BIRTH OF A NATION




As we discussed in the previous column—The Exploitation of Race—the social construction of race, based on the falsifying of the science of race, is used to justify the exploitation of race for economic gains. While slavery and bondage existed in human history, until the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the racialization of slavery did not exist. Thus, when discussing important milestones in American and world history, it is important to discuss the racial implications of these milestones.


Birth of a Nation was released in 1915 and still ranks as one of the top selling and viewed movies in American history. It depicts what would have occurred to America following the Civil War if the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was not founded. More specifically, D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation portrays Blacks as lazy savages who attack and rape white women, while controlling the government and ostracizing whites. Thus, the nation is in turmoil because Blacks cannot be depended upon to handle the business of the country. To the rescue is the KKK who restores the rightful order to America and promotes white supremacy as racial segregation persists. While the film features a few Black actors, most of the Blacks are whites in Blackface, which was a popular Hollywood custom during this time period. Despite its well-known racist and evil intent, the Birth of a Nation is heralded as an American film classic.



July 4, 1776 marked the date that the thirteen colonies declared is independence from Great Britain and formed the United States of America. In June 1776, the Second Continental Congress was formed to draft the Declaration of Independence. The Congress consisted of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman who were known as the Committee of Five. Although Adams and Franklin were selected to write the declaration, Jefferson ended up writing the formal document because the other two turned down the esteemed offer. On June 28, 1776, the Committee of Five presented the Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress.



“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This is a direct quotation from the Declaration of Independence. This statement does not apply to women or minorities. Instead, it was written to only include white men. Therefore, one could interpret that the entire basis of the founding of the United States of America does not include women or minorities. This is particularly significant considering that legalized slavery lasted over another 100 years and racial segregation lasted almost another 200 years. In 2000, although white men only represent roughly 25% of the U.S. population, whites represent 90% of the senior employees of corporations, 86% of the faculty at U.S. universities, and 90% of new construction contracts; most of whom are white men. It really makes one question how much changed since that day in U.S. in 1776 when only white men got to decide the fate of the United States.

Following the Declaration of Independence also came the Trail of Tears and the Civil War. The Trail of Tears was the forced relocation of Native Americans from the Southeastern part of the United States to what is present day Oklahoma. In 1830, U.S. Congress passed the “Indian Removal Act.” In the 1830s, after several battles between Indian tribes and the U.S., Native Americans were forced to migrate west. During route, thousands of Native Americans suffered from disease and starvation. Thousands more died all at the expense of U.S. expansion and the desire to acquire all of the Native Americans resources and assets. This is a travesty and genocide and should not be forgotten, pushed to the back of a text book, or go unquestioned as Native Americans are often portrayed as heathen savages. These individuals’ land, resources, and assets were taken from them as thousands died during this forced migration.



The U.S. Civil War between the North (Union Army) and the South (Confederate Army) occurred in the early 1860s. The Emancipation Proclamation is regarded as the legal document that freed Black slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation consisted of two executive orders—1) It declared the freedom of all slaves in the Confederate States of America on September 22, 1862. Thus, this first executive order only freed those individuals who had already escaped to the North; 2) It detailed which territories the Emancipation Proclamation applied to as of January 1, 1863. Since the Civil War was ongoing, Black slaves were continuously freed as the Union conquered the Confederacy. Still, slavery continued to exist in certain states even after the entire institution of slavery was abolished with the Thirteenth Amendment on December 18, 1865.



The Emancipation Proclamation was quite controversial, not only because it freed slaves, but because it was a presidential empowered order. Hence, Congress did not pass a law to abolish slavery; rather Abraham Lincoln issued and implemented the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln was later assassinated on April 15, 1865. Although the Emancipation Proclamation assisted to end slavery, it did not destroy its legacy. Additionally, Lincoln’s decision should not be overstated. It is quite debated as to whether or not Lincoln’s true intensions was to free Black slaves or if the abolishment of slavery was one of the main ways perceived to amend the North/South divide. Still, the XIII Amendment (1865) is considered the amendment that freed the slaves. The XIV Amendment (1868) gave citizenship to former slaves and all individuals born in the United States. The XV Amendment gave voting rights to all United States citizens. Please see below for the amendments in full. Reconstruction pic about here

Following the Civil War, Reconstruction (1865-1877) attempted to resolve the issues that developed among the North and South including the withdrawal of Southern states and the division that still existed between the Confederacy and the Union, the status of the Confederate leadership, and the constitutional and legal status of Blacks. Unfortunately, it did not fully succeed in any of its aims. Prejudice and discrimination against Blacks and other groups still persisted. Based on policy making, it also seems that the South won the political war.

To return to the opening of this column, Birth of a Nation was a direct response to the rapid upward mobility of Blacks following the end of legalized slavery. In fact, Blacks were represented at various levels of local and state government and began posing a political, economic, and cultural threat to whites. Therefore, Jim Crow Laws were instituted and established legal segregation as we know it. Although the “separate but equal” doctrine was supposed to provide Black and whites equal access to resources and public spaces. This was far from the truth. The Jim Crow Laws required that public schools, public places and public transportation, like trains and buses, have separate facilities for whites and Blacks.



While there is much more that can be discussed regarding these critical moments in American history, EngageDiversity would like to leave you with a story that involves the accurate portrayal of some of the inventions of Blacks throughout history. Accordingly, we must become of the contributions that Blacks have made throughout history, in spite of slavery and legal segregation. References are available upon request.



Life without Black People

A very humorous and revealing story is told about a group of white people who were fed up with African Americans, so they joined together and wished themselves away. They passed through a deep dark tunnel and emerged in something of a twilight zone, where there is an America without Black people. At first these white people breathed a sigh of relief.

“At last!” they said,
"No more crime, drugs, violence and welfare. All of the Blacks have gone!"

Then suddenly...reality set in. The "NEW AMERICA" is not America at all, only a barren land.

1. There are very few crops that have flourished because the nation was built on a slave-supported system.

2. There are no cities with tall skyscrapers because Alexander Mils, a Black man, invented the elevator, and without it, one finds great difficulty reaching higher floors.

3. There are few if any cars, because Richard Spikes, a Black man, invented the automatic gearshift. Joseph Gambol, also Black, invented the Super Charge System for Internal Combustion Engines, and Garrett A. Morgan, a Black man, invented the traffic signals.

4. Furthermore, one could not use the rapid transit system because its precursor was the electric trolley, which was invented by another Black man, Albert R. Robinson.

5. Even if there were streets on which cars and a rapid transit system could operate, they were cluttered with paper because an African American, Charles Brooks, invented the street sweeper.

6. There were few if any newspapers, magazines and books because John Love invented the pencil sharpener, William Purveys invented the fountain pen, Lee Barrage invented the Type Writing Machine and W. A. Love invented the Advanced Printing Press. They were all, you guessed it, Black.

7. Even if Americans could write their letters, articles and books, they would not have been transported by mail because William Barry invented the Postmarking and Canceling Machine. William Purveys invented the Hand Stamp and Philip Downing invented the Letter Drop.

8. The lawns were brown and wilted because Joseph Smith invented the Lawn Sprinkler and John Burr the Lawn Mower.

9. When they entered their homes, they found them to be poorly ventilated and poorly heated. You see, Frederick Jones invented the Air Conditioner and Alice Parker the Heating Furnace. Their homes were also dim. But of course, Lewis Latimer invented the Electric Lamp, Michael Harvey invented the lantern and Granville T. Woods invented the Automatic Cut off Switch. Their homes were also filthy because Thomas W. Steward invented the Mop and Lloyd P. Ray the Dust Pan.

10. Their children met them at the door-barefooted, shabby, motley and unkempt. But what could one expect? Jan E. Matzelinger invented the Shoe Lasting Machine, Walter Sammons invented the Comb, Sarah Boone invented the Ironing Board and George T. Samon invented the Clothes Dryer.

11. Finally, they were resigned to at least have dinner amidst all of this turmoil. But here again, the food had spoiled because another Black Man, John Standard invented the refrigerator.

Now, isn't that something. What this country would be like without the contributions of Black Americans?

Black history includes more than just slavery, Frederick Douglas, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Dubois. There are many individuals who have done their part to contribute to the Birth of a Nation.

Thirteenth to Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution

Amendment XIII (1865)
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Amendment XIV (1868)
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Amendment XV (1870)
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.