Professor Ranford Hopkins: Hello everyone.
My name is Ranford Hopkins. I teach American and African American History here at Moorpark College.
I'm retired but affectionately back for more punishment and Analisa Jugan and I want to share a perspective on the violent 1898 riot and coup d'etat in Wilmington, North Carolina.
And the amazing story of Greenwood, Oklahoma commonly known as Black Wall Street. Many thanks to the BSU student leadership team Ka Ren Mac Calla, Gerald Richardson, Pauline Nassar, BSU Advisors Banea Sumpter,
Tamarra Coleman, and Tim Lumas, and of course our technical expert Michael Ashton, who is quite comfortable holding my hand in such matters.
And also, of course, to the Black History Month Planning Committee for giving us the opportunity to occupy this space.
The Wilmington 1898 massacre and coup d'etat is a story just receiving the lighted deserves over the last few years.
This story will be shared from me through known sources and an excellent 10 minute video, and also my two cents.
The approach we'll take, we'll begin with the national setting, then work to Wilmington the local community, and finally themes born out of this history that may be illuminating about our times today. So the first slide you see, there is background.
There is no understanding the present, without knowledge of the past. Next slide please?
Following the Civil War, both Presidents wanted a lenient path back for a southern reunification with the Union. Lincoln argued average southerner had been duped
into betraying their country by leaders of the Confederacy. Johnson, on the other hand,
also wanted to lean in re entry of southerners. His problem, he will have with the Republicans or the radical Republicans is that he did not believe in civil rights for political and civil rights. Next slide please?
Southerners, were referred to as redeemers, had given up the idea of getting back slaved, the institution they knew that was over, but they hadn't given up two things they wanted most.
To reduce African Americans to second class citizenship, which meant no citizenship, and to re-assert white supremacy.
Their approach would be the goals as you see, on the screen. We could write a book about this whole notion of their strategies but, in essence, they wanted political and cultural self determination, this means free from Yankee control, free from Yankee
domination. They wanted to re-establish white supremacy, deny African American political and civil rights,
and another element not directly related to our talk, but very important for southerners at the time, is that they wanted to shift in the economy, away from an agrarian based economy now to a pro business economy that accepted industrialization as well. Next slide please?
In order to achieve this, the redeemer has had many approaches. Two of the most outstanding was one, the black codes. Two measures proved especially effective. These black codes were unofficial laws that regulate it behavior of Blacks and black relationships with Whites.
The ones you see on your screen are representative, but in essence I like to boil them down this way that they effectively and severely demolished black political, social, and economic opportunity.
They made it nearly impossible for Black people to protect their bodies. They stripped away all legal protection and avenues for Blacks. They cut the core of self esteem and the feeling of self-worth for many people, but amazingly somehow many still rose. Next slide please?
The second approach that was most outstanding for
the redeemers was violence. There were a number of race riots that
occurred in this period, New Orleans being worse, there was also one in Memphis and in other cities.
Let me just pause here for a moment, if you'll give me this. What is a race riot?
Sometimes we hear people talk about black race riots, about Watts in Southern California, Ferguson, and others, they call them race riots. Well a race riot is, in fact,
Is when one race of people from one community, reign destruction, burn, loot, rape, and kill another race of people in another community. Have you ever heard of a black race riot?
Next slide please?
Because of the violence, and because of the
well let's see, because of the violence and also because of the black codes, which essentially meant that the upcoming 14th amendment but not apply the Blacks, then
the Federal Government decided to have military rule over the South, and we see this on March, the 2nd, 1867 with the First Reconstruction Acts.
Next slide?
So essentially, reconstruction begins in 1867 and it lasts roughly until 1877. Historically, we talked about 1877 as being the end of reconstruction. That we'll say more about that minute.
Next slide please?
I wanted you to just see the 11 seven states. I know all of you have taken eighth grade, 11th grade history, and history at
Moorpark College and other places. So those are the states that we call the redeemer states or
those States are under military rule, all of them except Tennessee. And Tennessee is interesting, because that will be the birthplace of the ku klux klan. They will not be closely guarded by the military and they're able to create the klan. Next slide please?
With reconstruction gone, oh sorry, with reconstruction implemented,
the radicals these Republicans had an idea about how to bring improvement to African Americans and to rebuild the South. The goals of the Republicans speak reams about these these radicals and what they stood for. Government support for the newly freed and poor Whites,
citizenship for African Americans, civil rights for African Americans, and protection of the right to vote. Now, these all be codified in,
in amendments to the constitution, but at this point, these are ideas that the radicals are moving for.
The majority of Republicans were not radicals. The majority of the Republicans found these goals of the radicals to be too lofty.
Some of them felt that they had lost interest in trying to help Black people. Others thought that it's not possible to really make a difference in the lives of African Americans, which really means giving up and abandoning the whole concept of democracy in this country. Next slide?
Ultimately, reconstruction ends in 1877.
Historians say.
Reconstruction was neither radical nor reconstructed the South. And they're right about that. We don't have time to talk about it and it's not really our focus, but that's absolutely true, and the estimation of most historians. All right next slide?
So let's move on to Wilmington. Let's go local as promised.
Wilmington, North Carolina, especially by the mid 1890s was an exceptionally progressive city.
Next slide?
There was a large relatively large burgeoning well heeled or what we might call middling or better Black community. Men, women
these folks in the city of Wilmington. The majority of barbershops. The majority of boot and shoemakers shops. They held the majority, there were more of those shops than any other group.
They were also prominent as cleaners, furniture makers, watchmakers, painters, plasters, plumbers, blacksmiths, and wheelwrights.
As politicians, they worked on the local, state, and federal level. There were even two members
from North Carolina from Wilmington who were from members of the House of Representatives in the United States Congress.
These African Americans, along with other citizens of Wilmington, would walk the streets, would greet each other, say hello to each other.
Blacks walked into white stores. Whites walked into black stores. It was really an amazing scene, that we could see nowhere else in the South. Now don't get me wrong,
don't for a minute think that racism and violence against Blacks were non existent there. It's just that this was the degree of interracial
compatibility that we don't find anywhere else. More about these well heeled African Americans when we see the film. It will do a good job and give any visuals on that. May have the next one?
So what do you find in Wilmington is an unusually progressive southern city, that is far more accepting of racial integration, arguably, more than anywhere else in the South,
where Black people shared government and we're relevant and in some areas dominant figures in the city of Wilmington. Juxtapose that with the Wilmington Redeemers, whose leadership
was built on re-instituting ultra conservative centered values.
Would you like to meet them? Next slide please?
Now, if we want to talk about redeemers. If we want to
talk about people who want to stop negro rule as it was called, and reconstitute white supremacy, that's kind of a working definition of the redeemers, we have to first start with this individual. Furnifold Simmons.
His position was Chairman of the Democratic the executive party and he had a strategy. And in some his strategy was this he simply as the white
Wilmingtonians, he said to them,
"What kind of Wilmington do you want? Do you want to Wilmington with negor rule, which would mean black domination of White people?" In his mind.
And in the mind of the redeemers, or, "Do you want white supremacy to maintain historic status quo? But we as White people are in charge." There was an old saying and
listened to Patty Colman yesterday, and she was very
very thoughtful of word, but I want to use it here in this respect because this gets to the essence of how many poor southerners felt as far as they were concerned,
"I may be poor, but at least I know nigger," and you have to say it that way to get the essence the
essence of how they felt, because a lot of times what the politicians in the South were working for when not in the interest of average White people, and certainly not in the interest of Black people. I apologize in advance and hope I still have my job for using that word in that way.
Their goal, to make race, the centerpiece of their strategy.
Influential. Let's move on to the next slide please?
In order to understand the white supremacist, we want to show their strategy that was unleashed by Simmons. I wan you look at these three leading figures and the film will talk about
these, but I want to give a special note about them. First Josephus Daniels. Josephus Daniels wrote scores of inflammatory articles based on racial bigotry, tropes designed to strike fear in the hearts of White people, and especially White women.
He was very, very important, because he owned one of the major newspapers in Wilmington, called the News and Observer and keep in mind in these years, and the 1890s through the early part of the 20th century,
in the South and in the North, anyone who could read read newspapers. So this is very influential. Charles
Aycock, Charles, same, except he did it through oratory skills, he was considered the democratic Moses, and finally Alfred Waddell. Waddell didn't pull any punches.
"If you want to stop negro rule, get armed, take out the guns," and, as he infamously says here, "If you find the negro voting, tell him to leave the polls, and if he refuses, kill him, shoot him down in his tracks.
This way we will win tomorrow if we have to do it with guns."
Next slide?
So here are just a few of the symbols that represented and we're used by the white supremacy. We're not going to go through all of them, hopefully you're studying them, as I speak
to you at this moment. So in the upper right hand corner and in the lower left hand corner, there are two cartoons. These cartoons were generated by cartoonist
by the name of Norman Jennett and we would call these propaganda cartoons, because essentially both of them were designed to
impart how to vote to the citizens to the white citizentry. So if you notice behind the fellow who's about to vote, there's, a figure. That figure is a devil and you can't see it probably on your screen, I can, but what it says is,
"The devil is the fusion party." So the man standing behind the individual, the character standing behind the man who's about to vote is the devil and what he has in his hand is a ballot and the ballot says, "For negro rule." Next slide please?
In Wilmington there the well heeled, there are the poor Whites, the poor Blacks, there's also a group called the Fusion Party.
They are actually the opponents of the democrats, the redeemers. This party is comprised of northern Republicans largely, although we could parse those as well, African Americans, and the Populist. And we'll say a word about the Populists in just a second. Please next slide?
So,
when we think of the Fusion Party is fusing those three political elements that we just had on the screen.
And, just as we did with the redeemers. I think if we look at three three individuals Butler, White, and Russell, we'll understand what their strategy was for the fusion part. First of all Marion Butler President of the North Carolina Farmers Association, he brought together
working class Whites and farmers, which was already a unique blend, that in itself was revolutionary the two didn't typically get along one from the city, one from the grand community.
And he also brought African Americans, usually the more sophisticated and educated African Americans who've had a break, and liberal Republicans. Together,
they all formed the Fusion Party. Next, George White, he was elected to the House and he's an outstanding figure one because he's black and he is a representative in the House of Representatives in the US Congress.
We won't see this until later until the 20th century in Chicago, before we see African Americans elected to serve in the House of Representatives. That will be the first time in the north in Chicago. Okay so,
what's interesting about him is that he was without question a ardent civil rights
person. He worked hard for civil rights he authored an anti-lynching bill, but this isn't just any anti-lynching bill, this one had a particular purpose.
African Americans were more commonly lynched for having sex with White women than for any other cause.
Sometimes, if you just looked at a White woman in a way that might be suggest, if you could get lynched but certainly if you had sex with that person, so all he's saying is no more lynching of Black males if they have consensual sex with White women.
Next, oh I'm sorry not next slide. Daniel Russell almost forgot him. Very important because, to understand the Fusion Party, we have to understand Governor Daniel Russell who was elected in 1896.
From Russell, we understand that the Fusionists stood for citizenship in the 14th Amendment. They stood for the right to vote in the 15th Amendment.
They also were keen on building public schools. You might say, "Whoopdi do. Who cares?" Well, you have to understand that, in the South public schools
were rare. It was not common for the community to build public schools. Either you could afford to go to school, which meant paying lots of money, or you couldn't.
But now with Yankee rule we see the emergence of public schools and these folks wanted to to build and to enhance public schools. They wanted
elections by popular vote, rather than by appointment. They wanted to tax the wealthy to support the public bid, and as we've already mentioned, keen on their list and probably for political reasons they wanted the black vote.
Next slide please?
As you watch the film that's coming up following this slide,
I'd like you to ask yourself.
What role did these two individuals Rebecca Felton,
and Alexander Manly play in the actual pulling up the trigger so to speak in the riot?
Felton was a Liberal Democrat outspoken advocate for women's rights and she had no space no time for Black people. She was not a lover of Black people.
And then, Alexander Manly who was owner of the only African American newspaper. This newspaper, called the Wilmington Daily Record and he also had the privilege of being married to a Jubilee...
African American woman by the name of...
This in itself is an interesting story which I'm going to follow up not in this section, but elsewhere, so at any rate... next slide please, and hopefully we're going to see our film now.
Narrator: For a long time, if you went to the library in Wilmington, North Carolina, there was one thing you weren't allowed to research.
"We were refused. We were rejected by the librarian." "When I asked about or inquired about 1898 they wanted to know why." "I was told that yes, they had something but they kept it under lock and key."
Narrator: The story of Wilmington in 1898 still isn't widely known. "What happened here and what's now just this empty patch of grass would radically change racial politics in North Carolina." Narrator: This is the story of an American election, but also of something we don't usually find in American history. The violent overthrow of a democratically elected government.
In the late 1800's, Wilmington, North Carolina was the state's largest city. It had a majority black population, and historians today describe it as a rarity in the post-Civil War American South. LeRae Umfleet: "Wilmington prior to November, 1898, was what the new South could be at the cusp of the 20th century." William Darity: "There was an unusual degree of black prosperity."
Narrator: In Wilmington there were successful Black entrepreneurs, doctors, teachers- but also Black elected officials. And for a time, that was true throughout the state. Take a look at the politicians on this poster of the 1889 North Carolina House of Representatives. Here at the bottom- are Black Republican representatives- some from Wilmington.
North Carolina also sent four Black Republicans to the US Congress between 1875 and 1899. The Democratic and Republican parties of 1898 in many ways occupied opposite parts of the political spectrum than they do today. "Most African-Americans were voting for the Republican Party. And the Democratic Party was White voters almost exclusively. White supremacy was the central focus of the platform for the Democratic Party."
Narrator: Republicans in North Carolina were successful in part because of third party called the Populist Party, made up of mostly White farmers fed up with the tough economic times.
North Carolina Populists joined up with Republicans to form what they called the Fusion Party. And in the elections of 1894 and 1896, the Fusion Party defeated the Democrats in sweeping victories statewide. That meant North Carolina now had a government that shared power between Black and White politicians, including a newly elected Republican governor.
Together, they moved towards reforms that would favor Black Americans and working-class Whites. "This was something that the Democratic Party folks were simply not going to accept." A multiracial government wasn't just a disappointment for Democrats. It was more like a humiliation.
They needed a plan to take back control of the state in the next election. So party leaders, like Furnifold Simmons, future US Senator; Charles Aycock, future North Carolina Governor; and this man, Alfred Moore Waddell, came up with one: to beat the Fusion Party by luring White Populist voters away from their alliance with Black voters.
Wilmington with a large black population and a local Fusion government in power- would be a focus of their campaign. The state Democratic state party handbook for 1898 laid out their goal: consolidate the white vote by stoking white anger and resentment. It said: "this is a white man's country and White men must control and govern it."
Their most effective tool was the media. One of North Carolina's biggest newspapers was a Democratic Party mouthpiece. It ran racist political cartoons throughout 1898.
"Not everybody was literate in 1898. But to see a political cartoon of the type that ran, you may not be able to read it, but you know exactly what it means." Many of the cartoons were centered on the threat of "Negro rule"...even though the Fusion government was mostly white. They also played up another fear. "Black men threatening White women became a theme. White men need to do all that they can to protect white womanhood."
This was all part of North Carolina democratic strategy, but it echoed the national racist rhetoric of the time. In one speech that Democrats printed in a Wilmington paper- a prominent Georgia writer named Rebecca Felton said: "If it takes lynching a Black man a day to protect white womanhood 'I say lynch'."
Her speech prompted a Wilmington Black man named Alex Manly, owner of the black-run, Daily Record newspaper, to respond with a column. He made simple observation that at the time, was shocking. "That White women who had liaisons with Black men did so voluntarily and enthusiastically."
Manly wrote: "Every Negro lynched is called a 'big burly, black brute,' when in fact, many were sufficiently attractive for White girls to fall in love with them." "Manly pretty much said in a nutshell: sometimes White women choose to be with Black men." Manly's editorial became another tool for Democrats. Newspapers reprinted it, called it "a horrid slander," and ran comments about it on a daily basis.
It was just a few months before the election, and White voters were angry.
"By the time the election rolls around on November 8th, Black voters, Republican voters, had been thoroughly intimidated here." By all accounts, the elections of 1898 were a sham. The Democratic Party had a paramilitary group called the Red Shirts. They attacked and blocked Black residents from voting.
At a rally just before the election, Alfred Moore Waddell provoked the crowds. He said, "negro office-holding ought at once and forever be brought to an end. Even if we have to choke the current of the Cape Fear River with carcasses." The votes were counted, and the Democrats won.
"Democratic candidates won every seat they had a candidate up for election in." But some local Fusionist politicians remained in power, because their seats hadn't been up for re-election like the White Republican mayor and the board of aldermen. And of course the election did nothing to undo the economic power Black folks held in the city.
The Democrats had won the election, but their goal of total white supremacist control remained out of reach. "And so they engineered what was essentially a coup d'etat."
The day after the election, at a gathering for White men in Wilmington, the Democrats unveiled a document they called the "White Declaration of Independence." It contained an ultimatum. Cynthia Brown, whose descendants were in Wilmington back in 1898, is a historian at her church, where there's a preserved copy of the declaration from the next day's newspaper.
"We will no longer be ruled and will never again be ruled by men of African origin." They would strip Black men of voting rights. They would give White men a large part of the employment heretofore given to Black men. And as for Alex Manly..."We demand that he leave this city forever within twenty-four hours."
The next morning, hundreds of White men marched to the offices of the Daily Record. Manly was gone- he had fled to save his own life. They set the Daily Record building on fire. This is where it once stood. "Once the white leadership destroyed Alex Manly's printing press, they destroyed one way in which the African-American community in Wilmington could organize itself and keep itself informed."
At City Hall, the mayor and board of aldermen were forced out. "There's two hundred armed men in City Hall at the time. They didn't do it of their own free will and as they resigned, a new member selected by the Democratic Party was voted into office."
Waddell, who once threatened to fill the Cape Fear River with Black bodies, was the new mayor of Wilmington. Meanwhile, the mob had grown to about 2,000 men, and the violence spilled into the streets. In these photos, exes mark where the first Black residents were killed.
"The stories are that they were dumped into the river. And there are varying stories about how many people were killed." "I see 40 to 60 clearly, as fatalities as a result of the violence. But I think it was higher." Many Black residents hid for days in the swamps, and the wooded cemeteries in the city, including Cynthia's great grandmother.
And thousands of other residents fled Wilmington, never to return. Shortly afterward, Democrats printed booklets celebrating a glorious victory, and in the newspapers, depicted Black residents as the instigators.
"This image is a gross misrepresentation of what actually happened during 1898. You know, what you see are African American men with guns not White men with machine guns." The city never regained its black majority population.
Jim Crow laws, like literacy tests and poll taxes that prevented Black people from voting were immediately enacted and Wilmington's spirit of black opportunity was crushed. Black political representation in the state was over. It would be 90 years until North Carolina elected its next Black Congress member.
"Wilmington did a really great job of covering up a very dark past for a very long time." "Over the years, the textbooks on North Carolina's history have struggled to accurately describe what happened in 1898. This one from 1933 says, the situation was 'unfortunate for both races.' And this one from 1978 doesn't have that much more detail.
But they both praise Charles Aycock, a politician who perpetrated the riot, they say he had 'a keen mind and a kind heart' and that in fact he was one of 'the best friends the colored people had in the state."
It's a legacy that North Carolina has yet to fully undo. The names of the perpetrators are on Wilmington's school buildings and city parks. But the legacy is also bigger than those names. Turn on the news, and the state's long history of political suppression... echoes.
"And we turn to a strict new voter ID law in North Carolina." "Racially gerrymandering and a push for new voting maps." "The court says the Republican-led legislature redrew Congressional districts along racial lines, violating the Constitution."
"There is a tremendous amount of intimidation that is still felt by the Black community." "It doesn't have to be mass mayhem and violence in the streets." "The strategy shifts towards designing state laws in such a way that you could exclude Blacks from voter participation." "The subliminal pursuit of continuing the white declaration of independence." "And if you don't see it for what it really is, it can happen all over again."
Professor Hopkins: Okay looks like we're back. I hope you enjoyed the film I just covered this
about a week and a half ago and I couldn't
deny you seeing it. It's an excellent piece by box by these folks who cover
interesting histories like that.
Okay does history repeat itself? The answer is, of course, no. At least not exactly. Why? Because nothing stays the same. Not the same people, not the same environment, not the same event, and so on.
Still, a value in the study of history is that it helps us discern trends, likelihoods, and logical. In looking at Wilmington it was difficult
to discover trends in Wilmington which appear similar to what is happening in America, nationally and locally. When? Well, shall we say, over the past four years. We've never had a coup d'etat in America on the scale that we saw in Wilmington.
But is it possible that that would happen? So what I have on, what you see on your screen are some themes that I noted and I'd like you to do the same if you especially students in my classes, or maybe some of you are here for extra credit.
This might be a question that comes up. But the question is, just a few of them, these are some of the themes and the question to you is, "Do you see any of these themes occurring say over the last four years since that's, the most recent time?" Violence employed to achieve a coup d'etat.
Realization that southerners have this heritage of undemocratic political practices. That there is a drive to promote racial bigotry and fear and use that as a political weapon.
And we want to stop interracial relations at all costs.
That was certainly a theme and whether it happens today.
Based on your assessment. Subvert truth and create falsehoods to achieve goals.
And in Wilmington the race riot leads a path to the establishment of the segregated America. Last slide please?
On the other hand, what we also see from the Wilmington experience is that Whites and Blacks did form political alliances. Whites and Blacks did live in harmony.
The democratic small D, not capital D, only capital D's beginning of the sentence, small D
government by the people and representative government, democratic and republican government still prevail.
I want to thank you for your time and your attention to this talk. I want to turn now to Analisa who will introduce our study of
Greenwood and I look forward to seeing that, and plus she has a special quiz for you, that will give you an opportunity to participate on another scale. Okay Anaisa it's all yours, thank you.
Analisa Jugan: Hi everyone thank you again Professor Hopkins that was an amazing presentation.
Some great questions and great points you made there at the end for sure.
First off, you know, I want to
say
give props to Professor Patricia Colman yesterday for excellent event.
I do know it got kind of cut short because there was some issues with Spectrum across the board, but hopefully everyone got the email about that.
I also want to say, before I begin, given that it seems like it's a popular question I do want to note that if anyone hasn't seen a past presentation,
we don't have a set date, I believe, but there will be recordings of the presentations up on our Black History Month web page,
so be on the lookout for that. I also want to give a special thanks to Banea Sumpter Madam Co-Advisor of the Black Student Union and
Dina, I hope I'm saying your last name correctly, Pielaet, just for all the work that you guys have done with coordinating so much
and the entire Black History Month Committee that Professor Hopkins referred to earlier. I'm definitely going to miss our meetings and I highly recommend if any students are interested,
this is a great way to get involved. And, last but not least, I do want to thank
Michael Ashton, who, as I believe, Professor Patricia Colman said yesterday, has been our Zoom bouncer for making our events safe and as smooth as possible.
So I do want to do a short introduction on why it is that I chose Black Wall Street. So I believe I only heard about Black Wall Street within the past year, and maybe the year prior I had heard about the Tulsa massacre.
Now, of course I believe it's important to reflect on the wrongs that have been done to the Black community and this event is by no means an exception.
However, for the longest time I only knew of Tulsa as the site of this massacre and I can't say, given how much tragedy we hear about the day to day and just
history in general that I felt inclined, you know, to seek out more information; however,
when I started working on the Black History Month Committee, I asked myself what I would want to see as a Black student.
And I wanted to share this history for those who aren't familiar with it because it has been for a long time obscured and it's unlike anything that I've learned in my formal education. In my first glimpse of it, I was not told him its glory. I had never
known that this Tulsa location, the Greenwood District was home to be Black Wall Street, which did ignite my interest and honestly in a very, in a refreshingly positive way,
I surely never doubt our own ability, but for how so much of history has been captured and relayed as clearly shown by Professor Hopkins presentation,
I really felt I was in awe to finally see,
especially in the historic context and on this scale that you'll see in the video I will display,
to see that potential realized. So without me going on and just summarizing the whole video,
if we can go on to the next slide and start the video?
Analisa: Thank you. So I don't know about everyone else, but I was amazed that even in the case of Greenwood District, you know, even at the peak of Jim Crow the Black community of Greenwood was using segregation and ignorance to their own advantage. You know defying the notion that
white savior is necessary, that really untouched, we won't
not only survive, but prosper, just as well as our White counterparts.
And it makes me think of yesterday's event, Ryan Ballard, I hope I don't butcher this too much, I am probably paraphrasing a bit, but, you know, that we're no better than anyone, but we are definitely more most certainly no worse. I think when you look at Black Wall Street there's
definitely pain and there is that strife and struggle that we often see, but I hope that, you know, you all see the beauty in it and the inspiration,
you know, that we be overcome as we always do, and that we have in fact, been so clearly capable, exceptional all of the things we tell ourselves now and then, and that when we look at this instance, that it helps us further envision... being black.
And I'm going to go to the next slide real quick.
Thank you. So before I invite Professor Hopkins to discuss, I do want to give time for people, you know, if they want to submit any questions if we have time there is a chance that we will run out,
But also, you know, grab your phone a device or you can just open another tab on your computer and go to Kahoot dot it.
And I'm going to
apologies, I have to take a second to to get it started on my end, just so you guys have access to the code. So just give me one moment.
Oh, but in the meantime, Moorpark College students, the award is
credits towards the Bookstore. So you guys, I don't know about you guys but those textbooks are expensive,
or really anything that you might want to buy at the bookstore. So I'm going to be pasting a survey into the chat and if you guys can,
you know, put your information there, this is just that you know we can contact you and make sure you get your award.
And again, as the directions indicate, if you can put "MC" before your username just to indicate that you are a student and make sure that corresponds with what you answer in the survey and with that being said, I think
Professor Hopkins and I.
Wouldn't you...
I wanted to ask you.
What you thought about. I'm so sorry my like there's something playing in the background, from the Kahoot.
I had a question for you, I need to take a history class with you, but I was curious based off of your presentation what you thought of, I know some people talk about there being like a party switch with the Democrats and the Republicans, and what you think about that?
Professor Hopkins: Well it's a big question actually, and I understand that my connectivity or video isn't coming off well. I don't know and Analisa when you were looking, did you see a problem but that I had several people comment to me that my voice in the, you know, the slides weren't in sync.
Analisa: Maybe the slides are, but there were a few times, where it does start to cut out, I think the Internet still being a little wonky for us.
Professor Hopkins: Yeah.
Ask your question again, please, it was?
Analisa: I was curious what you think about, I've always been kind of surprised when you hear about Abraham Lincoln... [Professor Hopkins]: Oh yeah. [Analisa]: association with the
Republican Party and how things appear now.
Professor Hopkins: Right. So yeah what comes to mind first,
when you when you think of the South, whichever party
has an alliance with southerners, and I have nothing against southern my family was born in the South, I know people from the South, this is not anti-southerner but
they seem to have an ultra, they tend to have an ultra conservative bent, especially when it comes to race, to gender, and
maybe a strong evangelical nothing wrong with evangelicals, but sometimes that's misdirected. So when you look at the Democrats when the country was founded with Adams and Jefferson,
it was always the South that tended to support the Democrats. And once we get to
oh Roosevelt, and we began to see that the Democratic Party is beginning to wink at African Americans and even take on issues that are important African Americans, we began to see a shift
of southerners away from the Democratic Party, and they create a sub Democratic Party, the Blue Dogs or whatever. Then
when you look at Johnson, when Johnson was elected President, and especially when he signed the Civil Rights bill in 1965, he famously said,
"We're glad to have the bill, but I think we've just given the Republicans the South." So for at least since Johnson and slightly before, gradually more and more
southerners have turned to the Republican Party, and now the Republican Party is the party of the South, which tends to mean they're the party that don't always have that doesn't always have the interest of African Americans at heart.
Analisa: Thank you, thank you. I've always thought it interesting since there's the connection and kind of like almost the ownership or claims of like Abraham Lincoln and his...
which I know people there's also some controversy there about what he really thought, really felt about race, but yeah it's always a question that kind of boggles my mind, if you like, that it's almost like a party switch, right? So.
I'm going to check on our Kahoot.
[Professor Hopkins]: Right. [Analisa]: We might have all winners here.
Professor Hopkins: Uh oh. Oh okay.
[Analisa]: Well, good for them. [Professor Hopkins]: Oh, they've already taken the quiz?
Analisa: No, no it's because of how many people are playing. You guys will see in a second all of our
participants. So I'm going to share my screen.
So anyone else if you want to hop on. Now's your time. I know Banea's here. I know Banea's going to play.
But I'll give them another minute for people to join if anyone's having any connection issues.
Professor Hopkins: Mhmm.
One of the things I thought was kind of interesting is comparing the Wilmington study with
Greenwood and, you know, some novel things occurred, but I think they're important. So one of the causes, it seems like
of the riot in Greenwood was a spark that was caused by this relationship between Black men and White women. That's always a critical event and the power structure isn't that's not a union that is welcomed.
But in Wilmington, you had that too, with the controversy with Felton and so on, but that coup was already in the making. They were already planning to take over the government, with or without. That just happened to be the spark that,
you know, that ignited the explosion. And I mention explosion, one of the things they said in the film, they talked about using a machine gun.
Those boys got a gatling gun they bought a brand new fresh gatling gun and they use that gatling gun in Wilmington. You know, these are 50 caliber bullet. Yeah so.
Analisa: What is that because I'm not familiar?
Professor Hopkins: Oh, you haven't seen the gatling gun it's like, a you have a cylinder and there's surrounded by
rifling. There might be 10 or 12 riflings on this cannon like,
and you turn a crane
though and it'd fire 5 to 600 rounds in a minute so.
Analisa: That's crazy wow.
Professor Hopkins: And for the time it was impressive.
Analisa: Whoo. Yeah it sounds like it sounds very scary now.
Yeah and I think you definitely see it. We will begin in like, just like, another minute. I saw someone just hop off there and they're trying to hop back on. But the Kahoot short, so it's not going to be that long. It's about
18 questions for everyone so you know. But I definitely saw, yeah in the instance of,
basically, just Black men, you know, it made me think of you made the comment, how, you know, just looking at a White woman, what the response would be, and, you know, makes you think of in 1955, right? So that was
Emmett Till, you know, for looking at, maybe making a comment but harmless, right, and the response to that. And especially your points at the end really made me think about, you know, January 6, Capitol, right? I know I think we talked about that a little while ago, how it's
it feels like things really haven't changed. A lot of parallels to be seen.
Crazy but.
Professor Hopkins: Hmm yeah.
Analisa: Well, I guess. Oh I'm going to stop share real quick, and then share again so everyone.
Okay, and now you guys get to hear the lovely music. Oh wait a second. Here we go. I don't know if they'll be able to hear.
Oh, my things not working.
There we go. Okay so I'm just going to get started 'cause we're almost up with the time we were given.
Okay, see you Carl. I think see Milani. This one's worth double. It's hard, 'cause it's a year.
Okay Mads movin' up.
I should've given you guys more time for that one. That was a little hard. Oh Milani.
Okay wow streak of four. Nice.
Most people got it.
Let's see. Milani
she's still on top. She's still on top. You guys are getting close.
Yeah I'm not gonna lie, some of them I tried to make a little trickier kind of fast. You know, have some a little bit of pressure, since it is only 18 questions. Oh Banea.
Let's see.
Oh Banea's moving on up.
I see Alondra.
True or false as a result of the Wilmington coup d'etat race riots Blacks lost their majority stands in the city's population.
I figured everyone would get that real quick.
Okay, McCabe founded which city?
That one was hard. Yeah, Greenwood I know, I know it's hard.
Oh Banea.
The Williams family owned all except for?
Yeah this one was hard. They owned a confectionery but not a bakery so that was the one I didn't include.
Okay let's see. Banea's on top, okay. And Alondra's moving up, she's getting close.
What institution helped in the aftermath of the riot?
Be careful... I'll answer
real quick.
Okay. Banea's
standing strong. Seven correct answers in a row.
True or false. Double. Despite reparation recommendations, the Oklahoma legislature accepted bill mandating that the Tulsa riot be taught
reparation recommendation.
Ah Banea.
Alondra. Okay, moving up. Mads. KH.
Who was not a Greenwood entrepreneur?
Okay, Banea's moving back up.
Double the points. Greenwood was not once compared to?
It might be tricky again. I'm not going to lie.
I'm sorry you guys...
yeah see I did Beale Street in Tennessee and then Memphis I hoped people we kind of notice that I did that.
It's hard, stressful these games. I'm glad I'm not playing.
Okay, Mads, KH moving up.
True or false, Booker T Washington called Greenwood, Negro Wall Street?
Oh, everyone staying strong. Okay.
The Mayo brothers called blank the most able Negro?
Oh.
Okay Carl.
Okay double the points. The Greenwood District hosted the annual conference of the national negro business League in? 1942? 1945? 1925? 1952?
That was hard. Did not make it easy on you guys, I'm sorry.
But props to everyone getting it.
Greenwood re-established itself as Negro Wall Street by? This is the last question.
Okay let's see.
Mads, congrats... In the house... Alondra.
Gonna stop sharing for real quick. Oh no, my music's still going. Sorry.
Okay.
So I'm going to resubmit that survey, just in case anyone did not
get to fill out their information.
I know we are a little past time. I hope everyone can get their information in and I'm going to find the results.
Apologies Kahoot isn't always
easy to to mess with.
Okay share screen. Let's see.
So oh wait actually. I'm so sorry I don't mean to be so unorganized. If we could go back to the slide real quick and go to the next one after the video or after the display?
So I know originally we had on our flyer that it would be, you could win up to 150 but to try and like spread the wealth we actually did expand the places from first, well to all the way to eighth place so as you can see, those of you who are in the top eight your prizes. So we got,
Alondra I'm not sure if you're a student, but number one, we've got MC In the House, Mads, KH,
I see Banea, Carl, Milani, and Milana. And I'm not sure if Alondra is a student of If not, it is possible that Cart you have also won.
So again, if you guys can get that survey information in,
that would be great.
Oh okay, I see so patty, so MC In the House is Professor Colman.
So Cart you will be getting
an award.
And if we could go to our next slide?
I do want to just, you know, remind people that, since it is really all year round, but
Black History Month they really when you look at Black Wall Street is the power of, you know, being unified and supporting each other, of course, emotionally but
financially does have a huge impact on autonomy and so these are a few resources. So I'm going to really quick um put some links in.
So you guys can have access to that.
Here we go.
Oh, and then since we don't have much time, I guess we're gonna go to our next slide. Professor Hopkins I don't know if you want to chime in, but I just want to say thank you so much to everyone
who came again, and everyone is part of the Black History Month Committee and I do want to do a shout out, we do have
our event with Dr. Cornel West, which is be co-moderated by Pauline Nassar and Gerald Richardson from BSU and I know
other BSU executives Ka Ren and Trinity are also working on it. So I really hope you guys can make it. It is a specialized link but
if you go on to the Black History Month web page, you will be able to find it and hope you can all attend. And again thank you so much, and I will try to get back to everyone who won as soon as possible, if not remember, you can, you know, at least get that survey link.
And Professor Hopkins you want to say something before we close down?
Is Professor Hopkins still with us? Yes, no, maybe so?
Well, I guess
we can.
Yeah. Thank you Michael.
Oh yeah I guess Professor Hopkins is probably
away from his computer at the moment, but I guess, we can call it a day and I hope you guys enjoy
the rest of your night again thank you so much for coming.
Professor Hopkins: Okay, no.
Analisa: Oh you're here. Okay, I was like I don't want to end this without you.
Professor Hopkins: Yeah, no, I want to make respectful of
people's time so I'm not going to say much, but I kept pressing mute and it wouldn't mute and then finally something came on the screen. And again I apologize
to the attendees
for
I was going to say Analisa, thank you so much it's been a pleasure working with you. You've been amazing I enjoyed the Kahoot game. Done that in some classes on occasion.
The only word I would say about our presentation, remember that democracy, democracy is fragile.
And how easy it is to lose it in this country. It always seems to revolve around class or race.
So let's keep our eyes open, protect each other, try to find ways to love each other, and let's keep this concept going because I still think it's the best political system that we know of.
So that's all from me off the top of my head for now. All right thank you again.
Analisa: Thank you so much.
Professor Hopkins: Okay.
All right, we'll see ya. [Analisa]: Bye.