Segregation and Discrimination

Legalized Discrimination Although the 14th and 15th amendments were meant to guarantee rights to African Americans, it did not happen in much of America. White southern democrats went to great lengths to make sure African American men could not vote

Legalized Discrimination Poll taxes – voters had to pay this tax in order to vote Literacy test – voters had to pass the test in order to vote These kept many African American men from voting, especially since many lacked the education needed to pass a literacy test

Legalized Discrimination In order to allow poor or illiterate white men to vote, southern state legislatures passed a grandfather clause A man could vote if he, his father, or grandfather had been eligible to vote before January 1, 1867 Before that time only white men could vote

Legalized Segregation Jim Crow Laws Southern state legislatures passed Jim Crow Laws – laws discriminating against African Americans Named for a stereotyped minstrel character By the 1890s southern states segregated many public places and services, including schools. African Americans filed lawsuits under the Civil Rights Act of 1875

Legalized Segregation In 1883 The Supreme Court declared that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional Said the 14th Amendment guaranteeing equal protection of the law applied only to state governments Congress could prevent the states from denying African Americans their rights, but could not outlaw discrimination by private individuals or businesses.

Legalized Segregation – Plessy v. Ferguson In 1892, Homer Plessy, an African American, sued a railroad company arguing that segregated seating violated his 14th Amendment right. The Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” facilities did not violate the 14th Amendment. Allowed legalized segregation for almost 60 years

John Marshall Harlan - dissenter

Informal Discrimination Racial Etiquette Strict rules of behavior that governed the social and business interactions of whites and African Americans African Americans were supposed to defer to whites in every encounter If they failed to speak respectfully, or acted with too much pride or defiance, the consequences could be serious

Informal Discrimination Lynching The murder of person – usually by hanging without a legal trial Between and 1882 and 1892 nearly 900 African Americans lost their lives Declined after 1892, but continued into 1900s

Informal Discrimination The Ku Klux Klan which first appeared during Reconstruction, used terror and violence to keep blacks from challenging segregation. Ida B. Wells, an African American journalist from Memphis led the fight against lynching. 3 of her friends were lynched in 1892, so began an anti-lynching campaign. Whites called for her to be lynched, she moved Chicago and continued her fight.

Wilmington Race Riot: Racial Distribution

1890s Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington was a bustling, thriving port town for all levels of society and races during the last quarter of the 19th century It was the state’s largest city, with a majority of the population (two-thirds) being African- American. Center of African-American political and economic success, and was considered a symbol of “black hope.”

“We, the undersigned citizens of the City of Wilmington and County of New Hanover, do hereby declare that we will no longer be ruled, and will never again be ruled by men of African origin.” Preamble to the White Declaration of Independence

Four-Pronged Plan Steal the election: Under the banner of white supremacy, the Democratic Party used threats, intimidation, anti- black propaganda, and stuffed ballot boxes to win the statewide elections on November 8, 1898

Four Pronged Plan Riot: On November 10, armed whites attacked African- Americans and their property. Total number of deaths—uncertain, so many people ran away for fear of their lives and were never heard from again, that it is unsure whether they were killed. Reports have put the number as high as 60 men

Four Pronged Plan Stage a coup: As the riot unfolded, white leaders forced the mayor, police chief, and other local leaders to resign from their offices, placing themselves in charge. Alfred Moore Waddell became Mayor

Four Pronged Plan Banish the opposition: After seizing power, whites removed opposition by banishing their most able and determined opponents, white and black. Hundreds of African-Americans left the city to find less hostile homes for their families and businesses. Those that remained faced harsh racism and a reduction in pay.

Black civil rights leaders were divided on how to address racial problems Booker T. Washington was born a slave in Virginia and used hard work and education to become a teacher after the Civil War He founded the Tuskegee Institute, a school to train black workers and teachers On race relations, he argued in favor of accommodation: Blacks should work hard, educate themselves, and earn the rights they wanted

“Our greatest danger is that in the great leap from slavery to freedom, we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the productions of our hands and fail to keep in our mind that we shall prosper as we learn to dignify and glorify common labor…It is at the bottom of life we should begin and not the top…In all things that are purely social, we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” —Booker T. Washington  ”Atlanta Compromise” (1895) Atlanta Cotton States Exposition

He opposed Washington’s “Atlanta Compromise” and… WEB DuBois had a very different view of race relations than Booker T. Washington DuBois was born in Massachusetts and was the first black man to earn a doctorate from Harvard He opposed Washington’s “Atlanta Compromise” and… …called for immediate civil rights and the promotion of the “Talented Tenth” of young black leaders

WEB DuBois had a very different view of race relations than Booker T WEB DuBois had a very different view of race relations than Booker T. Washington We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a free American, political, civil and social, and until we get these rights we will never cease to protest and assail the ears of America —W.E.B. DuBois

In 1905, DuBois and other black leaders led the Niagara Movement …They demanded an end to segregation and discrimination and economic and educational equality The meeting led to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909 to fight for black equality

The NAACP fought voting restrictions and segregation laws by using the 14th Amendment to file lawsuits WEB DuBois was the most outspoken early member of the NAACP by using The Crisis newsletter to call attention to black causes

He created a number of businesses to promote Black Nationalism Jamaican immigrant Marcus Garvey believed that whites and blacks could not coexist in America In 1907, he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association to encourage blacks to return to Africa He created a number of businesses to promote Black Nationalism Garvey lost credibility when he was jailed for mail fraud and deported to Jamaica

While women gained voting rights and labor laws… …African Americans were unable to end Jim Crow segregation, stop lynching, or gain economic equality But, black leaders in the Progressive Era inspired later generations to demand changes