History:

In the 1900s, Pennsylvania was the second largest populated state in the United States of America right behind New York at number one. Philadelphia itself was the number three largest city in the entire country at the time as well. From when Philadelphia first became an american city on October 27th, 1682, the population in entirety was white except for the african slaves that were forced to work there. They technically didn’t have citizenship so they essentially weren’t citizens. 1790 was when the first census was taken and slaves were still around. It wasn’t until the Civil War in 1865 that slavery was abolished and Africans started their journey into becoming actual US citizens. Philadelphia went from consisting of a vast majority of white americans as the population to black americans being the current majority living in the city. Although this is the case, this isn’t typically an economic advantage to the essential city. The black population within Philadelphia accounts for the majority of the poverty stricken neighborhoods and areas. In the early 1900s when the city experienced segregation and Jim Crow laws, the city was very divided between race. African migrates worked in very poor conditions and got very little pay for their time. Black males were discriminated against commonly during this time, but with women’s rights also being a huge discriminatory problem, black women were discriminated against the most. Compared to todays time, Philadelphia is obviously not segregated, but does offer many outlets and opportunities to the black communities to succeed in life. Although the majority of the black population is located in very disadvantaged areas, the city itself does provide programs and other outlets for the youth and other citizens to help them be a positive member of society. Crime rates are very high in these poverty stricken areas and since the majority are black, a lot of these individuals enter the criminal justice system and there are many cases where black individuals are wrongfully convicted or serve severe sentences for minimal offenses. One current event that consists with this topic is the recent release of the famous Philadelphia based rapper Meek Mill who served a five month sentence for riding an ATV in the city. Comparing this to another case, the Brock Turner rape case that was nationally talked about. Brock Turner,  a white male, served 6 months for a rape charge. The evolution of the African descents in Philadelphia has come a long way, but this social group still has a long way to go.

Biography:

For the biography piece of our group project relating to African Americans in Philadelphia I chose to research and write about W.E.B Du Bois. Du Bois was an African American sociologist, teacher, and writer. His studies and methods used in Philadelphia helped solve social issues that were occurring in the late 19th century. Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1868. He was the first in his family to attend high school and then moved onto his first college which was Fisk University in Nashville. After his graduation from Fisk University he attended Harvard where he gained degrees in history. Shortly after his education he created his first book which was “The Suppression of the African Slave Trade to the United States of America, 1638–1870.” In 1899 he then created “The Philadelphia Negro” which was his most famous work for sociological studies.

“The Philadelphia Negro” was one of the first statistical studies used for sociological purposes. This study was on the Seventh Ward in Philadelphia in the 1890’s. Out of 40,000 blacks in Philadelphia at that time, the Seventh Ward consisted of a quarter of that 40,000. His study consisted of over 5,000 personal interviews in this black community. Du Bois believed that black people had their own class structure and they should not be judged because they are the lowest on the totem pole. He argued that the problem that blacks were facing were because of a network of social problems which consisted of whites not allowing equal opportunity and the major discrimination whites imposed on blacks. What Du Bois had found in the Seventh Ward though was prevalence of a community, just like the whites have surrounding them. This community just consisted of more crime, poverty, and less education. Du Bois addressed to everyone (blacks and whites) the causes of the marginalized African Americans was due to historical causes, socioeconomic causes, race relations, and the fear of slavery.

By bringing up many of the inequalities that Du Bois brought up made whites more aware of what was actually going on at that time. Most whites were completely unaware of the structure in society that was created, a structure that favored white people and did not allow blacks any chance. His studies eventually became relevant to all black cities across the country. Many scholars over time have used Du Bois’ work over time when discussing poverty, race, discrimination, etc. His works are still looked back upon to inform people of the black communities in America’s past and what challenges they had faced.

Organizational Relevance:

For the organizational relevance section we chose the organization NAACP. The main vision of the NAACP is to ensure that all colored people can live in a society where there is no discrimination based on race and people have all equal rights. Some missions of the NAACP include looking to remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes and to inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its elimination.

These values can relate directly to Du Bois whose goals included removing racial barriers of discrimination and wanting to inform every one of the effects that discrimination towards races has. Du Bois actually created a magazine for the NAACP called The Crisis which was a major voice for the Civil Rights Movement. It discussed the critical issues at the time regarding race, for example, lynching and World War I. The Crisis is still the official publication of the NAACP. It is still used to discuss the past and present issues regarding race and how it impacts many social institutions. The history of African Americans is very important to the NAACP because it is the basis for their all of their motives. The oppression of African Americans and other colored people over time created the value for this organization to better the lives of those colored people and make society ultimately equal. An example of some of the influence the NAACP has had can be seen in their get-out-the-vote campaign which resulted in 1 million more African Americans cast their ballots in the 2000 presidential election than in 1996. This example can show how far African Americans have come since they became discriminated against and oppressed. There are now 1 million advocates, members, and activists who are committed to raising awareness of discrimination in the many social institutions across the U.S and they keep moving forward in making progress politically, economically, and in the education system