Civil Rights in America

1945 - 68
 Starter
Identify the Now try and explain their
following pictures roles in Civil Rights in
America
Learning Objectives: To understande the
nature and extent of the problem for
black people in America before 1945.

Success Criteria: To know how Black

people populated America; to state
how black people were treated under
the new constitution & to know the
‘free’ & ‘slave’ states of the USA.
 Task
In your groups, choosing a method of
expression (Play, Drawing, Poetry,
Freeze Frame), explain how Black
people got to the Americas and what
their role was in the New World.
 What are Civil Rights?
The right to vote
The right to be represented in government
The right of equality of opportunity e.g. in education and work
The right to be protected by the law
The right to be judged fairly before the law
The right to have liberty
The right to think, act and speak without fear
It is the duty and responsibility of governments to create an
environment in which these rights can be enjoyed by creating
and enforcing an effective legal framework.
 The Introduction of
Black people & Slavery
Labour problems in the new colonies of America led to the
establishment of the slave trade. It was deemed acceptable to
use black people from West Africa as slaves because:
• Their different non-Christian culture meant they were thought of
as uncivilised.
• They looked different, therefore, it was OK to treat them
differently.
• There were too few white men to do the work, slaves provided
cheap & plentiful labour. So it was more cost effective.

These factors made it seem that slavery was

acceptable!
 By 1776, British North America
contained 2.5 million people.
Approximately 500,000 of these
were black slaves.
There were incidents were slaves
rebelled:
1712 New York City slaves
attacked their oppressors.
This represented the resentment
felt by the black population and
also their powerlessness.
White belief in their superiority
and the importance of white
economic needs led to the
development of more racial
tension.
 The Irony of 1776!
The American colonists had
demanded independence from
what they saw as an oppressive
British rule. However, few slave
owners saw the contradiction
between their ideas of freedom
& slavery.

The Declarations beautiful words

on equality were not meant to
apply to blacks nor to the
‘merciless Indian savages’
 The Land of the Free?
‘We hold these things to be self-
evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with
certain inalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty
and the Pursuit of Happiness.’
The American Declaration of
Independence, written by
Thomas Jefferson in 1776.
 Constitution & Race
In 1783 the British Government recognised Americas independence. The
Americans now had to establish a new government for the 13 ex-colonies
(states).
The founding fathersdebated a crucial question:
“Did a black slave deserve political representation like other (white) human
beings or was he merely a piece of property?”

Southern states wanted them to be counted as human beings for pruposes of

representation. If they were classed as humans, even without the vote, the
south would have the maximum number of representatives in congress.
However, if they had to pay more taxes because of this then their opinion
changed.
The resulting three-fifths compromise solved this issue. 5 slaves equalled 3
free people for purposes of taxation and representation. The New American
Constitution enshrined the inferiority of the black slaves.
The constitution enabled states to control the make-up of the electorate and
ensured only priviledged white males could vote. The Constitution of the
new America set out to protect rights, liberties and freedom – but only of
white men.
 To what extent do you think America
was really the land of the free in 1776?
 Homework
Who was Thomas Jefferson?
What was his attitude to Racism &
Slavery?