a third of Americans want federal government intervention to enforce it. The term “apartheid schools” describes still-existing, largely segregated schools, where white students make up 0 to 10 percent of the student body. The phenomenon reflects residential segregation in cities and communities across the country, which is not created by overtly racial laws, but by local ordinances that target minorities disproportionately.”
What is the outcome of these years of ‘separate and unequal’? We asked Google and here is the answer: “The median white household holds around 10 times the wealth of a median Black household, reflecting a persistent racial wealth gap due to historical and ongoing systemic inequalities; meaning, on average, white families have a much larger net worth compared to Black families.”
Segregation Ends – Thank You Rosa Parks
The source of the following information is Wikipedia and a book entitled Black Heroes of The Twentieth Century.
Rosa Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913, to Leona (née Edwards), a teacher, and James McCauley, a carpenter. A student at the Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery, she took academic and vocational courses.
Rosa and her husband Raymond Parks were active in Montgomery’s chapter of the NAACP. She worked as the chapter’s youth adviser; on voter registration drives and was secretary of the NAACP’s Montgomery branch in 1943. As the 1950’s began, the segregated seating policies on public buses were growing as a source of resentment and bitterness within the Black community in Montgomery.
Blacks were required to pay their fares at the front of the bus, and then board again through the back door. The white bus drivers would harass Blacks, sometimes driving away before they were able to get back on the bus. On December 1, 1955, Parks took her seat in the front of the “colored section”. When the driver asked Parks and three other Black riders to give up their seats to whites, Parks refused and was arrested; she soon agreed to let the NAACP provide legal council. Rosa Parks’ case was filed in United States District Court, which ruled in her favor, declaring segregated seating on buses unconstitutional, a decision later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
What is the Mountaintop?
At this [LINK] readers can find one of the inspiring and brilliant speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King. What is the mountaintop? Could that be the realization that we are one human family with no one lesser or greater because of ethnicity or experience or skin color? Why do we want to learn Black history? It is our key to understanding what was done to a Beautiful People who were horrendously mistreated for financial profit.
“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop.
“And I don’t mind.
“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!”
Let’s Just B It
AMS Fulfillment is a business that puts People before profit – we always have, and we always will. It matters to us that our employees are rewarded for their labor and respected for their humanity. It matters to us that we treat our clients as partners. And it matters to us that we don’t damage the earth, and we do help our communities. Black history is American history and human history. Yes, we wish to learn from this experience and grow – let it open our minds and hearts as we reach for the mountaintop.