Hi guys, thanks for doing this!

I have two questions, focusing on the 20th century, so mostly for /u/LordhussyPants and /u/falafel1066

What was the effect of the drug trade on the black community during the ‘60s and ‘70s?

The second question:

There seem to be differing ideas about the legacy of the Black Panther Party, from being criminals who inspired the increase in murders the next decades to being revolutionary dreamers who resisted the police. I was wondering what you thought the primary legacy of the Black Panther Party was.

Was there ever any serious discussion during the periods of Western Expansion (Antebellum or post)to create, a territory or colony, what have you, primarily for blacks? Similar to Liberia, but with in the jurisdiction of the USA? If so, how far did these discussions go?

To my understanding it is still more of a stigma to be homosexual within the black community than in general in the US. Is there any historical reasons for this?

To what degree did African American musical traditions vary from place to place before radio?

In ~1910, did Black people in Texas have different styles from Black people in Virginia?

From what I understand, in modern times, a lot of the conservative/liberal divide can be better accounted to rural/urban rather than South/North. In other words, there are rural areas in the North that are more conservative and urban areas in the South that are more liberal.

My question is was this also true during the time of Civil Rights? In other words, were there rural areas in the North that were more pro-segregation than urban areas in the South? And as a follow up to that, what were the main factors that led a place to be more or less welcoming for African Americans?

During my readings on the Civil War, and the US Colored Troops, a rather brief aside I once encountered referenced the failure of the Freedman’s Savings Bank, and how its crash wiped out the savings of nearly 2/3 of all African-American veterans. It was only mentioned in passing though, so I was hoping one of you might be able to provide some more background on the Bank, and why it folded.

I also have a bit of a silly question for /u/FatherAzerun - When I was in high school, I was given an assignment to write about the effect slavery had on the outbreak of the American Revolution. It was a question I struggled with at the time, and am still a bit unsure about. So, might I ask, just to set my own ideas straight - what effect did slavery have on the outbreak of the American Revolution? How much of a cause was it, if at all?

to /u/falafel1066: love the title of your dissertation. can you tell me which groups you examine? I'm especially interested if you've done research into any of the takahashi-connected groups like the "peace movement of ethiopia".

• Lynchings are often portrays as a systemic way of maintaining racial oppression, and undoubtedly they were. However, I'm curious to what extent this was intentional and perceived at the time. Or put it in other words, would people carrying out lynchings have thought that their actions were targeted at the greater black community, or did they only think they were targeting individuals, and the collective aspect is only apparent at a remove?

• Atlanta has the moniker "the city too busy to hate." Where did this come from, and to what extent was it justified?

In a book I recently read about propaganda posters from the Cultural Revolution, it was mentioned that many people in the black freedom movement looked up to the ideals depicted. To quote:

[T]here was significant political exchange between the Chinese communist government and African Americans in the United States.

- "Revolutionary Chinese Posters and their Impact Abroad", Chinese Posters: Art from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Lincoln Cushing and Ann Tompkins.

Specifically, the passage was talking about how the Black Panther Party looked up to socialist countries, such as China and Cuba, in the belief that their struggle was sort of global struggle.

How connected was the Black Panther Party with Marxist ideology? Did Marxism and communism have influence over the wider black freedom movement?

This is a question for whomever is interested, likely /u/FatherAzerun.

I've heard about maroon communities in South America and the Caribbean, but relatively little about these societies in North America. Could you describe some of the maroon communities in the United States? When did they form? How long did they persist? Can you comment on the connection between maroon communities and the Seminole Confederacy in Florida?

Thanks!

My question could be applied to modern times as much as historical, but this is Ask Historians of course and has the 20 year rule, so please just interpret my question as referring purely to the historical situation up till 1995 and let's ignore what may or may not have changed since:

That said, this is something that I'd really like to learn some more about. As a European, I have a very distant perspective on American racial matters. And I'll come clean, up till recently I had gained the pretty simplistic impression that post-civil rights era, the remaining issue were entirely about African-Americans having as a result of their history a situation of being disproportionally poor and being culturally mismatched with the wealthier European-Americans.

If the above is unclear I apologise for lacking the skill to explain what I thought succinctly, but it doesn't matter. Because the point is that I've recently read some of the writing of Ta-Nehisi Coates, as well as some other writings of similar persuasion, and he directly skewered all those positions I had.

The impression I've gotten now is that the real issue for African-Americans post-slavery has been being lower class compounded by systemic racism denying African-Americans the (already limited) social mobility to get out from being lower class. To get out of vagueries and into practical examples: Coates writes for example about how lynchings were sometimes portrayed as a kind of cultural conflict, but in actually often targeted those African-Americans who had begun to accumulate wealth and thus needed to be kept down.

My actual question is: to what extent is the above class-racism narrative accepted in historical circles? Are there studies that have looked into the historical social mobility of African-Americans vis-a-vis other groups? Are there competing alternative narratives? Is Ta-Nehisi Coates seen as completely nuts or poignantly accurate?

I'd be very grateful for any response to would help educate a non-American like me on the way the real experts are looking at these issues (in an historical context).

to /u/LordhussyPants or whoever else wants to chime in: How important were veterans in serving as organizers and leaders in the early civil rights movement? Also, what about trends in organizations that many leaders and early members were in before they joined up with the CRM

What has made African Evangelical churches different from white protestant or catholic churches? Where do the call and response and unique sermon style originate from?

I asked this before and unfortunately it went by unnoticed, but this might be a good place to try again!

In Isaac's Storm, the author noted that in the late 1800s Galveston, Texas had an abnormally strong and vibrant African-American community, and how they essentially controlled the docks due to their unionized workers. But it is really just in passing, so:

• Firstly, how true is this? And then, how did this come about?

• What was life like for a freeman pre-Civil War?

• Was this status able to survive the destruction of the city in 1900?

Did traditional West African or even Muslim traditions influence 18th and 19th century African American Christianity?

I'm curious about the effect the Nation of Islam had on the civil rights dialogues. Do you feel that the Nation of Islam ultimately helped or hurt the cause of civil rights? What effect did its rhetoric of racial separation have on the civil rights debate?

I have a question for /u/dubstripquads. Can you explain how religion in black churches served to either motivate the Civil Rights Movement or to pacify its participants?

It's well known that second wave feminism comes up around the time of the Civil Rights Era (in the 60s and 70s). It's also been criticized as being primarily a white, middle-class woman's movement (which leads to new waves and new concepts and other within-the-twenty-year-rule stuff that I can't talk about).

I'm curious as to see whether second wave feminism played a part in the civil rights and black freedom movement, and whether it became a dividing force between black men and women activists and between black women activists. I'm aware that it did lead to a divide in the Chican@ movement; did something similar occur in the fight for black rights (for lack of a better term)?

Can somebody discuss how the African American participation in WWII changed things in the post war years?

I'm not sure if this is something that's within the expertise of any of the panel members, so apologies if this lies outside your scope.

One of the things that stands out in African-American history to me has always been the Tuskegee Airmen. Though they're some of the most famous pilots of the second world war (or at least, one of the most famous groups of pilots, if not necessarily individually remembered by the public), I'm not aware of any of the pilots from the airmen going on to do what so many other pilots did post-war: that is, go on to become test pilots, like say Chuck Yeagar. Was there any kind of movement amongst African-American pilots to get into test pilot programs (and similarly, what was any backlash like?)? Also, the first African-American astronauts as far as I know only come around in the late 1970s, so what was the relationship like between NASA and any African-Americans who did try to get in to the programs?

Another question, but for /u/shartastic - I admit, I know nothing about African-American jockeys. Who do you think are some of the greatest African-American jockeys? When I see races like the Kentucky Derby on television, it looks like there are no African-American jockeys. Has there been a downturn in African-American participation in racing? Why or why not?

I have questions about the NOI also, or more specifically about islam during the CRM. Were there african americans converting to islam outside the NOI or was it very specifically in that movement? After the 60s did islam stay important in the african american community? Or was it ever important? Was there a connection between the NOI and muslim countries, did the NOI receive financial or other help from these countries?

My other interest would be how much influence the soviet union had in the NOI or any other group during the CRM? Did they receive help in any form, were they influenced without knowing it? Did the FBI or any other agencies attack african american leaders based on false or real claims of helping the soviet union?

Edit: Another one: Generally how much role did the CRM played in the cold war?

What impact did African American service in World War One have on the emergence of civil rights movements or on race relations generally?

/u/FatherAzerun, /u/sowser, or anyone--do you know of new (since 2010) research on US Muslim slaves?

how many major attempts by africans were made to repatriate the diaspora?

Fascinating AMA. Promoted by the decline of African-American jockeys, and the post Reconstruction reaction against civil rights for non whites in general, I'd like to ask if there was a similar loss of standing for African-Americabs in white collar and/or skilled worker occupations during this time period? In other words, were there more black lawyers, doctors, cigar makers, circa 1880 than circa 1830? Did professional organizations become more segregationist over time? Were some of the arguments behind occupations becoming more regulated (requiring law school for instance) overtly racial in their appeal?

Oh man I hope someone can answer my Marcus Garvey questions. I have about a million!

Why did Du Bois hate Marcus Garvey so much? Du Bois had rivalries but this one seemed pretty ugly.

Was there a specific personal element or the strong differences between Marxism/Capitalism and Back-to-Africa/Integration?

Is it accepted by historians that the Black Star Line was sabotaged by the FBI under Hoover or is there some ambiguity? In the books I've read it is either unmentioned or not expanded upon.

Also what was the Hoover's reasoning behind having such a strong opposition to the UNIA repatriation movement?

I am interested in finding out more about Africans and people of colour that chose to serve in navy's of the european powers, especially during the napoleonic and victorian periods. Could you point me to any books that would help?