Deep in thought.

From the time blacks were free in part the struggles were on.

The 1970s indeed marked a significant period for Black people, characterized by both challenges and progress. Let’s delve into some key events and achievements during that era:

The 1970s followed the civil rights movement of the 1960s, which had secured important legal victories for Black Americans.
However, despite these advancements, racial tensions persisted, and economic conditions remained a struggle for many.

Political Milestones:

Dr. Clifton Wharton Jr. shattered barriers by becoming the first African American to head a predominantly White university (Michigan State University) in the 20th century.

Kenneth Gibson was elected as the first Black mayor of Newark, New Jersey, making history in a major Northeastern U.S. city.

Barbara Jordan, a powerful orator, served in Congress and made her mark during this decade.

Media and Business Achievements:

Essence, the women’s magazine, debuted in 1970 and grew to have a substantial readership base.

Black Enterprise, founded by businessman Earl Graves Sr., provided essential business information and advice to African American professionals and entrepreneurs.

Playwright Charles Gordone won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for his play “No Place to Be Somebody,” becoming the first Black person to hold this distinction.

Struggles and Activism:

Black communities continued to fight against racism and economic inequality.

Strikes occurred in industries such as textiles, with Black workers advocating for their rights as both Black individuals and workers.

The 1970's were a complex and transformative time for Black people, marked by resilience, progress, and ongoing challenges.

Racial segregation is the separation of people, or groups of people, based on race in everyday life. Throughout Canada’s history, there have been many examples of Black people being segregated, excluded from, or denied equal access to opportunities and services such as education, employment, housing, transportation, immigration, health care and commercial establishments.

The racial segregation of Black people in Canada was historically enforced through laws, court decisions and social norms.

Chattel slavery, the practice of treating people as personal property that can be bought, sold, traded and inherited, was abolished in most British colonies, including Canada, in 1834. However, the segregation of Black people in Canada was justified for many years afterwards by perpetuating ideas about racial inferiority that had been used to justify Black enslavement. Historically, practices of racial segregation differed across the country, often according to province or local community.

Free Negro

In the British colonies in North America and in the United States before the abolition of slavery in 1865, free Negros or free Blacks described the legal status of Africans in this country who were not enslaved. The chains may not been be on us anymore in body , but they're still their in our minds for many have wondered where they stood or where they are standing in this country where all men were free under God.

According to the census of 1860, there were in the United States, in round numbers, 487,000 free negroes, of which the fifteen slave-holding States contained 251,000. However, free negroes were to be found in every county in the State, ranging from less than a dozen in some of the western to more than two thousand in some of the eastern counties.

The Black Lives Matter movement and the harrowing events that gave rise to it have ensured that global attention remains focused on the enduring legacy of African slavery. There are numerous ways its continued relevance persists in the public eye, from debates over reparations for Black people in the US and how slavery’s history is taught in schools, to a number of recent big Hollywood films and popular TV shows.

The legacy of racism and violence that originated in slavery, and which continued throughout the Jim Crow period of segregation, also survives in many forms today, from persistent inequality to police brutality and the denial of Black people’s democratic rights.

What often gets lost in the discussion of slavery are the experiences of free Black people who co-existed throughout the entire period of enslavement. Of the 20 Africans first traded to British settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, some served out their indentures and became free.

Granted, the numbers of free Black people were always significantly smaller than those who were enslaved, but there were communities all over what would become the United States. On the eve of the American Civil War in 1860 – a conflict fought over slavery – free Black people numbered 488,000 in the US compared to 4 million enslaved – not an insignificant number.

Reason to be deep in thought.

A parallel and often intertwined experience, freedom and was not always a permanent condition, but one marked with permeable boundaries between enslavement and liberty. As well-known figures like Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth – both escaped slaves who became abolitionists and reformers – demonstrated, one could be born into slavery and eventually gain one’s freedom.

Regardless of which generation they belonged to, a free Black person’s ability to exist within this ambiguous state of liberty was not guaranteed. Although they were technically free – not legally owned – there were limitations on their freedom.

People became free in a variety of ways. Some families’ origins derived from enslaved women who were in sexual relationships with white men. A number of these women gave birth to children in slavery and then worked for the liberty of themselves and their families.

Free Black people lived complicated lives and had to work to ensure their survival in Natchez on the Mississippi River, one of the wealthiest cotton-growing areas in the South. In 1860, Mississippi had one of the largest enslaved populations (436,631), but a relatively tiny number of free Black people (775). Natchez contained the biggest free Black community in the state with 225, dwarfed by the 14,292 who were enslaved.

In some cases they inherited property in addition to their freedom or worked to save money to purchase themselves out of slavery. Others were promised their future freedom and entered into contracts to work for a number of years before they were freed, all of which different paths to independence.

But however freedom was acquired, it was often limited and contested. Free Black people lived under a different justice system with a higher level of scrutiny by the local police board and state. They had to prove themselves of “good character”, “industrious” and “lawful” or they could be imprisoned or ordered to leave the state. Sad!

Racial segregation laws and common social practices have historically limited the freedoms of Black British subjects and, later, Black Canadian citizens. They imposed second-class citizenship on Black Canadians, while simultaneously giving white Canadians access to aspects of citizenship reserved only for them.

No matter where they are from, who they are, their economic circumstances or educational backgrounds, significant majorities of Blacks say being Black is extremely or very important to how they think about themselves, with about three-quarters (76%) overall saying so.

A significant share of Blacks also say that when something happens to Black people in their local communities, across the nation or around the globe, it affects what happens in their own lives, highlighting a sense of connectedness. Blacks say this even as they have diverse experiences and come from an array of backgrounds.

Even so, Black adults who say being Black is important to their sense of self are more likely than other Black adults to feel connected to other groups of Black people. They are also more likely to feel that what happens to Black people inside and outside the country affects what happens in their own lives. These findings emerge from an extensive new survey of Black U.S. adults conducted by Pew Research Center.

Black adults under 30 years old differ significantly from older Black adults in their views on the importance of Blackness to their personal identity. However, Black adults also differ by age in how they pursue knowledge of family history, how informed they feel about U.S. Black history, and their sense of connectedness to other Black people.