From Slavery to Freedom
th
9 ed.
Chapter 22
Progress and Poverty
Divergent Realities
 Economic Differences
 Economic crisis of late 1970s early 1980s
affected low-income African Americans most
 Manufacturing jobs exported; decentralized
 Industrial parks
 Sunbelt
 Rise of service industries and information economy
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Unemployment Rate by Race (White and Black)
between 1965 and 1990
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African American
Migration
1950-1980
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Divergent Realities
 Rise of Black Underclass
 Widening chasm within black America
 Black neighborhoods, growing concentration of poor
 Increasingly uncommon to find members of all
economic classes living within one neighborhood
 The Declining Significance of Race (1978) –
William Julius Wilson
 Critique of the rise of the black underclass
 Believed class more than race principal factor in
determining opportunities
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Divergent Realities
 Many black scholars and civil rights leaders
disagreed with Wilson
 Undeterred, published The Truly Disadvantaged
in 1987
 Distinguished working poor from long term jobless
residents from areas of extreme poverty
 Studies showed that many associated poverty
with individual behavior rather than structural
economic forces
 “Welfare queens”
 Black welfare recipients seen as “undeserving poor”
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Divergent Realities
 The Million Man March
 Nation of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan called on
black men to gather in Washington D.C. on
October 16, 1994 for day of “atonement”
 Called for renewed commitment to transformation
of black communities
 Wanted to initiate local activism
 Speakers called for interracial change, criticized
cutbacks in government services, urged black
voter registration
 Coincided with increase in black male voters
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Divergent Realities
 New Opportunities
 Black middle class grew in size and influence
 African Americans held top positions in
government and public service in 1990s
 Black athletes became national icons
 The Black Electorate
 More African Americans were elected to state
and local offices
 Harold Washington
 Jesse Jackson made presidential bid
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Divergent Realities
 Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition
 Rainbow Coalition of grassroots supporters who
felt marginalized by political process
 Emphasized voter unity
 Campaign faced serious obstacles
 Views on Middle East; reference to New York as
“Hymie Town”
 Lacked financial support from civil rights groups
 Jackson’s campaign got blacks to vote in large
numbers; made substantial difference for black
candidates for other offices
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The Rainbow Coalition poster
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Divergent Realities
 The Reagan-Bush Years
 Many blacks alienated during Reagan
administration
 Slashed funding to social programs; unemployment
rose at alarming rate
 Reagan did sign bill making Martin Luther King,
Jr. day a national holiday
 Jackson ran again in 1988, winning several
primaries and caucuses
 Democratic nominee Dukakis lost to Bush
 Portrayed as soft on crime; racially-tinged “Willie”
Horton ad
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Divergent Realities
 The 1992 Election: The Democrats Return
to Office
 83% of black voters supported Clinton-Gore
ticket
 Ron Brown, DNC chair, attracted many black voters
 Carol Mosely Braun first black woman elected to
the U.S. Senate
 Several cities led by black mayors
 Blacks not supportive of Republicans’ “Contract
with America”
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In Conservative Times
 Reagan’s Efforts to Dismantle Civil Rights
 Appointed conservatives to Supreme Court
 Appointment of Clarence Thomas to head EEOC
after uproar over William Bell appointment
 Commission staff reduced; allowed cases to backlog
 Interference with U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights
 Attempted to oust sitting members who were critical of
administration’s opposition to affirmative action
 After much wrangling with Congress, Commission
power much diminished
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In Conservative Times
 NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund (LDF) had some
legal victories despite opposition from the Civil
Rights Division of the Department of Justice
 Thornburg v. Gingles; Local 98 v. Cleveland
 George H. W. Bush and the Supreme Court
 Supreme Court began to reverse gains
 Richmond v. Crosson (“set aside program”
unconstitutional); Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio
(employee must prove no legitimate business interest
in discrimination suit against employer); Martin v.
Wilkins (white firefighters could sue city for making
race-conscious promotions)
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In Conservative Times
 The Battle over the Clarence Thomas
Nomination
 Blacks apprehensive over Thurgood Marshall’s
retirement; many applauded appointment of
Thomas, despite conservative credentials
 Anita Hill’s sexual harassment allegations
diverted attention from questions of Thomas’s
training, experience, and qualifications
 Thomas confirmed as second African American
to serve as Supreme Court justice
15
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In Conservative Times
 Judicial Conservatism
 Cases diluted strength of black electorate
 Supreme Court found that congressional districts that
took race into consideration violated equal protection
of white voters
 Educational Disparities
 Nation still dealing with de facto segregation
 White flight; The Bell Curve
 Many black kids on wrong side of digital divide
 Access to higher education contested issue
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In Conservative Times
 Opposition to Affirmative Action
 In 1990s, black academic conservatives vocally
opposed affirmative action programs
 Proposition 209 in California passed, forbidding
the use of race as a basis for admission
 Enrollment of minorities subsequently declined
 Racial Unrest
 Acquittal of officers responsible for beating of
Rodney King sparked four days of rioting in Los
Angeles
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In Conservative Times
 Racial Brutality: Abner Louima, Amadou
Diallo, James Byrd
 Violence directed at blacks by N.Y. City police in
the late 1990s
 Abner Louima beaten and sodomized by police
 Amadou Diallo shot 45 times while reaching for wallet
 James Byrd, Jr. dragged to death by two white
men in Jasper, TX
 Revelation that New Jersey police stopped black
motorists to search for drugs solely on basis of
racial profile
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Artistic Currents
 Artistic Currents
 Ralph Ellison, James Baldwin – continued
popularity
 Charles Johnson, Middle Passage (1990)
 Women Writers
 Rise of African American women writers marked
most significant trend
 Rita Dove
 Alice Walker
 Toni Morrison
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Artistic Currents
 Playwrights, Comedians, Filmmakers,
Actors
 August Wilson, premier black playwright
 1980s rise of films starring black comedians
 Richard Pryor; Eddie Murphy
 Interracial popularity of the film The Color
Purple
 Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing; John Singleton,
Boyz’n the Hood
 Enhanced opportunities for black actors in 1990s
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Artistic Currents
 Blacks on Television
 Black visibility on TV expanded
 Diff’rent Strokes and Benson included black characters
 Blacks began to appear on commercials
 Robert L. Johnson founded Black Entertainment
Television in 1980
 Growth of talk shows important for black TV
presence; Oprah Winfrey
 The Cosby Show featured middle-class black
family; A Different World focused on black
college students
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Artistic Currents
 Artists
 By 1990s, museums devoted to African
American Art located in most major cities
 Robert Colescott – politically conscious art
 Jean Michael Basquiat – mixed media works
 Hip Hop Rising
 Rap music became controversial black art form
 American urban youth’s cultural practices of rap,
graffiti, breakdancing, and innovative deejay
style emerged into Hip Hop culture
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Artistic Currents
 Hip Hop started in 1970s in the Bronx
 Defined a musical genre as well as a style of
dress, communication, and aesthetics
 Has become a global cultural phenomenon
 Hip Hop Is Born
 Sylvia Robinson of Sugar Hill Records first to
test Hip Hop profitability
 Released Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”
 Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin of Def Jam
Records first major Hip Hop producers
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Artistic Currents
 Hip Hop popularity escalated with music videos
and tough social and economic conditions
 Varied sounds: from more socially conscious to
gangsta rap
 “Puff Daddy” and Bad Boy Records
 Hip Hop and the Culture Wars
 Battleground for racial and social issues
 2 Live Crew arrested on obscenity charges
 East Coast–West Coast rivalry
 Tupac Shakur; Christopher “Biggie Smalls” Wallace
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Artistic Currents
 Gangsta rap became popular with white
suburban youth
 Hip Hop defies characterization
 Deeply informed by the American experience
 New styles emerged at local level; became complicated
array of regional movements

Competed for national recognition
 Hip Hop appealed to youth of all races for its
ability to convey and critique economic and
social realities
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Global Concerns
 Global Concerns
 1984 sit-in campaign against apartheid at South
African embassy in Washington, D.C.
 1986 Congress approved sanctions over Reagan
veto
 The End of Apartheid
 1990 F. W. de Klerk lifted 30-year ban on African
National Congress; Nelson Mandela is freed
 Mandela made 8-city tour of U.S.
 Mandela and de Klerk won 1994 Nobel Peace
Prize
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Global Concerns
 African Americans on the International
Stage
 Colin Powell rose to be youngest and first
African American to serve as chairman of Joint
Chiefs of Staff
 African Americans 25% of troops sent to Persian
Gulf war; only 13% of nation’s population
 Rooted in lack of job opportunity in civilian sector
 Every black Democrat voted against use of force
in “Operation Desert Storm”
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At Century’s End
 At Century’s End
 Clinton promised his administration “would look
like America”
 Four black cabinet members; appointed more African
American judges than any previous president
 Criticized for not standing up for Lani Guinier’s
appointment to head DOJ’s Civil Rights Division
 Appointed Deval Patrick instead
 Clinton criticized by some black leaders for
position on welfare reform
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At Century’s End
 Clinton established the “One America” initiative
under chairmanship of John Hope Franklin
 Charged the seven-member advisory board with
articulating a “vision of racial reconciliation”
 The board’s dialogue on race focused on
education and economic opportunity
 “Promising Practices for Racial Reconciliation”
 Promote dialogue among nation’s ethnic groups
 Devise pubic education programs about race relations
 Use presidency to make racial reconciliation a reality
 Engage youth leaders to build bridges among races
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Dr. John Hope Franklin, Chair of the Advisory Board
of the President’s Initiative on Race, presents President
Clinton with the Board’s report, September 18, 1998
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