Chris Lahr's Blog
Important Dates for Understanding Race Relations in Huntington, Indiana and Beyond… Compiled by Chris Lahr / 02.19.10, 06:07 PM
I’ve been doing a lot of research on racism in my own hometown. The research lead to the following timeline….
The following are important dates for understanding race relations in Huntington, IN and beyond. At the time of putting these dates together the city of Huntington had a population consisting of 98% white folk (the 2000 Census states that the United States has a population made up of 75% white folk.). Racism is still alive and well in our society today, and this timeline will help us grasp the power of race in our society. White amnesia also exists in our society today. This is a sickness among white folk who think racism no longer exists and that the disproportionate poverty among people of color is “their fault.” White amnesia also rears its ugly head as (white) people go on in life as if race and racism has nothing to do with them; they never had slaves, they do not hold any bitter feelings towards people of color, etc. Yet this timeline helps us put our own history, the history of race, into perspective. One cannot fully understand Huntington’s race history without knowing the history of Indiana as well as the United States. Throughout the timeline we will look at events and policies that occurred that contributed to the racialized society that we live in today. The document has color coded dates to represent: Blue= event in United States (and beyond); Red= event occurred in Indiana; Black = event occurred in Huntington.
1400s
1442> The Beginning of African Slavery: A Portugese captain captured a couple of Moors of noble birth on the African coast. The Moors offered as a ransom, “ten blacks, male and female. The ransom was accepted, and the Negroes were brought to Lisboa; sold at the market, these legendary ten Negroes represented the beginning of the African slave trade which up till the year 1517 was, based on a Papal grant, monopolized by the Portuguese crown (Peter and Mort Bergman; The Chronological History of the Negro in America; p.1).
1482> The First Slave Post: The Portuguese build the first slave-trading port, Sao Jorge de Mina, on the African Coast (Peter and Mort Bergman; The Chronological History of the Negro in America; p.1).
1492> Columbus’s First Journey: Columbus sails across the Atlantic and arrives at an island in the Bahamas. “According to legend, Pedro Alonzo Nino, one of Columbus’ crew on his first voyage to the West, was a Negro” (Peter and Mort Bergman; The Chronological History of the Negro in America; p.2). Upon reaching the Bahamas, he met the Arawak people, who were very kind to the crew and shared what they had. In response Columbus later wrote in his journal, “They (Arawak’s) would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” Columbus actually took some of the natives by force, in order to get the information he needed from them about the area… where is the gold (Zinn, Howard; A People’s History of the United States, p.1)?
1495>> Columbus’s Second Journey: Columbus took more Spaniards with him and was on a mission to get gold and slaves. He gathered 1,500 Arawak men, women and children and put them in pens. He selected 500 of “the best” of them and loaded them on his boat for Spain. 200 of them died on their way to Spain (Zinn, Howard; A People’s History of the United States, p.4.). This became a pattern as more Spaniards would come and kill the natives. In fact half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were killed through murder, mutilation and suicide (Zinn, Howard; A People’s History of the United States, p.4).
1500s
1513> North America Explored: Juan Ponce de León explores the Florida coast.
http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/WAKI-ViewArticle.aspx?pin=wwwwak-464
1524> Giovanni da Verrazano explores the coast from Carolina north to Nova Scotia, enters New York harbor.
http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/WAKI-ViewArticle.aspx?pin=wwwwak-464
1565> St. Augustine, Florida, the first town established by Europeans in the United States, is founded by the Spanish. Later burned by the English in 1586.
http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/WAKI-ViewArticle.aspx?pin=wwwwak-464
1600s
1607> The First “white” Settlement in USA: Jamestown, Virginia, the first English settlement in North America, is founded by Captain John Smith
http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/WAKI-ViewArticle.aspx?pin=wwwwak-464
1616> Pocahontas marries John Rolfe
When the English first arrive in America, neither the colonists nor Indians think of themselves or each other in racial terms. On the contrary, Protestant England’s hated rival is Catholic Spain, while Native Americans see themselves as many nations divided by language, custom and power. When the Powhatan princess Pocahontas marries colonist John Rolfe, the union causes a scandal in the British court, not because Rolfe has married an Indian, but because Pocahontas, a princess, has married a commoner. In 17th-century England, social station is more important than physical differences.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1619> The First Slaves in USA: The first slaves, in the United States, were brought to Jamestown (20 Africans). They actually came as indentured servants and had the freedom to buy land after their term of service. (Peter and Mort Bergman; The Chronological History of the Negro in America; p.10).
Howard Zinn suggests that these Africans were more than indentured servants…“By 1619, a million blacks had already been brought from Africa to South America and the Carribean, to the Portuguese and Spanish colonies, to work as slaves. Fifty years before Columbus, the Portuguese took ten African blacks to Lisbon—this was the start of a regular trade in slaves. African blacks had been stamped as slave labor for a hundred years. So it would be strange if those twenty blacks, forcibly transported to Jamestown, and sold as objects to settlers anxious for a steadfast source of labor, were considered as anything but slaves” (Zinn, Howard; A People’s History of the United States, p. 25).
Howard Zinn goes on to describe how indentured servants (including white people) were bought and sold like slaves and were often mistreated. After signing the indenture, the immigrant agreed to pay their cost of passage to the new world (an 8-12 week journey). Many people died of starvation on the journey. Servants were also beatened, whipped, and servant women raped (Zinn, Howard; A People’s History of the United States, pp.43-44). Most indentured servants were white immigrants.
1654>> The first European contact with the Miami (Native Americans) occurred when two French explorers, found them near Green Bay, Wisconsin (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.1).
**1676>> Social identities fluid/ Bacon’s Rebellion
In early colonial America, social identities are fluid and class distinctions trump physical ones. On Virginia plantations, European indentured servants and African slaves mix freely – they work, play, and make love together. In 1676, Bacon’s Rebellion unites poor Africans and Europeans against Indians and wealthy planters. Although the rebellion is short lived, the alliance alarms the colonial elite, who realize the labor system based on indentured servitude is unstable. Coincidentally, captured Africans, perceived as stronger workers by Europeans, become more available at this time. Planters turn increasingly to African slavery for labor, while granting increased freedoms to Europeans.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon’s_Rebellion
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p274.html
Birth of Racism
“Racism was becoming more and more practical. Edmund Morgan, on the basis of his careful study of slavery in Virginia, sees racism not as ‘natural’ to black-white difference, but something coming out of class scorn, a realistic device for control. ‘If freemen with disappointed hopes should make common cause with slaves of desperate hope, the results might be worse than anything Bacon had done. The answer to the problem, obvious if unspoken and only gradually recognized, was racism, to separate dangerous free whites from dangerous black slaves by a screen of racial contempt” (Zinn, Howard; A People’s History of the United States, pp.56).
Practical Racism: Develop the middle-class
“There was still another control which became handy as the colonies grew, and which had crucial consequences for the continued rule of the elite throughout American history. Along with the very rich and the very poor, there developed a white middle class of small planters, independent farmers, city artisans who, given small rewards for joining forces with merchants and planters, would be a solid buffer against black slaves, frontier Indians, and very poor whites” (Zinn, Howard; A People’s History of the United States, pp.57).
Practical Racism: Language of Liberty and Equality
“Those upper classes, to rule, needed to make concessions to the middle class, without damage to their own wealth or power, at the expense of slaves, Indians, and poor whites. This bought loyalty. And to bind that loyalty with something more powerful even than material advantage, the ruling group found, in the 1760s and 1770s, a wonderfully usful device. That device was the language of liberty and equality, which could unite just enough whites to fight a Revolution against England, without ending either slavery or inequality” (Zinn, Howard; A People’s History of the United States, pp.58).
1680>> “White” appears in colonial laws
Early colonial laws refer to Christians or Englishmen, rather than whites. Around the time of Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676, new laws begin to appear, separating Black slaves from European indentured servants. Slavery becomes permanent and heritable for Negroes, and Black people are punished more harshly for crimes. Poor whites are given new rights and opportunities, including as overseers to police slaves. As the importance of slavery grows, white is used almost exclusively, not only in law but other social arenas, and slavery becomes associated exclusively with Blackness.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1700s
1700ish: Miami move to area (Ft Wayne): Various groups of Miami-speaking people moved into the upper Wabash valley and settled (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.24). 1701- 1763 was the French Era in Indiana. The Miami and the French co-existed harmoniously until 1750 because the French had little need to dominate the tribe (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.34). The French and Miami relied on each other (a middle ground) and they even began having children together. The mixed blood people tended to acculturate with white culture (Rafert, p.35).
1705: Virginia slave codes passed
As wealthy planters turn from indentured servitude towards slavery, they begin to write laws making slavery permanent for Africans, and dividing Blacks from whites and slaves from free men. African Americans are punished more harshly for crimes and their rights are increasingly curtailed. Poor whites are given new entitlements and opportunities, including as overseers who police the slave population. Over time, poor whites identify more with wealthy whites and the degradation of slavery is identified with Blackness.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1746: Slaves were recorded living in Indiana. A group of French settlers (40 white men) had five slaves (African Americans) (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p1).
1776: Freedom creates contradiction
Wealthy planter and slaveholder Thomas Jefferson pens the Declaration of Independence establishing a radical new principle: equality and the natural rights of man. Although this document lays the foundation for American democracy, it also creates a moral contradiction: How can a nation built on freedom hold slaves? Previously, slavery has been unquestioned. Rather than abolish slavery, some founding fathers seek justification in the “nature” of slaves. Contempt for slaves begins to harden into an ideology of racial difference and white supremacy. http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1780: Miami happenings: Little Turtle (Mishikinakwa), the most famous Miami leader, first became known through his destruction of a small French military force, who was acting on American interests (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.38). As the American population increased in Ohio refugee Indian groups joined the Miami at the Wabash- Maumee portage (p.38). By this time the Miami material culture came to resemble that of the Europeans (p.40).
1781: Jefferson suggests Black inferiority : With Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson becomes the first prominent American to suggest that Africans are innately inferior: “I advance it therefore, as a suspicion only, that blacks…are inferior to the whites in the endowments of body and mind.” His writings help rationalize slavery in a nation otherwise dedicated to equality, and he calls on science to find proof.
1783: They Want Land… The American government developed an Indian policy. “The new American government did not want an Indian war; it wanted Indian land” (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.45). The government proceeded to dictate treaties that were highly disadvantageous to the tribes, such as Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1784), Fort McIntosh (1785), Fort Finney (1786), and Fort Harmar (1789) (p.45).
1787: Slavery made illegal in “Indiana” Territory: The Continental Congress adopted the Northwest Ordinance for the government of the territory, which included Article VI>> “There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” In spite of these words both slavery and involuntary servitude continued for many years in Indiana (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p5). Article VI did not free slaves, it simply prevented the introduction of more slaves after 1787. Therefore, if you owned a slave before the Article you did not have to release them.
For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Ordinance
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/ordinance/text.html
1790: US population in the early days… “In 1790, there were 3,900,000 Americans, and most of them lived 50 miles of the Atlantic Ocean. By 1830, there were 13 million Americans, and by 1840, 4,500,000 had crossed the Appalachian Mountains into the Mississippi Valley—that huge expanse of land crisscrossed by rivers flowing into the Mississippi from east to west. In 1820, 120,000 Indians lived east of the Mississippi. By 1844, fewer than 30,000 were left. Most of them had been forced to migrate westward.” Also during this time there were about 500,000 slaves in 1790 and about 4 million in 1860 (Zinn, Howard; A People’s History of the United States, p. 124, 167)!
1790: The Naturalization Act of 1790: The 1790 Naturalization Act reserves adopted citizenship for whites only. African Americans are not guaranteed citizenship until 1868, when the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified during Reconstruction. Native Americans become citizens through individual treaties or intermarriage and finally, through the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act. Asian immigrants are ineligible for citizenship until the 1954 McCarran-Walter Act removes all racial barriers to naturalization. Without citizenship, nonwhites can’t vote, own property, bring suit, or testify in court – all the basic protections and privileges that whites take for granted.
1795: The Naturalization Act of 1795: repealed and replaced the Naturalization Act of 1790. The 1795 Act differed from the 1790 Act by increasing the period of required residence from two to five years in the United States, by introducing the Declaration of Intention requirement, or “first papers”, which created a two-step naturalization process, and by conferring the status of citizen and not natural born citizen. The Act specified that naturalized citizenship was reserved only for “free white person[s].”
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1795: The Treaty of Greenville was the first major contact between the Miami and American officials (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.59). Greenville set the pattern for the 361 treaties that were to follow between the American government and various tribes from 1795- 1871 (p.60). The treaty recognized Indian right to the land, established a boundary for Indian country while setting aside 16 reservations of land for forts and trading posts. The treaty specified that only the United States could purchase land from Indians, and the government was bound to protect Indians from squatters and was to provide them licensed traders. The Miami were also allowed to hunt in the land peacefully (p.60). The way the treaty was worded, most Indians believed they could occupy most of the Old Northwest as long as they wished.
1798: The Naturalization Act of 1798: The Naturalization Act, passed by Congress on June 18, 1798, increased the amount of time necessary for immigrants to become naturalized citizens in the United States from five to fourteen years. Although it was passed under the guide of protecting national security, most historians conclude it was really intended to decrease the number of voters who disagreed with the Federalist political party.1 At the time, most immigrants (namely Irish and French) supported Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans, the political opponents of the Federalists. This act was repealed in 1802.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1798: Move to Huntington: About this time most of the Miami moved from Fort Wayne to a series of villages concentrated at the Forks of the Wabash west Huntington and along the lower Mississinewa near Peru (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.63). By moving they were able to isolate themselves from the worst features of the frontier and make better use of subsistence sources (p.63).
1800s
1800: There were 115 African-Americans living in Indiana (28 of them slaves).
(http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2005/summer/article1.html)
1800: At the turn of the century bison began to disappear and white settlers were overhunting deer, bear, elk etc. In response the Miami began to turn to the rivers as a protein source (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.65).
1802: Some of the Miami chiefs were becoming strongly pro-American as a result of bribes paid to them by the government (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.68).
1803: Indian Removal Mindset in place… President Thomas Jefferson strongly favored the settlement of the Old Northwest and felt it urgent because Spain had secretly ceded the Louisiana Territory back to France. Jefferson urged land cessions. “Jefferson did not want self-sufficient Indian societies living in American territory. Chiefs should be encouraged to run up large debts among traders, he said, to create massive dependency among Indians so they have to sell land whether they wanted to or not (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.68). “Jefferson suggested that Indians would either incorporate into the American system or move beyond the Mississippi. By incorporation he meant the disappearance of Indian culture and the eventual intermarriage of Indians with whites. The mechanism for Indian removal was in place, although it would be some years before it was used” (p.69).
1803: African Americans not allowed to testify: A law was adopted that prohibited Negroes, mulattoes, and Indians from giving evidence in any case except indictments against Negroes, mulattoes and Indian. The act defined a mulatto as any person having one fourth or more Negro blood (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p22)
1804: Try plow farming… President Jefferson wanted Indian men to start plow farming, so they would not need so much land for hunting, which in turn they would be more willing to sell. A “training farm” was started a few miles west of Huntington. The Miami were shown how to plow with horses and other European- American farming techniques. The training farms ultimately failed because the Miami were not interested (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.70).
1805: Getting Ripped off… The Greenville Treaty was all but dead. By this date the government had persuaded the natives of the Northwest to cede more than 29,000,000 acres or 46,000 square miles to the United States for a few cents an acre (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.70).
1805: Slavery Allowed back in Indiana Territory: A new law was established which allowed slavery in Indiana once more. Under the “Act concerning the Introduction of Negroes and Mulattoes into this Territory.” Stated that any person owning or purchasing slaves outside the Territory might bring them into Indiana and bind then for service. If the slaves were over 15 years of age the “owner” could create a “contract” with them. The contracts could be as long at 90 years>> if the slave did not want to abide by the contract the “owner” had sixty days before he had to send them out. Often the “owner” would take the person back south and sell them. Children born to slaves were to serve the master of the parent until they were 30 years old for males and 28 years old for females (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p9).
1806: Stay Close… An act was created which stated that any slave or servants found 10 miles or more from their master’s home were subject to a public whipping (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p16).
1808: It was made unlawful for anyone to permit 3 or more slaves or servants to congregate on their property “for the purpose of dancing or reveling, either by night, or by day” (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p16).
1809: The Treaty of 1809 gave split Illinois and Indiana in preparation for Indiana statehood (1816). The land cessions from 1803 to 1809 left the northern half of the proposed new state in Indian hands. The 1809 treaty increased tensions between the Miami and the government (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.72).
1810s
1810: There were 630 African Americans living in Indiana (237 were slaves) http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2005/summer/article1.html.
1810: No new slaves allowed: The 1805 law allowing slaves to be brought in was repealed. This did not end the enslavement of people between 1805-1810 (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p13).
1812: Destruction of 3 Miami Tribes in Huntington… The War of 1812 begins and America declares war on Great Britain. During the war, William Henry Harrison, who was a powerful advocate of easy land sales in the old Northwest (Rafert, Stewart; The Miami Indians of Indiana; p.66), “wanted to prevent any grouping of Indians on the Wabash-Maumee (near Ft. Wayne) route that could interfere with his plans to retake Detroit, and so he decided to treat the Miami as a hostile tribe. Harrison ordered the destruction of all Indian villages within a two-day march of Fort Wayne. Thus perished Little Turtle’s village near Columbia City, Indiana and three flourishing Miami villages at the Fork of the Wabash near today’s Huntington. All Miami property and crops were destroyed (pp. 74-75).
1814: Divide and Conquer the Natives “Jackson’s 1814 treaty with the Creeks (who occupied Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi) started something new and important. It granted Indians individual ownership of land, thus splitting Indian from Indian, breaking up communal landholding, bribing some with land, leaving others out—introducing the competition and conniving that marked the spirit of Western capitalism. It fitted well the old Jeffersonian idea of how to handle the Indians, by bringing them into ‘civilization’” (Zinn, Howard; A People’s History of the United States, pp.126-7).
1816, December 11: Indiana became a state.
1816: Slavery Outlawed in Indiana: A Bill of Rights was created that outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude in Indiana once again. Change was slow and servanthood continued. People argued that the law did not apply to servants obtained before the Bill (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p23).
1820s
1820: There were 1,420 African Americans living in Indiana (190 were slaves) (http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2005/summer/article1.html)
1825: “Blood” degree measures who is Indian: An early treaty with the Osage tribe introduces land allotment and federal Indian policy based on “blood” degree. These ideas are broadly applied during the 19th century, most notably by the Dawes Commission in its 1887 redistribution of Indian lands. Historically, tribal membership was based on acceptance of tribal language, customs, and authority. Escaped slaves, whites and other Indians could join and be accepted as full members. Although land allotment policies end in the 1930s, the government continues to base program eligibility on blood, leading most tribes to adopt similar requirements for membership by the late 20th century. http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1830s
1830: First white settlers came to Huntington (Joel and Champion Helvey (with 2 sisters) from Ohio
1830: There were 3,632 African Americans living in Indiana (3 were slaves) (http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2005/summer/article1.html)
1830: Indians dispossessed of lands: Throughout the 19th century, American Indian lands are taken away and given to white settlers. In 1830, thousands of Native Americans are forcibly relocated from east of the Mississippi River to Oklahoma. Many die en route. The 1862 Homestead Act encourages a flood of squatters to invade Indian lands in the midwest. Already suffering from decimation of the buffalo, nomadic Plains Indian tribes are forced to relocate to government reservations. The 1887 Dawes Act breaks up collectively owned Indian lands and redistributes it to individuals, allowing “surplus” land to be sold to whites. Lewis Cass, Secretary of War under President Jackson, sums up 19th-century Indian policy this way: “The Indians are entitled to the enjoyment of all the rights which do not interfere with the obvious designs of Providence.”
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1831: the Helveys sold land to General John Tipton and Elias Murray.
*1831: Black folks must pay to stay: The General Assembly (Indianapolis) passed a bill (the Black Law) that required “colored persons who came into the state (Indiana) to post bond of five hundred dollars as a guarantee against becoming a public charge and as a pledge of good behavior” (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in Indiana Before 1900; p 58). Even this law was not always enforced, it was a symbol of the racial prejudice of the time.
1832: Murray laid out the town of Huntington (it was named Huntington)
1833: The idea of race strengthens: The American Anti-Slavery Society forms in Philadelphia. By 1835, hundreds of branches exist throughout the free states, and anti-slavery sentiment is on the rise. But as attacks on slavery grow, so do arguments defending it. Slavery advocates turn to scientific and biblical arguments to “prove” that Negroes are distinct and inferior to whites. Slavery is no longer described as a necessary evil but as a positive good. The rationale is so strong that when slavery is finally abolished in 1865, the racial idea lives on. http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1838, October 1: Trails of Tears: 17,000 Cherokees were forced to move out west. During the journey 4000 became sick and died. In December of that same year, President Van Buren told Congress, “It affords sincere pleasure to apprise the Congress of the entire removal of the Cherokee Nation of Indians to their new homes west of the Mississippi. The measures authorized by Congress at its last session have had the happiest effects” (Zinn, Howard; A People’s History of the United States, p. 146).
1839 Skulls measured to prove racial hierarchy: Samuel Morton, the first famous American scientist, possesses the largest skull collection in the world. He claims to measure brain capacity through skull size, but makes systematic errors in favor of his biases, concluding: “[Their larger skulls gives Caucasians] decided and unquestioned superiority over all the nations of the earth.” Morton’s findings are later seized upon and popularized by pro-slavery scientists like Josiah Nott and Louis Agassiz. In just 60-70 years, Jefferson’s suggestion of racial difference becomes scientific fact: “Nations and races, like individuals, have each an especial destiny: some are born to rule, and others to be ruled….No two distinctly-marked races can dwell together on equal terms.” -Josiah Nott (1854). http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1840s
1840: There were 7,168 African Americans living in Indiana (3 were slaves). (http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2005/summer/article1.html)
1845: Manifest Destiny/war with Mexico: In a news editorial about the annexation of Texas, John O’Sullivan writes of America’s “manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.” This now-famous phrase is used throughout the late 1800s to justify the U.S.-Mexico War and American territorial expansion. White superiority and innate racial difference have become common sense and are invoked not only against Native Americans, Mexicans, and African Americans, but also to rationalize the taking of overseas territories.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1848: Huntington was declared a town.
1850s
1850: There were 11,262 African Americans living in Indiana (from here on all were “free”) (http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2005/summer/article1.html)
*1850, September 18: The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slaveholding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. This was one of the most controversial acts of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a ‘slave power conspiracy’. It declared that all runaway slaves be brought back to their masters.
- 1851, August: African Americans not allowed to settle in Indiana: The State Constitution Article XIII was adopted which said that African Americans were absolutely prohibited from coming into the state to settle. In addition, state laws barred Negroes from voting, from serving in the militia, from testifying in court cases in which a white person was a party, and deprived Negro children of the right to attend public schools (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p31). In only 4 counties in Indiana did a majority of voters cast their ballots against Article XIII (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p68).
>>> what was Huntington Counties vote on this????
1850-51: The constitutional convention decided to purchase land in Liberia (Africa) in order to send African Americans there, instead of settling in Indiana. As immigration increased in Indiana, so did white people’s fear of losing work, etc.
1853: Stricter law against African Americans giving testimony: The state passed a law prohibiting the testimony by a person with one eighth or more Negro blood. The law declared, “No Indian, or person having one-eighth or more of Negro blood, shall be permitted to testify as a witness in any case in which any white person is a party in interest” (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p123).
1857: African Americans denied citizenship: In the Dred Scott decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declares that “Negroes,” whether free or enslaved, are not citizens. As Chief Justice Taney puts it, they have “no rights which any white man is bound to respect.” Free Black people are taxed like whites, but they do not enjoy the same protection and entitlements. African Americans are not granted citizenship until 1868. Meanwhile, centuries of slavery generate wealth for whites only. When slaves in Washington, D.C., are freed in 1862, reparation is paid not to slaves but to slaveowners for their loss of property. http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1859: Evolution shapes debate: When Darwin uncovers the mechanism for evolution, it dramatically alters public debate. Evolution provides a new paradigm for comparing group “progress” but it also introduces the concept of competition and possible extinction. Herbert Spencer captures the public’s excitement and anxiety when he coins the phrase “survival of the fittest” in applying Darwin’s ideas to the social realm. Proponents of “social Darwinism” view the hierarchy of races as a product of “nature,” not specific institutions and policies. Consequently, social reform is pointless.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1860s
1860: There were 11,428 African Americans living in Indiana (http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2005/summer/article1.html)
1861- 1865: The Civil War
1862, September 22: Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
1863, January 1: a second order signed indicating its (E.P) application to the Confederate states.
1863: The exclusion Article of the state Constitution was declared null and void by the state Supreme Court (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p206).
1864, October 5: Lambdin Milligan arrested in Huntington for being a sympathizer with the South and organizing a rebellion.
**1865- 1890: Reconstruction Period: Between 1865 (when slavery ended) and 1890 there was an anti-racism vibe in the North. It was patriotic to be anti-racist, in fact the Republicans added the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to give the ex-slaves “equal rights.” During this time AAs moved everywhere throughout the North. During this time AAs voted, served in Congress, received some spoils from the Republican Party, worked as barbers, railroad firemen, midwives, mail carriers, and landowning farmers, and played other fully human roles in American society (Loewen, James; Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism; p.29).
1865, October: The first postwar African American convention met in Indianapolis. The conventions were organized efforts and appeals to public opinion to exert pressure on lawmakers. A similar convention would be held in Huntington in August, 1892 (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p232).
1865, December 18: slavery continued to have legal status in the US until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment.
1868: 14th Amendment guarantees equal rights: Passage of the Fourteenth Amendment is a landmark event, not only for African Americans but for all Americans. Conceived during Reconstruction, the amendment extends citizenship to African Americans and attempts to heal Civil War wounds by emphasizing national unity. The amendment defines citizenship for the first time, guarantees all citizens equal protection and due process under the law, and most importantly, grants citizens privileges and immunities that cannot be abridged. Although the amendment’s strength is tested by discriminatory laws and policies throughout the 20th century, the equal protection clause forms the cornerstone of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision and is the legal basis for all civil rights and anti-discrimination efforts to this day.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
¬1870s
1870: There were 24,560 African Americans living in Indiana. (http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html)
1875: Law of Equal Rights: A state law was passed that declared all persons within the state were entitled to equal enjoyment of the accommodations of inns, restaurants, barber shops, theaters, public conveyances, and other places of public accommodations “except for reasons applicable alike to all citizens of every race and color, and regardless of color or race. Violators were subject to pay damages not exceeding $100 and also to be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor as well as a 30-day imprisonment” (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900; p260).
1880s
1880: There were 39,228 African Americans living in Indiana (http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html)
1881, March: Exclusion Law erased: The Old Article XIII dealing with Negro exclusion and the parts of the suffrage article dealt with color were finally erased. (Thornbrough, Emma Lou; The Negro in America Before 1900).
1883: Birth of eugenics: Francis Galton, Charles Darwin’s cousin, coins the term eugenics, meaning “good genes,” to emphasize heredity as the cause of all human behavioral and cultural differences. Eugenicists advocate selective breeding to engineer the “ideal” society. Their writings profoundly influence many aspects of American life – including immigration policy, antimiscegenation laws, involuntary sterilization, and schooling – and find their fruition in Nazi Germany.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1887: Jim Crow segregation begins: Beginning in the late 19th century, southern states codify a system of laws and practices to subordinate African Americans to whites. The “new” social order, reinforced through violence and intimidation, affects schools, public transportation, jobs, housing, private life and voting rights. Cutting across class boundaries, Jim Crow unites poor and wealthy whites, while denying African Americans equality in the courts, freedom of assembly and movement, and full participation as citizens. The federal government adopts segregation under President Wilson in 1913, and is not integrated until the 1960s. http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1890s
1890: There were 21 African Americans living in Huntington County (according to census)
1890: There were 45,215 African Americans living in Indiana. (http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html)
*1890—The collapse of positive race relations: “In 1890, trying to get the federal government to intervene against violence and fraud in southern elections, the Republican senator from Massachusetts, Henry Cabot Lodge, introduced his Federal Elections Bill. It lost just one vote in Senate. After its defeat, when Democrats again tarred Republicans as “nigger lovers,” now the Republicans replied in a new way. Instead of assailing Democrats for denying equal rights to AAs, they backed away from the subject. The Democrats had worn them down. Thus the springtime of race relations during Reconstruction was short, and it was followed not by summer blooms but by the Nadir winter, and not just in South but throughout the country” (Loewen, James; Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism; p30-31).
What caused the collapse (of positive race relations)? The three I’s
The idealism immediately after the Civil war was fading. By 1890, only one American in three was old enough to have been alive when it ended, and millions more migrated to the US long after the war’s end and played no role in it (Loewen, James; Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism; p31).
The ideology of anti-racism was further strained by three developments>> the three I’s
1) Indian Wars>> The federal government discovered gold and took away and from the Indians that had been promised to them “forever.” If it was OK to take Indian’s land because they weren’t white, wasn’t it OK to deny rights to AAs, who weren’t white either (Loewen, James; Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism; p.31)?
2) Immigrants>> Irish, Italian, Polish immigrants tended to vote for the Democrats because of the Republicans intolerance of alcohol and Catholicism. These immigrants learned quickly that it was to their advantage to be “white,” in that AAs were in competition for the available jobs. Perhaps Republicans converted to a more racist position to win ethnic votes. Or perhaps their anti-immigrant thinking, manifesting itself in jokes, slurs, and anti-immigrant cartoons, spilled over into increased racism vis-à-vis AAs (Loewen, James; Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism; pp.31-32).
3) Imperialism>> After 1890, imperialism led the US to dominate Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Virgin Islands, and several other Caribbean and Central American nations. Democrats pointed out the inconsistency of denying self-government to these places on the basis of the alleged racial inferiority, while insisting on the equal rights of AAs. The Republicans had no real answer (Loewen, James; Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism; p.32).
In 1890 the Confederate South finally won the war. New laws outlawing interracial marriages, lynchings started happening more frequently, and Jim Crow was in full effect. No AA served in Congress again until 1929, and none from the South until 1973. In 1912, Ohioans made it clear that they wanted black voting to stop (Loewen, James; Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism; pp.33-34). AAs started getting bad press in the newspapers, and AA’s started getting expelled from their occupations. Many AA’s were still at the bottom, and white s began to blame them as the problem (Loewen, James; Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism; p.38). Many of the generalization white folks had of AA are still held by those living in predominantly white towns today.
After 1890 towns throughout the North became intentionally all-white. This happened in two waves. “First, an epidemic of attacks against Chinese Americans across the West prompted what I call the ‘Chinese Retreat,’ resulting in the concentration of that minority in Chinatowns in Seattle, San Francisco, LA, and a few other cities. The whites began forcing AA out of towns and rural areas across the North” (Loewen, James; Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism; p 47).
August, 1892: 700-800 African Americans held a “convention” (campmeeting) at the fairgrounds (Circle Dr) in Huntington. The following is a reflection on this convention… I have been really strapped for time the past couple days, but came across this in the book, “Negro in Indiana.” The author talks about how African Americans would celebrate the anniversary of the emancipation of the slaves in the West Indies in the beginning of August. An Indianapolis newspaper said, “The First of August is their (African American) Fourth of July— or Independence Day” (Indianapolis Indiana State Journal). The author goes on to writes that African Americans used to hold “conventions” throughout the state to meet at the time of the emancipation celebrations. “These conventions, which were one of the most significant expression of racial consciousness and solidarity… (Thornbrough, Emma; The Negro in Indiana Before 1900; p.144). The “colored campmeeting” in Huntington that we discovered took place at the beginning of August! It sounds like this was a convention of this sort>> a celebration a celebration of emancipation, right here in Huntington!!!
“The Camp Meeting Closed,” The Daily Democrat, August 8, 1892.
1893: Separate but Equal school law in Huntington: The Revised Ordinance of the City of Huntington, 1893 stated that the city had to create separate but equal schools for “colored” children. If a school was not provided, that student could attend with white children if they were properly tested.
1896, May: 1st AA on jury in Huntington: James Croker became the first African American to serve on a jury in Huntington. (Warren Republican, Thursday 28, May 1896, p2 c4)
1899: Indiana passed an anti-lynching law (David J. Bodenhamer, Randall T. Shepard; The History of Indiana Law; pg.50). Between 1882-1930 there were 47 people lynched in Indiana. 14 victims were black and 33 were white (http://faculty.berea.edu/browners/chesnutt/classroom/lynchings_table_state.html).
1899: White Man’s Burden: In February 1899, McClure’s Magazine publishes a poem by Rudyard Kipling, advocating American imperialism in Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. Picking up where Manifest Destiny leaves off, the White Man’s Burden not only justifies expansion, it presents colonization as noble. Racial superiority has become more than common sense. Whites now have a moral imperative to govern inferior peoples, a mission preordained in the hierarchy of races. Against the backdrop of Jim Crow segregation and mass immigration from Europe and Asia, the concept figures prominently in debates over citizenship and social fitness at home and in the new territories. http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1899: Europeans not quite white: After 1889, immigration to the U.S. from southern and eastern Europe swells dramatically. Many new arrivals are “ethnics” employed in undesirable low-wage jobs and living in the urban ghetto. They are deemed inferior, seen as not fully white. Reflecting this view, anthropologist William V. Ripley publishes The Races of Europe, dividing whites into a hierarchy of subraces and sub-subraces. Yet even the degraded Hebrew, Celt and Italian are still legally “white” – they are not denied citizenship or prevented from participating in American society. After WWII, they melt into whiteness as they move into government-subsidized white suburbs and up the economic ladder. http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1900s
1900: There were 12 African Americans living in Huntington County (according to census)
- It should be noted that it isn’t until 1907 that the first home was purchased in Huntington by an African American. By 1909 we are told that the last African American living in the city was arrested and sent to Marion.
1900: There were 57,505 African Americans living in Indiana. (http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html)
1902, July 12: Threatened to leave Huntington: George Jackson (“the colored man”) fought a man who said some derogatory remarks to his wife. He went to court and was fined $20.20. He did not have the cash so he went to jail. While in jail his wife received a letter written by “we as citizens,” which was put on their door stating they had 12 hours to leave town of a mob would meet them.
*1904: The courthouse was erected by architect, J.W. Gaddis. There is a common story told by many living in Huntington County that the deed for the land, on which the courthouse was built, was given with the stipulation that no African Americans would be allowed to live in Huntington County (see “Women of the Klan” by Kathleen Blee, pg.78)
1905: African Americans demand equal rights: Founded under the leadership of W.E.B. DuBois, the Niagara Movement marks an important turning point in the African American struggle for equality. The group sets an aggressive agenda demanding equal rights and an end to racial discrimination: “We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a freeborn American, political, civil and social; and until we get these rights we will never cease to protest and assail the ears of America. The battle we wage is not for ourselves alone but for all true Americans.” The Niagara group gives rise to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1909, whose legal efforts culminate in the watershed Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, marking the beginning of the end of Jim Crow and legal segregation.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1906: Samuel Bradshaw won a lawsuit in Huntington for $50 (though he asked for $100) because he was wrongfully deprived his lunch at a restaurant in Ft. Wayne (this was the first case which ever came to trial in Huntington County in which the question of civil rights was involved as in this). (Evening Herald St 24, 1906 p1 c4)
1907: 1st AA to own home in Htgn: G.P. Hervey was the first African American to own his own home in the city of Huntington. The home was located at the corner of Broadway and Sabine St. (Morning Times Wed 4 Sept, 1907 p7 c3)
1909: Last AA to leave Htgn: Jacob Davis was the only African-American living in the city of Huntington when he was arrested and moved to Marion. He was arrested for “wife desertion.” (Morning Times 19, Mar 1909 p1 c1) Take not that it seems Samuel G.P Hervey is know longer living at the house he bought in 1907.
1910s
1910: There were 16 African Americans living in Huntington County (according to census)
1910: There were 60,320 African Americans living in Indiana. (http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html)
1913: Land laws discriminate against Asians: California passes the first alien land law, prohibiting “aliens ineligible to citizenship” from owning or leasing land. Although the law isn’t explicitly racial, it applies only to Asian immigrants and gives white farmers an unfair advantage by keeping Japanese and other competitors out. Legal loopholes allow Japanese to continue farming until a 1920 ballot initiative bars them altogether. Arizona passes a similar law in 1917, followed by Washington and Louisiana in 1921, and nine other states by 1950. California’s alien land laws are rescinded in 1956. Wyoming and Kansas finally repeal their statutes in 2001 and 2002, while two states, Florida and New Mexico, still have the laws written into their state constitution.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1913- 21: Woodrow Wilson became president (racist). He segregated the Navy for the first time.
1918: Petition for removal of AAs in Htgn: A petition was signed by 328 citizens of Huntington that demanded the removal of all “Negroes” from the city.
http://books.google.com/books?id=VYoBAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA34&dq=negros+in+huntington,+indiana&lr=&ei=JxIeSu2PJ5rczQSsvMD5CQ#PPA34,M1
(Huntington Herald Tues 14 Jan 1919 p1 c4)
(Huntington Herald Wed 15 Jan 1919 p1 c1)
1920s
1920: There were 6 African Americans living in Huntington County (according to census)
1920: There were 80,810 African Americans living in Indiana. (http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html)
1922: Courts decide who is white: The 1790 Naturalization Act restricts adopted American citizenship to whites. In the early 20th century, many immigrants petition the courts to be legally designated white to gain citizenship. Armenians, known as “Asiatic Turks,” succeed with the help of anthropologist Franz Boas, who testifies as an expert scientific witness. Others are not so fortunate. In 1922, the Supreme Court concludes that Japanese are not legally white because science classifies them as Mongoloid rather than Caucasian. Less than a year later, the court contradicts itself by concluding that Asian Indians are not legally white, even though science classifies them as Caucasian, declaring that whiteness should be based on “the common understanding of the white man.” Racial restrictions on naturalization are not removed until 1954.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1923: KKK Funeral in Roanoke: The first KKK funeral (James Hyser) in Huntington Co>> in Roanoke at the U.B. Church. The masked men were also referred to as the “Odd Fellows” which is fraternal society group in Huntington. (The Huntington Herald,Mon. May 14, 1923).
1923: KKK Rally: About 2,500 people attended the KKK rally at Oak Grove park. The meeting was opened with prayer (by Rev Hughes) and everyone was invited to join in singing “America.” A fiery cross was burned at the close of the meeting at the northwest part of the park. (Roanoke Review Friday 27, July, 1923 p1, c5)
1924: KKK Parade in Htgn:About 250 members of the KKK had their first (unmasked) parade in the city of Huntington and 100s of spectators lined the streets as the procession went down Jefferson St. They then had a meeting at the William Anson farm on Riverside Dr
(Roanoke Review, July 31, 1924 p1 c4)
1924: KKK Rally: The KKK had about 5,000 people attend a meeting at Marvin Richards farm, south of Roanoke. Rev. Wagner gave the address. (Klan Hold Meeting, Huntington Herald, Sept. 16, 1924, p8c3.)
1924: Changing definitions of who is Black: In 1705, Virginia defines any child, grandchild, or great grandchild of a Negro as a mulatto. In 1866, the state decrees that every person having one-fourth or more Negro blood shall be deemed a colored person. In 1910, the percentage is changed to 1/16th. Finally in 1924, the Virginia Racial Purity Act defines Black persons as having any trace of African ancestry – the infamous “one-drop” rule. Practically speaking, most people cannot prove their ancestry and the rule is applied inconsistently. Other states also define Blackness differently. As historian James Horton notes, one could cross a state line and literally, legally change race.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1930:
1930: There were 5 African Americans living in Huntington County (according to census)
1930: There were 111,982 African Americans living in Indiana. (http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html)
1930, August 7: Lynching in Marion, IN: A large mob estimated at 2,000 gathered at the city jail where three young black men were held on charges of killing a white man and raping his girlfriend. Before they could be tried, the three, Thomas Shipp, Abram Smith and James Cameron, were dragged from the jail and severely beaten. Shipp and Smith were hanged, but Cameron was released when an unidentified man claimed that he had nothing to do with the crimes. In 1931 he was convicted as an accessory to murder and served four years before being paroled. The event in Marion was notable as the last confirmed lynching of blacks in the Northern United States.6 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion,_Indiana#cite_note-5).
- Some Huntington historians point to the fact that Cameron, the surviving victim of the lynching, who was brought to Huntington jail by Huntington detectives as protection of the Marion mob as being the “proof” that Huntington was not a sundown town, or a “racist place.” In the book Our Town, by Cynthia Carr, she writes about this experience that she learned from James Cameron, she writes, “The four white detectives who drove him out of Marion that night—to a jail in nearby Huntington—ordered him to lie on the floor of the backseat the whole way, for safety, while they cracked jokes like, ‘this nigger back here is as white as a sheet.’ Then as soon as he got to Huntington jail, the old white man in the facing cell began apologizing to him. The old man had had a fight with his son because the son wanted in on the lynching. The old man said that, for all he knew, his son had put the rope around Cameron’s neck. ‘I am sorry, son.’ He told Cameron. ‘Sorry to my heart.’ Early the next morning, the detectives drove Cameron back to Marion. He lay down on the floor beneath a mat while they cruised the courthouse, where part of the lynch mob remained on guard. Cameron remembers the cops crowing gleefully that ‘those niggers are still hanging on the tree’ and ‘look how their necks have stretched.’ One detective called out to a newsboy, bought the day’s paper, and pulled the mat back to show Cameron the front page. There he saw for the first time the infamous photograph of his dead companions surrounded by festive white people” (Carr, Cynthia; Our Town; pg 19-20).
1934: Indians base membership on blood degree: The 1934 Indian Reorganization (Wheeler-Howard) Act ends land allotment and encourages tribal self-government, but it also helps entrench race in tribal membership. Despite their sovereignty and historic openness to others, tribes wanting federal recognition are forced to adopt constitutions following government guidelines, including membership based upon “blood” degree. A 1991 Bureau of Indian Affairs inventory of 155 federally recognized tribes in 48 states shows that 4 out of 5 condition membership on proof of blood, ranging in amount from 1/2 to 1/64th. In recent years, more tribes are basing membership on lineal descent (ancestry without regard to percentage) rather than blood degree, but some have lost federal recognition as a result. http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1934: U.S. housing programs benefit whites only: In the 1930s and 1940s, the federal government creates programs that subsidize low-cost loans, opening up home ownership to millions of Americans for the first time. Government underwriters also introduce a national appraisal system that effectively locks nonwhites out of homebuying just as many white Americans are getting in. In post-WWII restricted suburbs, European “ethnics” blend together as whites, while minorities are “marked” by urban poverty. Two legacies of this discrimination are still with us today: segregated communities and a substantial wealth gap between whites and nonwhites.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1940s
1940: There was 1 African American living in Huntington County (according to census)
1940: There were 121,916 African Americans living in Indiana (http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html)
1950s
1950: There were ? African Americans (.1%) living in Huntington County (according to census)
1950: There were 174,168 African Americans living in Indiana (http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html)
1950: UNESCO publishes Statement on Race: Only when Nazism takes the idea of racial inferiority to a horrifying extreme is race science finally discredited. After the Holocaust, the United Nations issues an official statement declaring that race has no scientific basis and calling for an end to racial thinking in scientific and political thought. Its principal author is Ashley Montagu, a student of Franz Boas. Although important, this shift in scientific thinking has little impact on social policy and ingrained public attitudes about race. http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1954: Legal segregation ends: In the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, civil rights advocates led by Martin Luther King, Jr. organize a yearlong boycott of city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest the state’s resistance to school integration. What begins as a struggle over schools spreads to public transportation, voting, and all areas of social life. Despite the violent opposition of some white groups, especially in the Deep South, integration and the freedom struggle continue through the work of whites and nonwhites alike. Students, church groups, workers, and volunteers participate in massive nonviolent protest, civil disobedience, and public education campaigns. Their efforts culminate in the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1960s
1960: There were 3 African Americans living in Huntington County (according to census)
1960: There were 269,275 African Americans living in Indiana. (http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html)
1967: Laws against mixed marriage invalidated: In the 19th century, 38 states have antimiscegenation laws prohibiting interracial marriage. By 1924, 29 states, including Virginia, still ban mixed marriages. The statutes are not outlawed until 1967, when a Virginia couple is tried and convicted, and files a suit challenging the law. Although the state Supreme Court of Appeals upholds their conviction, the U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously against it, declaring that a person’s individual right to marry cannot be restricted by race. The Loving decision finally reverses the racist policies of Virginia’s 1924 Racial Purity Act and invalidates the laws remaining in 16 other states.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
1970s
1970: There were 24 African Americans living in Huntington County (according to census)
1970: There were 357,464 African Americans living in Indiana. (http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html)
Unfair Housing Prices and suburbanism: Loan guarantees by the FHA and VA (Veterans Administration) were the most important single cause of postwar suburbanization, and more than 98% of the millions of home loans guaranteed by the FHA and VA after WW2 were available only to whites” (p. 130). African Americans were thus not only shut out of the suburbs but also kept from participating in Americans’ surest route to wealth accumulation, federally subsidized home ownership. Federal support for home ownership not only included the FHA and VA programs but also the mortgage interest tax deduction, which made home ownership in the burbs cheaper than apartment rental in the cities—for whites. Housing prices then skyrocketed, tripling in the 1970s alone; the appreciation laid the groundwork for the astonishing 1-11 black-to-white wealth ratio that now afflicts African American families” (Loewen, James; Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism; p130).
1980s
1980: There were 40 African Americans living in Huntington County (according to census)
1980: There were 414,785 African Americans living in Indiana. (http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html)
1990s
1990: There were 52 African Americans living in Huntington County (according to census)
1990: There were 432,092 African Americans living in Indiana. (http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html)
1994: Black-white wealth gap: Centuries of inequality are not remedied overnight. Today, the average white family has eight times the wealth of the average nonwhite family. Even at the same income level, whites have, on average, two to three times as much wealth. Whites are more likely to be segregated that any other group, and 86% of suburban whites still live in places with a Black population of less than 1%. Today, 71% of whites own their own home, compared to 44% of African Americans. Black and Latino mortgage applicants are 60% more likely than whites to be turned down for loans, even after controlling for employment, financial, and neighborhood characteristics.
http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm
2000s
2000: There were 69 African Americans living in Huntington County (according to census)
2000: There were 510, 034 African Americans living in Indiana (http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=&geo_id=04000US18&_geoContext=01000US|04000US18&_street=&_county=&_cityTown=&_state=04000US18&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=040&_submenuId=factsheet_1&ds_name=ACS_2007_3YR_SAFF&_ci_nbr=null&qr_name=null®=&_keyword=&_industry=)
2005-2007: There are 36 African Americans living in the city of Huntington. (http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=&geo_id=05000US18069&_geoContext=01000US|04000US18|05000US18069&_street=&_county=huntington&_cityTown=huntington&_state=04000US18&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=geoSelect&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=050&_submenuId=factsheet_1&ds_name=DEC_2000_SAFF&_ci_nbr=null&qr_name=null®=null:null&_keyword=&_industry=)
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