YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Week 10B: Segregation, Supremacy, and Migration

Week 10B: Segregation, Supremacy, and Migration — Transcript

by Andrew Perkins · 2,330 words · 393 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:02Hello and welcome back. This is the
0:04second half of our week 10 lecture. I
0:08want to begin with something of a
0:09trigger warning. We are going to be
0:10looking at examples of violence and
0:13intimidation in the south including uh
0:17terrible depictions of southern
0:19terrorism especially through the forms
0:21of lynching.
0:23um which was public murder or usually a
0:26hanging executed by extrajudicial groups
0:29working outside of the law. Lynching was
0:32a form of social control which was meant
0:34to terrorize blacks into uh
0:36subordination. So, one of the major ways
0:39that white supremacy was shown was in
0:42the vigilante murder of black people,
0:44usually in waves of lynchings or the
0:47hanging of free blacks after
0:48reconstruction.
0:50Between 1880 and 1950, over 5,000
0:53African-Ameans were lynched.
0:58It is important to note that lynching
1:01was not simply the murder of black free
1:04Americans, but was a ritual that relied
1:06on symbolism.
1:09These were public spectacles with
1:12thousands of spectators.
1:15They were celebrations of white
1:17community as people sold goods at these
1:20events. They posed for photos like this
1:23one here on screen or took mmentotos
1:26from the lynchings. Trains would bring
1:29people from far away to witness the
1:31murder and to participate in the
1:33mutilation, burning, shooting, and
1:36hanging of black Americans.
1:39This barbaric activity was widespread
1:42throughout the South
1:45and caused rightfully a sense of fear
1:48among black community members.
1:51They most often occurred in Mississippi
1:53and Georgia, where black people were
1:55most likely to have stayed nearby former
1:58plantations and farms after the war.
2:01The first woman senator argued that
2:03lynching prevented the rape of white
2:06women by black men, which was a racist
2:09call to action, a racist justification
2:13that had been long been uh accused of uh
2:16non-white men um as justifiably
2:21uh murdered in these group um lynchings.
2:28It is important to note that black
2:30Americans did not simply stand and wait
2:32for lynchings to continue but attempted
2:35to outlaw the activity altogether.
2:39One of the most prominent anti-ynching
2:41voices was Ida B. Wells, our case study
2:43from this week.
2:45She published reports that disproved
2:48this common claim that black men were
2:50lynched for accusations of having raped
2:54white women. She found that many
2:56lynchings were not related at all to
2:59accusations of rape as was commonly
3:01claimed, but was often rooted in
3:03economic, social, or racial tensions.
3:07Ida B. Wells demonstrated that white
3:09people used lynching to maintain control
3:12over black communities, especially when
3:14black men were successful or threatened
3:17uh white supremacy systems.
3:20Wells also organized public speaking
3:22tours and helped establish anti-ynching
3:24organizations uh making significant
3:27contributions to the fight for civil
3:29rights.
3:31black activist groups like the Tuskegee
3:33Institute and the NAACP.
3:36Um these each compiled reports of
3:38lynching in the US anti-ynching laws uh
3:42were proposed as a result in 1918 um
3:46such as the Dire Bill which was debated
3:48through the 1920s. But this law was
3:52never able to be passed despite over 200
3:55attempts to outlaw lynching.
3:58Imagine that. A law to make lynching
4:01illegal did not pass until 2022 when the
4:06EMTT till anti-ynching act was signed
4:09into law by Joe Biden in response to the
4:11Black Lives Matter protests.
4:14And even then, three Republicans still
4:17voted against that bill in the House in
4:192022.
4:22The Jim Crow South therefore brought
4:24about a generation of black activists
4:27who emphasized racial solidarity and
4:30advancement.
4:31Women contributed significantly to this
4:34generation of descent. Conferences led
4:36by Margaret Marie Washington pictured
4:38here on the screen uh who was married
4:41also to Booker T. Washington was another
4:44leader in black activism. Um founded the
4:47National Association of Colored Women or
4:49the NACW in 1896.
4:53Through the conference uh
4:56several generations were able to lend
4:58their support um like the presence of
5:01esteemed uh activist Harriet Tubman
5:04known for the Underground Railroad. Um
5:07many at this conference were part of a
5:09new generation of leaders.
5:12Many of these women took on the notion
5:14of uplift, which again was that idea
5:16that blacks must look inward to their
5:18own communities to take responsibility
5:20for their own success and progress in
5:22the face of continued discrimination by
5:24whites.
5:26The primary concerns of this generation
5:28then uh were to form a social
5:32reconstruction meant to enforce norms of
5:35respectability, politics to earn respect
5:38through self-help and the construction
5:41of better homes, schools, and
5:43employment. And this group of course
5:45also worked extensively to end lynching.
5:48The organization at its height in 1920
5:51had over 100,000 members uh pushing for
5:54its activism.
5:57While the NACW was led by an emerging
6:00class of elite black women, others in
6:02the South were distinct in their
6:04attempts to maintain survival on
6:07subsistence wages and abject poverty.
6:10Many worked several jobs like sewing or
6:14doing laundry and had little time for
6:17political engagement or clubs. Black
6:19men, meanwhile, worked physically
6:21demanding jobs in the new industrial
6:24districts, which often shortened male
6:26lifespans. So, in the rural south, the
6:29southern governments began to pass what
6:32were known as uh black codes, which
6:34continued to regulate uh
6:36African-American behaviors and impose
6:38social and economic controls on black
6:40communities.
6:43You might also remember that a major
6:44form of this control was through
6:47sharecropping laws. Um, which was an
6:49exploitative system where you might
6:51enter into a contract with a farmer, uh,
6:54perhaps your former master, but you'd
6:57enter into massive debt which you might
6:59never be able to escape through
7:01exorbitant interest that you couldn't
7:03afford on the different materials you
7:05might need to start your farm. This
7:07cycle of debt called de debt pay uh by
7:11historians was often followed by prison
7:14sentences for those who failed to pay
7:16their dues and was effectively a
7:18retroactive
7:20uh form a uh sibling if you will of the
7:25system of enslavement that existed in
7:27the south prior to the civil war.
7:31Black communities also formed in this
7:33period. Richmond, Nashville, Atlanta,
7:36and Washington DC. All of these proposed
7:38better lives through education and
7:41employment, but also the ability to ga
7:43engage in social, cultural, and
7:45intellectual activities that could
7:47develop when black populations and
7:49cities grew large enough. These black
7:52urban communities were called group
7:54economies by WB
7:57Duboce,
7:59uh, a famed, uh, African-American leader
8:01who we will speak about more. um meaning
8:05that these group economies were a closed
8:07economic circle largely independent of
8:10the surrounding whites.
8:13Duboce reflected that quote there used
8:15to be negro businessmen in northern
8:18cities and a few even in southern cities
8:21but they catered to white trade. The
8:23negro businessman today caters to
8:26colored trade in every city in the
8:29United States which has considerable
8:30negro population. The colored group is
8:33serving in religion, medical care, legal
8:36advice, and educating its children.
8:40He continued, in growing degree, it is
8:43serving itself in insurance, houses,
8:46books, and amusements.
8:48All this to mean that businesses and
8:51newspapers, banks and churches in these
8:54black communities, um there was much to
8:57be gained by looking inward to make an
8:59insular community to focus on those
9:02systems of uplift to help one another
9:04reach success.
9:07A huge development in this period was
9:09also the development of black schools
9:11such as the 1865 establishment of the
9:14Richmond Colored Normal School uh by the
9:17Freriedman's Bureau which joined the
9:19Richmond school system in 1876.
9:22Churches also helped to establish
9:24schools uh like the university um
9:26Virginia Union University uh which was
9:29formed during the Civil War among others
9:32uh which made use of the land grant
9:34college act in 1890 which set aside land
9:37and money for the creation of separate
9:39black colleges.
9:42Culturally performances and theater saw
9:45a boom of black talent taking the stage.
9:49This included performing performers like
9:51Bill Robinson who was also known by a
9:54stage named Bojangles who performed
9:56minstal style dance routines on the
9:59vaudeville circuit and in film.
10:02Street performances of song and dance
10:04teams like George and uh Walker and Bert
10:07Williams seen here uh saw success all
10:10the way to New York and their musical
10:13efforts often satarized the social
10:15problems facing Americans at the time.
10:18This period uh also saw the writing of
10:21the song lift every voice and sing uh
10:23which was meant to express uplift
10:26ideology. The lyrics of the song go like
10:29this. Sing a song full of the faith that
10:32the dark past has taught us. Sing a song
10:35full of hope that the present has
10:37brought us. Facing the rising sun of our
10:40new day begun, let us march on till
10:43victory is won.
10:45Um, and this song was later adopted in
10:471919 by the double NAACP as the Negro
10:51National Anthem. So, this is a moment
10:53where black people are able to enter
10:55into what were largely white centric um,
11:00entertainment forms, but they are able
11:02to bring their own perspectives uh, and
11:05activism to the stage.
11:07Another form of uh entertainment that
11:10was developing in black communities at
11:12this time was of course jazz uh which
11:14was a musical culture formed in early
11:161900s New Orleans. And uh jazz drew on
11:21African musical roots of rhythmic
11:23complexity and improvisation
11:27um to bring together horn and drum
11:29ensembles.
11:31uh a pioneer of ragtime piano music uh
11:34his name was Jelly Roll Morton also
11:36helped to popularize jazz and these
11:39musical forms characterized the period
11:41for their creativity and for their
11:43energy.
11:47But for those who left the south, many
11:48immigrated west to join black army units
11:51stationed at forts. Some went to West
11:54Africa to join um a black environment.
11:58Some 250,000 southern blacks left the
12:01South between 1865 and 1910. And this
12:05was the beginning of a vast exodus of
12:07blacks from the center of the old slave
12:09south. More than 100,000 blacks settled
12:13in Oklahoma for instance uh usually in
12:16all black towns like Bully uh which had
12:19its own school, church, restaurant, and
12:21clubs uh which was common for all black
12:23towns.
12:25There were also uh women migrants like
12:28Mary Fields known as stage coach Mary
12:31who was known for delivering mail to
12:33western territories and she did so with
12:36flare wearing men's clothes and strapped
12:39with weapons and a cigar. Um, other uh,
12:43black men like Nat Love went to the West
12:46and became cowboys and farmers.
12:49And stories like these sensationalized
12:52life in the west as fighting both the
12:55elements Native Americans and more in a
12:59romanticized storytelling, a mythic
13:01storytelling that was reminiscent of the
13:04old frontiersmen tells of the old
13:06Northwest, but here including tales of
13:09black uh men and women as well.
13:14Internationally, some made the trek
13:16across the Atlantic to form a life in
13:18Liberia, the colony formed in West
13:20Africa by the ACS or the American
13:23Colonization Society, which was formed
13:25in 1821.
13:27In 1876, prominent African Methodist
13:30Episcopal Bishop Henry McNeel Turner
13:33advocated for uh African-American
13:36resettlement and Christianization of
13:39Africa. These groups who migrated faced
13:42poor employment prospects. as well as
13:44cultural clashes and illnesses.
13:48So before I continue, I want to uh now
13:50point our attention to two more
13:53individuals uh before we wrap up today's
13:55lecture. The first is Booker T.
13:57Washington who is pictured here on the
13:59slide. He was the head of the Tuskegee
14:02Institute in Alabama and was a proponent
14:05of economic nationalism, race pride and
14:08solidarity, and interracial goodwill as
14:12well as pushing uh uplift ideology
14:15across black society.
14:18Washington hoped that by preaching
14:20racial reconciliation that interracial
14:23life might be brought into the folds of
14:26American life.
14:28Washington used this approach to secure
14:31funding for schools within these limited
14:33means of Jim Crow South and ultimately
14:36found some success by building
14:38connections with guilded age barons like
14:40Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller
14:42who were the richest men in the United
14:44States at this time and who were
14:46investors in his school program.
14:49Washington also found uh founded the
14:52National Negro Business League which
14:54sought to support blackowned businesses.
14:57In 1895, Washington gave a speech titled
15:00the Atlanta Compromise speech. He was
15:04speaking to a largely white audience.
15:06And here he pushed for black advancement
15:09by betraying blacks as loyal, patient,
15:12and yet cast down. He argued that white
15:15business owners would do well to hire
15:18black workers instead of foreign labor
15:21and that social equality was at its end
15:24extreme folly and that it was acceptable
15:27to work for the mutual progress of races
15:30even if separate.
15:32This for whites was a support of the
15:35racial status quo, an accommodationist
15:39or moderate uh form urged by Washington.
15:43His
15:45activism hoped that through uplift,
15:47self-help, and solidarity that blacks
15:50might help one another to rise above the
15:52limits of segregation without engaging
15:55in more radical approaches.
16:00The last individual we'll focus on today
16:01is Web Duboce. We've mentioned him a few
16:04times through this lecture. Duboce was a
16:07critic of Booker T. Washington's
16:09moderation and accommodationism and
16:12making use of his incredible academic
16:14life and graduate degree from Harvard.
16:17Uh Duboce pioneered studies of black
16:20life and argued for black rights and
16:22franchisement or the right to vote. He
16:24suggested that the most talented black
16:27people, the talented 10th or 10% of the
16:30race should take leadership roles,
16:33excuse me, to press back against
16:36disenfranchisement and civil
16:38inferiority.
16:40Duboce was also a leader of
16:42pan-Africanism, an international
16:44organization formed in the pan-African
16:47Congress, which identified a shared
16:50global sense of African identity
16:52worldwide.
16:54One other member of the movements was
16:56Ida B. Wells who shared her outspoken
16:58activism with Duboce and his groups.
17:01Next week we will see the development of
17:05these distinct activist movements as
17:08well as cultural movements like the
17:09Harlem Renaissance as an answer to
17:13patterns of migration in light of the
17:15First World War, the rise of the KKK and
17:19the facing down of these moderate
17:21movements to increased racial terrorism
17:25and race riots as well, which will all
17:27shake black life and experiences both in
17:30in the south and in the north. All
17:33right.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Week 10B: Segregation, Supremacy, and Migration by Andrew Perkins, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 2,330 words across 393 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.