Discrimination in the late 1800s Beyond typical social classes, the US had a race-based social class system Minority groups included those based on appearance and religions like Judaism and Catholicism The definition of “white" changed over time; many European groups, such as Irish and Italians, were not considered “white" when they first immigrated Minorities were treated like “second – class” citizens: a person who is denied the social, political, and economic benefits of citizenship or who is not accorded a fair share of respect.

Scapegoating Often when there are problems in society, minority groups are treated like scapegoats- a group that is singled out, unjustifiably blamed, and targeted with hostility Crime, poverty, loss of jobs blamed on immigrants Minorities often became the subject of violence: East St. Louis: Riot of 1917. White rioters killed hundreds of black residents of East St. Louis, many of whom were women and children Los Angeles: Chinese massacre of 1871 in which shops and homes in Chinatown were attacked; at least 18 Chinese were killed by the mob. New Orleans: 1891, 11 Italians were violently murdered by a lynch mob

De Jure Discrimination: By Law Against African Americans: Legal segregation in the South after Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Voting restrictions like: poll tax, literacy test, and grandfather clause Against Native Americans: Forcibly moved by U.S. troops onto reservations in the West Denied citizenship in the U.S. Against Chinese Americans: Immigration restricted by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 Denied citizenship until 1943

De facto: by custom or tradition Against African Americans: Racial etiquette held blacks to different standards than whites black men had to remove the hat to whites and move off of the sidewalk to let whites pass Forced into “segregated” neighborhoods in the North Against many minority groups: discrimination in wages and the type of jobs available; last hired and the first fired Many minority groups were labeled with derogatory ethnic slurs (bad names) and were negatively stereotyped Dago (U.S.) an Italian (possibly a reference to the name Diego)

Examples of Ethnic Discrimination

1899 cartoon depicting Asians negatively.

Reconstruction Primary Sources

Harper's Weekly cartoon by Thomas Nast

March 23, 1867 By Thomas Nast commentary on President Andrew Johnson's veto of the military government bill

September 5, 1868 "This Is a White Man's Government." By Thomas Nast. Democratic platform for the presidential election of 1868 Interactive version: http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/prog12/feature/index.html