Black race and their struggle
The first episode focuses on the segregation of the black race and their struggle to rise above the oppression they faced as slaves. We are introduced to an entertainer Jim Crow who was born in 1836. He would then come to symbolize one of the most tragic eras in race relations in American history, a time rooted in promises and contradiction as explained by the narrator Richard Roundtree. During the time, the civil war had just ended and there was a lot of promise and hope for the black people to acquire freedom. In 1865 they would be granted this freedom but not for long since in a bit, over a decade later, the Jim Crow laws were enforced.
The Jim Crow laws were local and state rules enforced on the southern United States that featured racial segregation and oppression to the colored people. These laws were structured to deny blacks the right to experience freedom.
- W. Law, Civil Rights Leader (1923-2002) says that they were not afraid of segregation but rather they came up with techniques for survival as they awaited their moment of victory. They started fighting to secure their rights like the right to vote and own land where they could build schools and churches and raise a community. They did this through the media and the court system. The whites fought back and the conditions however got worse for the colored people.
In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation. Slaves were given the right to own lands and tools to work the land. For a while, the slaves got lands from their masters and built schools and churches but this dream is short-lived after Lincoln is assassinated and Andrew Johnson became president. Blacks would then face the risk of having their land taken from them and having to work for the white man. They resist and in 1866 after experiencing this resistance, the congress passed amendments giving the blacks voting rights. The reconstruction began but whites were not willing to comply and tortured them to compliance.
Even though they faced torture, a ray of hope arose for them in 1869 with the election Ulysses S. Grant who sent federal troops to their aid but this was not enough for the blacks and some of them led by Singleton left the for Kansas. They faced difficulty in their journey to Kansas and even those who made it there were faced with challenges and bad weather but they still made it through by their determination. In 1877, reconstruction was over when Republican Rutherford B. Hayes won the presidency by making a deal with southern democrats for electoral votes. White dominance re-emerged and slavery culture was built upon obedience and submission. The black people got frustrated with white dominance and knew that the only way they would be equal with whites was through education, choosing to educate their children. This quest for education was symbolized by Booker T. Washington, born into slavery but managed to learn how to read and write and eventually became a teacher at the Hampton Institute. He eventually was invited to become principal at Tuskegee, Alabama.
Booker T. Washington started an industrial school since they had nothing and had to make everything. Eventually, blacks would get an education. Black women would study and become teachers. Despite how hopeful this seemed reality remained that for them it was always to do the handy work. The black generation kept growing with the present generation being more assertive of their place in society. Isaiah Montgomery led blacks to cut trees and clear the area around Mississippi eventually founding Mound Bayou which ended up as the haven for the blacks, where they had their own offices, swimming pools, hospitals, and schools. In taking after men like Pap Singleton, Montgomery sought to create a safe harbor for blacks. In 1890, Mound Bayou became one of the most prosperous black community and would later be called The Jewel of the Delta. Isaiah T. Montgomery became the first black delegate to attend the convention. He agreed to vote in favor of an amendment to keep illiterates from voting as a way of protecting Mound Bayou from Whites but this was seen as treason.
Washington desires to bridge the racial gap and he achieves this through a speech he gives in which he says: “In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers yet one as the hand.”