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An Example for Timeline An Example for Timeline Here’s an example of what I would pick out for the timeline about Lincoln’s Legacy: 1863 Emancipation Proclamation 1865 Freedman's Bureau 1865 13th Amendment (12/06/1865) 1866 Civil Rights Act 1867 First Reconstruction Act 1868 14th Amendment (07/28/1868) 1870 15th Amendment (03/30/1870) 1875 Civil Rights Act of 1875 1877 Reconstruction Ends 1881 TN segregates RR cars; 13 states follow 1890 MS restricts black suffrage; 7 states follow 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Additional Documents – Day 1 "I love you, but hate slavery." Introduction: Frederick Douglass had lived with Hugh Auld and his wife Sophia ("Miss Sopha") in Baltimore for most of his childhood and youth (ages 8 to 20), excepting two terrible years in rural Maryland in the custody of his legal owner, Thomas Auld (Hugh's brother). Thomas's grown daughter, Amanda, now "Mrs. Sears" of Philadelphia and an opponent of slavery, had recently re-introduced herself to Douglass. Perhaps stirred by that contact, Douglass revisited the painful gaps in his life story. His letter quietly testifies to the suffering and disorientation that slavery inflicted by stripping away the fundamentals of human identity. Transcription (see original on previous page) Rochester Oct. 4th 1857 Hugh Auld Esq. My dear sir: My heart tells me that you are too noble to treat with indifference the request I am about to make, It is twenty years since I ran away from you, or rather not from you but from -slavery, and since then I have often felt a strong desire to hold a little correspondence with you and to learn something of the position and prospects of your dear children. They were dear to me - and are still - indeed I feel nothing but kindness for you all - I love you, but hate slavery. Now my dear sir, will you favor me by dropping me a line, telling me in what year I came to live with you in Aliceanna St. the year the Frigate was built by Mr. Beacham. The information is not for publication - and shall not be published. We are all hastening where all distinctions are ended, kindness to the humblest will not be unrewarded. Perhaps you have heard that I have seen Miss Amanda that was, Mrs. Sears that is, and was treated kindly such is the fact, Gladly would I see you and Mrs. Auld or Miss Sopha as I used to call her. I could have lived with you during life in freedom though I ran away from you so unceremoniously, I did not know how soon I might be sold. But I hate to talk about that. A line from you will find me Addressed Fred K Douglass Rochester N. York. I am dear sir very truly yours, Fred: Douglass Item Description and Credits: GLC 7484.06. Frederick Douglass to Hugh Auld, 4 October 1857 Suggested Reading: Frederick Douglass, Autobiographies: "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" / "My Bondage and My Freedom" / "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass", ed. Henry Louis Gates (Library of America, 1996). David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass's Civil War: Keeping the Faith in Jubilee (Louisiana State University Press, 1989). William S. McFeely, Frederick Douglass (W.W Norton, 1991). Introduction: Frederick Douglass and the Reality of Jim Crow [Available from http://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/doc_print.php?doc_id=158] The intrepid abolitionist Frederick Douglass was never content with the state of the world as he knew it. Douglass lived through slavery's demise, but continued to be subjected to racism. Despite the passage of several Constitutional amendments and federal laws that followed the Civil War, unwritten rules continued to curtail the rights and opportunities of African Americans. Douglass succinctly summarized the reality of Jim Crow in an 1887 letter that claimed the South's “wrongs are not much now written in laws which all may see – but the hidden practices of people who have not yet, abandoned the idea of Mastery and dominion over their fellow man.” Racism, violence, and vigilantism were the tools of “Mastery” that permitted whites to accomplish what the law theoretically prohibited. Douglass' correspondence reflected the belief shared among the black community that the best places to combat “hidden practices” of the Jim Crow years were in the schoolhouse and the court room. Living in Washington, D.C. since 1872, Douglass had ample opportunity to witness discrimination in nearby Maryland and Virginia and was keenly aware of the struggle for quality schooling and judicial access during the post-Reconstruction years. Douglass was passing along his observations when he said “from all I can learn colored lawyers are admitted to practice in Southern Courts and I am very glad to admit the fact – for it implies a wonderful revolution in the public sentiment of the Southern States. I have not yet learned what are the inequalities between the races as to school privileges at the south – In some of the states the time alloted to colored schools is less than that allowed to whites. And I have heard and believe that in none of the states are the teachers of colored Schools as well paid as the teachers of White Schools.” By the 1880s, separation of the races was becoming increasingly apparent with school segregation mandated by law in nearly every Southern state. Despite this adversity, Douglass made it clear that inequalities could be corrected by challenging the system. During this time, however, many Southern black leaders actually preferred segregated schools as a source of local autonomy and independence. All-black colleges rapidly became the primary centers of resistance to Jim Crow, although their administrators and staff frequently differed over how best to make their stand. At the primary and secondary school levels, truly heroic efforts were made by impoverished teachers to educate their pupils, usually in the face of adversity. With an onslaught of a new era of white supremacy flourishing in the South, it became increasingly difficult for blacks to obtain an education. Employers even went as far as firing black employees for attending school. Vigilante groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, terrorized African Americans by burning schools and randomly beating and murdering teachers and students. Douglass looked to the courts to provide and enforce equality before the law, an explicit right granted by the 14th amendment. However, his statement that: “colored Lawyers are admitted to practice in Southern Courts” was only partially correct. Even in states where African Americans were permitted to practice, their numbers were few and their achievements limited. Employment records in the United States census show only one African American lawyer in Virginia in 1870, ten by 1880, and fifty-three in 1900. Twenty-seven lawyers were admitted to the Arkansas bar between 1891 and 1923. Many black lawyers in the south came from or obtained their education in the North. Others took correspondence courses or apprenticed to practicing attorneys. For the most part, African American attorneys were relegated to non-trial work. Often class interests trumped racial loyalty. When wealthy blacks had a choice, they usually hired white attorneys. While Douglass' observation that “a wonderful revolution” had taken place was overly optimistic, he was correct that the courts would become a key battleground for equal rights in the decades to come. But the situation became worse before it improved. Formal legal segregation in all aspects of Southern life became a reality in the Plessy v. Ferguson case, which stated segregation did not constitute discrimination, thus establishing the "separate but equal" doctrine. It would take nearly seventy years before the civil rights revolution which Douglass envisioned would result in a realm of equal citizenship. David J. Gary Manuscript Cataloger Transcript: My dear sir: Pardon delay – answer to your letter made careful enquiry necessary. From all I can learn colored Lawyers are admitted to practice in Southern Courts, and I am very glad to admit the fact – for it implies a wonderful revolution in the public sentiment of the Southern States. I have not yet learned what are the inequalities between the races as to school privileges at the south – In some of the states the time allotted to colored schools is less than that allowed to whites. And I have heard and believe that in none of the states are the teachers of colored Schools as well paid as the teachers of White Schools. My own observation has been that white teachers of Colored schools in the southern states, show but little interest in their pupils. This is not strange, since they [2] have been selected as teachers more because of their necessities, than from any interests they have shown in the progress and elevation of the colored race. [struck: bu] I say this not of all, but of those in Virginia for instance who have come under my observation. In Kentucky I believe so far as the law is concerned equal advantages are extended to colored children for Education, and the Same may be true of other states. I think the Bureau of Education will give you all the information you may require on this branch [3] of the subject of your enquiries, our wrongs are not so much now in written laws which al may see – but the hidden practices of a people who have not yet abandoned the idea of Mastery and dominion over their fellow man. With great Respect Yours truly Fredk Douglass Cedar Hill Anacostia D.C. Nov: 23. 1887 Item Description and Credits GLC 08992 Frederick Douglass, Washington, D.C., 23 November 1887. Suggested Reading: Finkelman, Paul, ed. The Age of Jim Crow: Segregation from the End of Reconstruction to the Great Depression.
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