ENTERING THE 20 TH CENTURY Station 3: The Progressive Era

IMMIGRATION & DISENFRANCHISEMENT  Go to the table and take a copy of “The Progressive Era: Immigration & Disenfranchisement” from the correct folder.  Complete the tasks for this assignment.  From where are immigrants in North Carolina? – make bar graphs  Read immigrants letters to their families  Read about disenfranchisement in North Carolina  “Take” a literacy test & answer questions about disenfranchisement

IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES & NORTH CAROLINA What do you know about immigration to North Carolina at the turn of the century? You have looked at Ellis Island via Station 2. Immigrants helped North Carolina become more progressive, but from where were the immigrants coming? 1. Using the Migration Policy Institute’s Data Hub website, complete the tasks on your worksheet for “Immigration in NC”. You will be creating three bar graphs.Migration Policy Institute’s Data Hub website 2. Read the letters from Polish immigrants on the Johnstown Area Heritage Association website. Answer the questions on your worksheet. Johnstown Area Heritage Association

NC IS PROGRESSING IN THE 20 TH CENTURY… REALLY? Democrats Won in 1898, So What?!?! The Democrats plan after taking control of NC’s government was very simple – stop most African Americans from voting. How could that be done when the 15 th Amendment stated that citizens could not be barred from voting because of race? Other states had passed measures to get around the law, so NC Democrats wrote a state constitutional amendment that found a way to disenfranchise black voters without ever mentioning race.disenfranchise The “Red Shirts” were a group led by members of the Democratic Party that used intimidation and violence to achieve political goals. Historic Columbia has a reproduction of a red shirt on display along with an original (not shown), as well as a shotgun used by a Red Shirt and an M1861 Colt Navy Revolver, a preferred weapon of the group. Shotgun courtesy of the S.C. Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum. Revolver courtesy of the Museums of Old York.

LITERACY TEST : STATE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT Before a person could register to vote, he first had to read and explain part of the state constitution. The county registrar chose the section of the test to be used and decided who passed or failed. Since all the registrars were Democrats, they could give easy tests to fellow white Democrats and give very difficult tests to blacks. Editorial cartoon criticizing the usage of literacy tests for African Americans as a qualification to vote. Cartoon shows Uncle Sam writing on wall, “Eddikashun qualifukashun. The Black man orter be eddikated afore he kin vote with US Wites, signed Mr. Solid South.” Illustration in: Harper’s Weekly, v. 23 (1879 Jan. 18), p. 52) Take a look at an Alabama literacy test. Alabama literacy test. Take a look at an Alabama literacy test. Alabama literacy test.

POLL TAX: STATE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT To be able to vote, a citizen had to pay a very small tax each year. Although the poll tax was small, many poor people, especially African-Americans, were not able to afford it.

GRANDFATHER CLAUSE If they were applied equally to all races, literacy tests would have also disenfranchised many poor whites. To win widespread white support for the amendment, the Democrats included a Grandfather Clause. Grandfather Clause from Alamance Co., 1902 Complete the assignments for this section on your worksheet now.

THE PROGRESSIVE ERA Immigrants often lived in terrible conditions. Many took dangerous jobs and lived in tenements. They had little access to medical care. Blacks in the United States and in North Carolina were dealing with the impact of disenfranchisement although the 13 th, 14 th and 15 th Amendments were established in the Constitution of the United States of America. Along with white industrialists and Natives, these groups entered into this era looking for change.

THE PROGRESSIVE ERA: AN OVERVIEW  Go to the table and take a copy of “The Progressive Era: 1890 – 1920 in the United States” from the correct folder.  Read the opening section and annotate.  Watch the clip on Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and answer the questions on the worksheet.  Read “The Fight Against Child Labor” and complete the activities.

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle

Reformers often tried to gain support by using photographs of the problems they hoped to solve. The National Child Labor Council, which worked to ban child labor, hired photographer Lewis Hine to document child workers. Hine traveled throughout the country taking pictures of young miners, newsboys, fruit pickers, and factory workers. Some of his most famous pictures show children working in southern textile mills. Hines photos helped strengthen the movement to abolish child labor.

THE PROGRESSIVE ERA: WAS IT PROGRESSIVE FOR EVERYONE?  Go to the table and take a copy of “The Progressive Era: Was It Progressive for Everyone?” from the correct folder.  Learn about the Landmark Supreme Court Case “Plessy v. Ferguson,  Watch the video “Plessy and the Era of Jim Crow”.  Read about Jim Crow.  Answer the questions on your worksheet.

SEPARATE AND EQUAL – THAT’S THE LAW The 14 th Amendment was to create absolute equality of the two races before the law. Some believed that this was only for political and civil rights, not social rights. This paved the way for discrimination and segregation. Read about the Landmark Supreme Court case that created separate and equal laws in the United States.Landmark Supreme Court case

Plessy and the Era of Jim Crow

WHO WAS JIM CROW? Jim Crow was the name of a character in minstrel shows, the most popular form of entertainment in 19 th century America. Most minstrel shows featured whites with blackened faces. They sang songs and performed skits that made African-Americans seem both funny and foolish.

NATIVE AMERICANS & JIM CROW NC’s Indians contended with segregation as well. Communities with large numbers of Indians, such as Robeson County, set up three- way segregation, with separate schools, water fountains, and movie theater seating form blacks and whites, as well as Indians. Facilities for Indians were often a little better than those for blacks.

AFRICAN-AMERICANS FIGHT BACK Faced with the challenges of the segregation, discrimination and racial violence, African-Americans took a variety of paths. Groups challenged legal segregation and worked for anti-lynching laws. In the South, directly challenging Jim Crow was dangerous. Many black southerners followed the advice of Booker T. Washington, the president of Alabama’s black Tuskegee University. He urged blacks to focus on building up their own institutions rather than directly challenging white supremacy. Booker T. Washington

THE UP-BUILDING OF BLACK DURHAM

STATION 3 COMPLETE  Make sure you have completed… #12 –The Progressive Era: Immigration & Disenfranchisement #13 – The Progressive Era: 1890 – 1920 in the United States #14 – The Progressive Era: Was it Progressive for Everyone?