John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and The Civil Rights Acts

This week marked the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. This is significant for African Americans as President Kennedy was the first 20th century president to propose legislation aimed at extending civil rights to African Americans. Although President Kennedy would be assassinated before seeing the passage of this legislation, his bold pronouncements on Civil Rights set the stage for President Lyndon B. Johnson, who would subsequently become a champion for the cause and “strong-arm” the Civil Rights Acts through Congress in the mid-1960’s. 

 

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), the 35th President of the U.S.

 

Photo of the signing of one of the Civil Rights Acts, with Martin Luther King, Jr. in attendance.

 

 Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973), the 36th President of the U.S.

Slavery and Missouri Compromise

The vast land acquired by the U.S. as a result of the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican War made the issue of slavery progressively come to a head in the mid-1800’s. As new states were formed---- would these states be slave states or free states? In 1820, the Missouri Compromise established the latitudinal line 36 degrees by 30 degrees as the line dividing the north and the south (for purposes of extending slavery)--- every state below that line was permitted to have slavery, and every state above that line, with the exception of Missouri, did not. 

 

Map shows the line 36 degrees by 30. The red states (below the line) permitted slavery, the yellow (above the line) were states that had slavery prior to 1820, the dark blue states (above the line) had already outlawed slavery, and the light blue states would also be free states. Missouri (shown in gray) is the only "new" state above the line to permit slavery.

A copy of the actual document

 

House Speaker Henry Clay (1777-1852) was the chief architect of the bills.

The African American Founding Father

Wentworth Cheswell (1746-1817), the grandson of an emancipated slave, became the first African-American to own property in the U.S, and was the first to hold public office. Cheswell had risen to such prominence that he was chosen to be on the N.H. Committee of Safety (a civilian authority). In 1776, he (like Paul Revere) made an all-night ride from Boston to Newmarket, N.H. to warn of the impending British invasion. A veteran of the Revolutionary War, he fought in the Battle of Saratoga. While there are no artist renditions of Cheswell, there is evidence that he was very light-complected--- enough to “pass” for white. 

 

Street marker in Newmarket, N.H.

 

A copy of the first deed of real property in the U.S. issued to an African American--- in what would become New Hampshire.

 

Wentworth Cheswell grave marker

The Life of a Slave on a Plantation in the South

The diet of the slave largely depended upon whether he/she was a field hand or “house” Negro. Field hands ate twice a day a rough diet generally consisting of corn meal (at 11 am and after work). He/she rarely ate meat. In fact, some states (i.e. North Carolina and Louisiana) regulated what food may be furnished to the slave and expressly prohibited meat as a matter of law. "House" Negroes usually ate their master's leftovers. 

 

 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), minister, activist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was the preeminent leader of the modern Civil Rights Movement. Born Michael King, Jr., his name (along with that of his father) was changed at age 5 to Martin Luther King after his family made a trip to Germany. The name change was meant as a way of giving honor to the German Protestant leader Martin Luther. Some sources report that this was done due to a mistake on his birth certificate, but this is false.

 

 

Slavery and the Northern Texile Industry

At the time of the birth of this country, slavery had largely died out in the north, and was dying in the south. However, with the invention of Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin in 1793, slaves became in high demand as cotton production skyrocketed in the south. This enabled the burgeoning American textile industry to start competing with the European manufacturers (most notably those in Britain). Thereafter, an uneasy alliance arose between the industrialists in the north and the slaveholders of the south that did not end until the Civil War.

 

Famous depiction of slave in bondage.

 

The Cotton Gin

 

A slave market in Atlanta GA (cir. 1850)

Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was one of the most influential and well-known African American authors, novelists and playwrights of the twentieth century, pioneering a new literary art form known as “jazz poetry”. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. His poem, I, Too, was featured in the movie The Great Debaters (recited by Denzel Washington). 

 

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)