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Were standing in the middle of the exhibition titled determined. The 400 year struggle for black equality. This section explores the period from the end of the civil war after the civil war which ended slavery in the united states. Through 1950 and this was period that witnessed both progress and backlash for black americans. After the civil war as black virginiaens and americans embraced new opportunities in the form of ax success to education, new civil rights, political participation, building new communities. Starting new businesses and so forth as on one hand, black lives flourished under the new promises afforded by freedom and american society. Black people also began to suffer backlash from white establishment that wanted to reassert its power, sense of supremacy and its control over people of color. And at the same time we see amazing strides in black process, we also see regress in the form of disenfranchisement and legalized segregation in american society. So well look at few stories that exemp fi that push and pull die maamic of progress and backlash, but the it starts with reconstruction and key legislative amendments that fundamentally shaped the rights of black people in america. The 13th amendment first in 1865 which finally ended 246 years of slavery in america. The 14th amendment, which was ratified in 1868 which guaranteed Citizenship Rights to former slaves and also promised due process and protection under the law to all americans. Its a, an amendment that still regularly cited in legal cases today and then the 15th amendment. Ratified in 1870. Which gave black men the right to vote. Women would, white and black women, would not gain the right to vote until 1920 but black men were given the right to vote in 1870 and with the right to vote and the access to political participation, we see black men embracing those opportunities and getting very involved and active in virginia politics. And Peter Jacob Carter is one of about 100 black men who served in virginias assembly from the end of the civil war through 1900. He was one of the longest serving representatives from northamptom county. In virginia. And he represents this really flowering of black political activism and it was through assembly men like Peter Jacob Carter and other black politicians that helped pass legislature creating a Public School system in virginia. Readjusting virginias debt after the war and other measures like that. Some of the objects we have related to peter jacobs story represent the eager embrace of black men once they got the right to participate in politics. Theres a poll book here from norfolk county, which lists the colored voters as they were described, to vote in 1867. Theres also a broadside b about a mass meeting of a democratic republican association, which was an alliance of black men and also white Union Supporters who were advocating to give black men the right to vote. Right in the waning days of the civil war so that political activism started very early on. Now unfortunately, as i said, the white establishment was not happy with this newfound power of black people and acted to limit that power. And it did so through various measures. Measures designed to disenfranchise black men from political participation. We see that culminate in a new state constitution passed in 1902. Really the culmination of decades worth of measures trying to disenfranchise voters and black political participation. The 1902 constitution was particularly effective at doing that and it did so primarily through a poll tax of 1. 50, which might not seem like a lot of money. Its about 40 today, but since many virginians in this period couldnt afford that, it was incredibly successful at disenfranchising voters. Almost 90 of eligible black voters were disenfranchised as a result of that new state constitution. Interestingly, also white voters were disenfranchised at shocking rates. About 50 of eligible white voters were also disenfranchised by that new poll tax, which was part of the 1902 state constitution. Another primary means by which white political establishment reasserted its control, its sense of racial hierchy was through the practice of segregation. It became legalized through a decision of 1896. Plessy v. Ferguson, which kaud fied into law the notion of separate but equal. You could maintain racially separate facilities, as long as they were equal. Plessy v. Ferguson basically legalized a system of apartheid in america where by black people were legally separated, denied access to the same facilities as whites and even though it was supposed to allow separate but equal facilities, the facilities for black americans were rarely if ever equal to those of white americans. An image showing a segregated bus when people think about the world of segregation, they probably conjure up images such as this, of black people, people of color, being forced to sit in the back of the bus where as white people could sit in the front. But black people were also limited in going about their daytoday lives in where they could shop. Where they could sit in a movie theatre. Which public facilities, such as pools and libraries they could use. Even which doors they could enter. Many establishments had separate doors for white and colored people. And in the exhibition, created this physical structure to remind people and to force our visitors to think about choice theyre going to make. Are they going to walk through the white only doors or the colored doors. This was a daily reality of life under segregation in the jim crow era. The display relating to the green book, it was a travel guide that was pubbished annually by victor green in 1936. It provides a way for black travelers in which tourism and automotive travel was becoming very popular across north america. It provided black travelers a way to find businesses and establishments such as hotels, restaurants, hair salons so forth that were friendly to black visitors that would not discriminate them under jim crow segregation so the green book was an important guide for black travelers, also allowed them to determine their, their economic power, which businesses they were going to support with their tourist dollars. It allowed black visitors to find those kinds of establishments that were friendly to them. One u of the key visitors is ann spencer from lynchburg, virginia. She was part of the flourishing black cultural expression. In the 1920s after world war i, thats called the new negro renaissance or harlem renaissance and while that phrase, harlem renaissance, acknowledges that the geographical hub of this flowering of cultural expression was in new york citys vibrant black neighborhood of harlem, an spencer made lynchburg, virginia an important satellite of this new negro renaissance. She was a poet and she first became known to other members of the new negro renaissance through meeting James Weldon Johnson, who was visiting lynchburg, virginia to establish and establish a new chapter and swenser was involved in creating what was one of virginias first chapters of the naacp. She and James Weldon Johnson became great friends. Johnson read some of her poetry. Sent it back to his friends in harlem who then began publishing her poetry in new negro renaissance publication such as the crisis and other publications. And through her poetry, which was widely admired by her peers, spencer became good friends with many important black culture literary and intellectual features in the middle decades of the 20th century. Many of those figures visited the home she and her husband had in lynchburg. Basically, you name an important black cultural figure of that period and they likely stayed at ann spencers home. They were known as very gracious hosts and she was an avid gardener so she had beautiful gardeners and would regularly host literal conversations about culture in her home and in her garden. Just to name a couple of visitor, they were probably at her home, some included du bois and a letter from him to spencer. They first met in 1898 and became very Close Friends and this is a letter from him mentioned a visit hes going to be taking in 1934 and also asking her about her famous garden. So du bois was a regular visitor to the spencer home as was langston hughes. Paul robeson. Hursen. Even Martin Luther king visited her home. So as i say, many key black int luktal and cultural figures of the day. Now ann spencer, she was, she was, she was constantly writing. Very devoted to her craft. She would regularly write verses on any available piece of paper. The back of a checkbook. An old envelope. And so forth and she called these her scribblings. They were arrayed on a little traveling desk when she traveled new york, washington, atlanta and other places. So even though spencer was constantly writing she wasnt a poet who actively sought publication. So only about 30 of her poems were ever published during her lifetime. She generally had to be prodded to sending her poems to a literary journals and other publication. She was not seeking that kind of recognition. But we do have an example from the lyric magazine. A virginia published literary journal that includes a couple of her poems. And her works are included in all the major an theologies of american and black poetry of the period. As i mentioned, in addition to being a poet, she was a Civil Rights Activist. She stopped taking the bus in lynchburg to protest segregated bussing, so she became a somewhat notorious figure around town. Because she would walk everywhere. Or try to hitch rides on farmers wagons and so forth. Something that was considered inappropriate for a respectable lady in that day. She also worked as a librarian for 20 years in lynchburgs segregated high school and it was through her activism that she was able to obtain resources to find books, to make books available to black students that she would otherwise not have had without her advocacy for black educational development. Encouraging literary interests of her black students. Now another key figure visitors will encounter in this section is clemens o givens. Givens was a richmond native who became a tuskegee airman. Before i tell his story, i want to remind listeners that at the outset of world war ii, like many institutions across the united states, the u. S. Military was segregated. In addition to black servicemen and women having to serve in separate units, they were often relegated to the most menial tasks and denied leadership opportunities. As black activists started fighting against those kinds of restrictions, started demanding new opportunities in the u. S. Military, the u. S. Army, which controlled the air force, agreed to create the Tuskegee Airman Program to train bhak black pilots to fly and o givens is one of nearly 1,000 pilots who earned his wings through that keeg airman program. And world war ii really crystallized many of the contradictions of american society. For black americans during that period. Because on one hand, black men and women were being asked to serve their country to fight totalitarian regimes such as the nazis abroad, yet at the same time, they were being oppressed and being treated like second class citizens at home so world war ii spurred black activism particularly in the form of what was called the Double Victory Campaign or the double v campaign. Where black americans were fighting for two victories. Abroad and victory at home. Victory against jim crows segregation and the tuskegee pilots were important pioneers in starting to change Public Attitudes about not only the accomplishments of black servicemen and women, but also about the inequities they faced in american society. Clemens o givens is one of those Tuskegee Airmen who made the ultimate sacrifice. He was killed while flying his plane oaf the coast of italy in 1944 during his World War Ii Service and we have his tuskegee airman patch. Showing the crest, which is a black panther spitting out red flames. As their motto says, spit fire. Then we have this poin nant document, the Western Union telegram, sent to his family notifying them of his death in 1944. We have some other items that belong to other Tuskegee Airmen. Including a leather flight helmet with goggles and also a bomber jacket. This belonged to portmouth native, windburn and whats really charming about this jacket, you see his personalized patch. Which shows bugs bunny reclining on a missile. With the phrase whats up, doc . So the suggestion is that that missile is is going to be dropped on the germans or one of americas other enemies. With bugs bunny sending it aits way and its also marked with thomas windborns nickname, windy. So as i say, the tuskegee air a men, they really are representative of the service and sacrifices that black servicemen and women have made in all american wars going back to the american revolution. They really start to shift Public Opinion b about the abilities, accomplishments and skill of black servicemen and women in the military. All right, were now in the final chronological gallery of determine and this section explores black history from 1950, the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s up through the present day. It not only looks at the phenomenal process that they made in the Civil Rights Movement and key legislation made in the 1960s, but it also traces the achievements and accomplishments of black americans in all avenues of modern life. Once the various barriers to their full participation had been broken down. Brings us up to the present day where were at a moment where we have made remarkable process on the path toward it is racially equality, yet were still a nation that very much struggles with race. Now the section opens up with the modern Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s represented by two characters who represent two key elements of what was abroad, multifaceted fight for civil rights in the 50s and 60s. The first character is Barbara Johns powell who has a high school student, named Barbara Johns, led a strike of students in 1950 in her segregated high school. Robert Moton High School in farmville, virginia and she led this protest against the inadequate conditions of her high school. As i mentioned, segregation allowed for the maintenance of separate facilities including schools for black and white students and generally black students had much poorer facilities than their white counterparts and she got sick of that and led a student protest that ultimately linked her schools case to the larger case for School Desegregation. Brown v. Board of education, which was a landmark u. S. Supreme Court Decision in 1954 which struck down the notion of separate but equal. Basically overturned that earlier decision of plessy v. Ferguson and mandated the integration of black and white schools. It was a landmark decision that recognized that separate was inherently unequal and had to be ended. Unfortunately, brown v. Board of education wasnt kind of a one and done because virginia and many other Southern States who this were deeply resistance to integrating for the races in Public Schools, led a campaign of massive resistance to try to reresist that federal mandate to integrate schools and it was manifest in various ways including the closure of schools in some counties of virginia that the governor at the time, lindsey almond, he closed certain schools rather than integrate them and theres a photograph showing students protesting the fact theyve had to lose four years of schools because the Public Schools were closed rather than being integrated. Barbaras story underscores a to fight for the legal dismantle ling of jim crow laws, laws that had cot fied separate by equal. And virginia was major battleground in that fight. The naacp, which often led and pioneered these legal cases. Filed more lawsuits in virginia over the issue of School Desegregation than in any other state in the country. One of those naacp lawyers was oliver hill. And we have a document related to the brown v. Board of education fight. Now another key strain of the Civil Rights Movement and one thats represented by a second figure in this exhibition is the movement to change Public Opinion and to advocate for civil rights broadly across the society rather than trying to dismantle segregation on a gradualist basis through the courts. That movement is represented by the reverend dr. Wyatt t. Walker, who is not a wellknown, but is one of the leading figures of the Civil Rights Movement of the early 1960s. Began his Civil Rights Activism here in virginia when he was a student at Virginia Union university and then through his pastorship in petersburg, virginia and walker, he organized a range of nonviolent protests against segregation. He led marches against segregated swimming pools. He led a demonstration at a Public Library and did other kinds of organizing activities to protest segregation and regarding his library demonstration, he and other activists went to the whites only section of the petersburg Public Library in 1951 and he tried to check out a biography of the con rat general, robert e. Lee. I think shows an amazing amount of cheek and wit and for trying to use the whites only section of the library, walker had the Police Called was arrested. His first of 17 arrests over the course of his career as a Civil Rights Activist thats one of the items we have on view in the exhibition. Walker became very Close Friends with dr. Martin luther king r jr. They first met at an interseminary conference in the early 1950s. And walker became kings right hand man. They together helped found the southern christian Leadership Conference and organized many of the nonviolent mass protests activities that marked the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Martin luther king referred to walker as the keenest mind of the Civil Rights Movement. Walker jazzed many of the major activities including the Birmingham Campaign of 1963 and the march op washington of 1963. And a as a sign of how close dr. Martin luther king and walker were, we have a, an early letter from martin lewiser king to walker. Its dated december 3rd, 1958. Its referencing a march against segregated schools that walker was organized here in richmond and its signed mike. Only dr. Kings closest friends referred to him as mike so this is a powerful indication of how close their friendship was. We also have this, its very humble looking, but a powerful artifact. This aluminum cup. Socalled freedom cup. It belonged to walkers wife, teresa, who was a fellow Civil Rights Activist so this is an important reminder of the Important Role women played in the zyl rights moouchl. Now she got this cup when she was imprisoned in jackson, mississippi in june of 1961. After taking one of the freedom rides and those were rides that were organized by civil rightsing activists, both white and black activists, who wanted to test southern compliance with federal mandates against segregated bussing and interstate bus travel and so groups of freedom riders would board buses in the north and take long bus journeys into the deep south to see if they would be allowed regardless of race, to go into the same waiting rooms and so forth. Even though federal law mandated that, unfortunately, the freedom riders were generally met by violence, intimidation and often imprisonment when they arrived in various southern ports and as i say, Teresa Walker was even though federal law mandated that, unfortunately the freedom riders were generally met by violence, intimidation, and often imprisonment when they arrived in various southern ports. And as i say, treeresa walker, e was arrested after one of these freedom rides in jackson, mississippi, and this is the cup she used during her imprisonment. We have other items related to other protest activities, including this lunch counter stool, which came from the richmond wool worths branch. It was the site of one of the many student sitins that were held around the country in the 1960s, protesting segregated lunch service, and these were the kinds of protests that were designed to underscore the inequities of segregation, to underscore the daily humiliations that black people faced trying to navigate the segregated world. And these activities were also intended to change Public Opinion as news outlets across the country, across the world were covering things like student sitins, covering peaceful protest marches that were met by police wielding highpower fire hoses and sicing dogs against protesters, those were images that really kind of shocked a nation and forced a reckoning with the status quo of segregation in america. And we also have several documents published by various civil Rights Groups such as the naacp, c. O. R. E. , the congress of racial equality, promoting these various forms of nonviolent activism. And many of these Civil Rights Activities, even though they involved many different groups, and networks of activists at local, state, and national levels, many of these activities culminated in the 1960s in key legislative actions that broke down the system of legalized segregation and guaranteed equal rights to americans regardless of race and many of these guarantees also extended to not only to race but also to gender, age, and religion. And a couple of these key legislative moments that we outlined in the exhibition include the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights act of 1965, which broke down which banished the use of poll taxes understanding clauses and so forth which as we discussed earlier were so effective in disenfranchising black voters. And then also the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which banned discrimination in the sale and rental of housing. As you move throughout the rest of the exhibition, from this post1960s period, you see that how the Civil Rights Movement really paved the way for black people to break the color line in all arenas of American Life, and we have figures that showcase the remarkable accomplishments and contributions that black people have made in the sciences, in cultural fields, in professional athletics and arthur ashe represents one of those figures who broke the color line in mens professional tennis. Pioneering tennis player who was also a great champion of human rights throughout the world. A couple of the items we have related to him include a tennis ball that a fan had him sign and for arthur ashe, a richmond native who grew up being banned from certain segregated courts in tennis, to make it to the International Sports arena and also to be selected as a representative for the u. S. Team on the davis cup was incredibly significant to him. And another figure that showcases the Great Strides black virginians have made in various arenas of American Life is doug wilder, who represents Many Political firsts for a black virginian. Over the course of his long political career, doug wilder made many firsts, including when he won a seat on virginias state assembly in 1969, becoming the first black politician to do so since the 19th century. And quite a remarkable achievement given how effectively black people had been disenfranchised in virginia for much of the 20th century. One of wilders other firsts was becoming the first black governor elected by any u. S. State when wilder won virginias Gubernatorial Race in 1990. And he engineered many of these political victories through building a Wide Coalition across racial lines. Wilder always said that he wanted to be judged by his achievements, by his positions, not by the color of his skin. And it was that kind of Coalition Building that served as a model for other politicians, including president barack obama and virginia was instrumental in his president ial victory both in first in 2008 and again in 2012. And that was a moment when virginia, after decades and decades of voting for a republican president ial candidate, turned from red to blue and voted for a democratic candidate. And again, became instrumental in electing the nations first black president. So, after looking at these various spheres of achievement, the exhibition brings us up to the present day and explores recent issues and activism around racial problems in this country. We have a section that explores the events in charlottesville in the summer of 2017 and the rise of white sprupremacy and new fos of black activism in the form of the black lives Matter Movement and activism thats designed to confront lingering problems, persistent problems our nation has around race, around systemic racism, and long standing patterns of discrimination and also persistent forms of socioeconomic disparities between white people and people of color. Ultimately, our goals for the determined exhibition is to not only showcase the remarkable stories from across 400 years of black history but also to give visitors a deeper appreciation for the determination, the persistence, the resilience of black people as they have fought for equality across these 400 years. We also hope visitors walk away inspired by the stories theyve encountered, certainly there is a lot of pain, there is a lot of horror in our nations history around the issue of race, but some of the 30 figures featured in the exhibition, i hope, motivate and inspire our visitors with their stories of sometimes success, sometimes failure, but their willingness to fight against sometimes very unfavorable odds. And i also hope that by exploring the legacy of 1619, which was kind of the beginning of slavery in british north america, and tracing it across over two centuries of slavery through emancipation, segregation, victories of the Civil Rights Movement up to the present day, through looking at that long legacy, visitors gain a deeper appreciation for the roots of some of our present day problems so that they know how we got to here and are inspired to make changes for the future. This was the second of a twopart tour of the Virginia Museum of history and cultures exhibit on 400 years of africanAmerican History. You can watch part one is other American History tv programs at cspan. Org history. All week, were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan3. The lectures in history, american artifacts, reel america, the civil war, oral histories, the presidency, and special event coverage about our nations history. Enjoy American History tv now and every weekend on cspan3. This holiday week, American History tv is on cspan3 every day with primetime features each night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Tonight, a discussion on aviation with aviation writer and filmmaker Paul Glenshaw on the first u. S. Military airplane, the 1909 wright flyer. Tuesday, the year 1969, with woodstock, free speech, and the gay rights movement. New years day, wednesday, the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. Thursday, the forgotten battles of the civil war. And friday, the 75th anniversary of the battle of the bulge where Adolph Hitler launched a surprise counteroffensive against allied forces. Watch American History tv all this week and every weekend on cspan3. American history tv products are now available at the new c span online store. Go to cspanstore. Org to see whats new and check out all of the products. More American History tv now with an event commemorating the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first africans in virginia and the dedication of a new visitors center. From fort monroe in hampton roads, virginia, this is about two and a half hours. [ applause ]

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