Transcript A Century of Segregation: 1860s

The Anti-Democratic Century
1860s-1960s
A Small Sample
The Official Rules
 Individual people and private businesses were free
to practice discrimination.
 States were allowed to require “separate but
equal” services.
Reconsidering Equality
Steps Forward
• Slavery outlawed
• Citizenship granted to all native
born
• Rights of ‘equal protection’ and
‘due process’ granted to all
• Right to vote granted to black
males
• Assistance to former slaves
initiated
• Immigrants from Africa were
permitted to become citizens
Resistance
• Individuals and private
businesses and
organizations allowed to
discriminate
• States allowed to require
‘segregated but equal’
services
• Former slaves quickly
abandoned by the
government
US Supreme Court Justification for
“Separate but Equal”
“Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts
or to abolish distinctions based on physical
differences, and the attempt to do so can only result
in accentuating the differences of the present
situation. If the civil and political rights of both races
be equal, one cannot be inferior to the other civilly
or politically. If one race be inferior to the other
socially, the Constitution of the United States
cannot put them on the same plane.”
Civic or political equality ⧧ social equality
Women are Victorious
1920
19th Amendment
“The right of citizens of the
United States to vote shall
not be denied or abridged
by the United States or by
any State on account
of sex.”
Neither Susan B. Anthony nor Elizabeth Cady Stanton lived long enough
to witness the 19th Amendment
Indian Citizenship Act of 1924
“BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and
house of Representatives of the
United States of America in
Congress assembled, That all non
citizen Indians born within the
territorial limits of the United
States be, and they are hereby,
declared to be citizens of the
United States: Provided That the
granting of such citizenship shall
not in any manner impair or
otherwise affect the right of any
Indian to tribal or other property.”
Post Civil War Means of Oppression
1860s – 1960s
Social
• Segregated housing
• Segregated accommodations
Economic
• Sharecropping System
• Most jobs restricted
Political
• Poll tax, Literacy Test
• Grandfather clause
Educational
• Separate and unequal schools
Physical/Psycholo
gical
• Ku Klux Klan Terror
• Lynchings (2,805 from 1880-1930)
Chinese Labor in CA
Gold mine labor
Railroad labor
Farm labor
Fishing labor
California Constitution of 1879
SEC. 4. The presence of foreIgners ineligible to become citizens of the United
States is declared to be dangerous to the well-being of the State, and the
LegiSlature shall discourage their immigration by all the means within its
power. Asiatic coolieism is a form of human slavery, and isforever
prohibited in this State, and all contractsfor coolie l",bor shall be void. All
companies or corporations, whether formed in this country or any foreign
country, for the importation of such labor, shall be subject to such
penaltIes as the Legislature may prescribe. The Legislature shall delegate
all necessary power to the incorporated cities and towns of this State for
the removal of Chinese without the limits of such citIes and towns, or for
their loca- tion within prescribed portions of those hmlts, and itshall also
provide the necessary legisla- tion to prohibit'the introduction into this
State of Chinese after the adoption of this Constitu- tion. Thissection shall be
enforced by appropriate legislation.
What to do about the Chinese?
• 1879 CA Referendum
Are you “for” or “against” allowing more Chinese immigration?
• CA:
MC:
Against
Against
94%
2,345
For 6%
For 1
• Monterey Californian, September 16, 1879
“The late election would seem to indicate pretty forcibly that as far as California is
concerned John must certainly “go”, the vote all through the State going fifty to one against
him...It can never be said again that it is not the voice of the people of the whole State who
wish their removal, but only a few malcontents. It is with almost one accord the demand
for relief has been voiced. Take them, anybody. We don’t want them.”
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Preamble. Whereas, in the opinion of the Government of the United States
the coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order
of certain localities within the territory thereof:
Therefore, be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the
expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and until the
expiration of ten years next after the passage of this act, the coming of
Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is hereby,
suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any
Chinese laborer to come, or, having so come after the expiration of said
ninety days, to remain within the United States.
Effects of
The Chinese Exclusion Act
US-Japan
Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907
Japan agreed to
voluntarily stop the
emigration of Japanese
workers to the US.
Educted Japanese were
allowed to continue
emigration, as were the
wives of the workers who
were already in the US.
Effects of
US-Japanese “Gentlemen’s Agreement”
Concern over Immigration of
other Asian Groups
Keeping Asians Out
The Asiatic Barred Zone of 1917
Sec 3. That the following classes of aliens shall be
excluded from admission into the United States:
Immigration Act of 1917, Sec. 3
So much for that…
1886
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to
breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming
shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest
tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Author: Emma Lazarus
US Immigration History
Immigration to the U.S.
• Immigration Act of 1924
(until 1965)
– An act intended to preserve the dominance of whites from
the north and west of Europe within the U.S. population
– Severely restricted total new immigrants
– Assigned each foreign country a “quota” of immigrants,
which was 2% of its population in the US in 1890
– Excluded all countries in the Americas from the quota system
European Countries Privileged by
Immigration Law
1924-1965
Land Ownership
California Alien Land Law of 1913-1952
– Prohibited all persons
“ineligible for
citizenship” from owning
land in California
– Directed specifically
against competition
from Japanese who were
being very successful as
truck farmers in the
state
Marriage
California
“Antimiscegenation Laws”
prohibited marriages
between Whites
and Negoes,
Mulattos,
Chinese,
Japanese,
and Filipinos
U.S. Cable Act of 1922
Any female US citizen who
married an “alien
ineligible
for citizenship” would
have her US citizenship
taken
away from her
Education
• California Education Code of 1921
– Allowed school districts in the state to operate
segregated schools for American Indian, Chinese,
and Japenese students
– In practice, segregated schools also run for Black
and Mexican students
• In 1947, the CA Supreme Court ruled that Mexican American
students could not be segregated because they are white
(Westminster v. Mendez)
Education
Westminster v. Mendez
California, 1947
After acknowledging that California state law did allow for
racially segregated schools, the Court wrote:
“As to these, there are laws requiring them in certain cases to
attend separate schools. It may appropriately be noted that
the segregation so provided for includes only children of
parents belonging to one or another of the great races of
mankind…”
“Nowhere in any California law is there a suggestion that any
segregation can be made of children within one of the great
races.”
What is ‘race’ ?
2010 Census Form
2020 Census Form?
Racially Restricted* Housing
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“New 5 room home with double garage in restricted community,” (SC, Aug. 6, 1942, 12)
4 room furnished house, garage, pressure system water supply. Mexicans or Filipinos can
buy.” (SC, Sept. 21, 1945, 13)
Large New 3 Bedroom Home. In the new restricted East Side Homes Tract in Alisal . . .” (SC,
Oct. 29, 1945, 13)
“For Sale — Large restricted lot . . . Carmel.”
“Three beautiful connecting residential lots on Asilomar. . . One of the best restricted sites
in Pacific Grove.” (DPH, Feb. 8, 1947, 8)
“Colored Folk — Here is your chance to buy a new 2 bedroom home on Maple St.” East
Monterey Properties Co., Seaside. (DPH, May 27, 1947, 13)
“Beautiful Salinas Valley . . . Do you want Good Neighbors? You will find some of the best
people living here or with the intention of building. As this subdivision is restricted you will
always be protected.”64 A.V. Rianda, Jr., Realtor (SC, June 2, 1951, 11)
“Two Bedroom home, restricted area in Alisal.” (SC, March 11, 1953, 20)
Apartment rental in Castroville to “Quiet Mexican family only. $75.” (SC, Jan. 2, 1969, 33)
* Restricted = only while people allowed
Repatriation
• Mexican “Repatriation” Act of 1930
– US forced or physically removed 2 million Mexican
Americans to Mexico
o 60% were U.S. citizens
o In 2005, California issued a formal apology
• Filipino Repatriation Act of 1935
– US offered to pay the costs for any Filipino that
would voluntarily go back to the Philippines
Mexican Repatriation
Apology Act of 2005
• “(d) Throughout California, massive raids
were conducted on Mexican-American
communities, resulting in the clandestine
removal of thousands of people, many of
whom were never able to return to the
United States, their country of birth.
• (e) These raids also had the effect of
coercing thousands of people to leave the
country in the face of threats and acts of
violence.
• (f) These raids targeted persons of Mexican
ancestry, with authorities and others
indiscriminately characterizing these
persons as "illegal aliens" even when they
were United States citizens or permanent
”
legal residents.
Cheap, Temporary Foreign Workers
• Bracero Program 1946-1964
– An agreement with Mexico to supply US farms,
factories, and construction companies with
hundreds of thousands of inexpensive, temporary
workers
– Braceros had 10% of their wages withheld,
payable only after they returned to Mexico
• After 50 years of court battles, the Mexican government finally
agreed to pay the Braceros or their descendents the withheld wages
in August, 2011 !
Bracero Video
Bracero Program
Japanese Concentration Camps
• Executive Order 9066 1942-1945
– After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, all
Japanese Americans were ordered to leave a zone
along the west coast of the U.S. and report to
“internment” camps.
o 120,000 Japanese Americans (mostly US citizens) were
held in ten concentration camps in the desert from
1942-1945.
Japanese American Internment
1942-45
At long last…
People had had enough!
• African Americans
• Chicanos / Latinos
• Native Americans
• Chinese Americans
• Japanese Americans
• Filipino Americans
• Women
• Persons with Disabilities
• Poor People