Rise of Segregation

Work for African Americans in the South Poverty Sharecroppers- landless farmers who gave landlords large portion of crops as rent Chronic debt Many left farming and looked for jobs in Southern towns or moved west to claim homesteads

Mass Migration “Exodusters” –fled to west, mostly Kansas, to form independent communities in spring 1879 Named so from Jews’ escape from slavery in Egypt (“exodus”) in Bible Migration grew from urging from Benjamin “Pap” Singleton

Colored Farmers’ National Alliance By 1890 1.2 million members Southern farmers Many joined Populist Party Posed challenge to Democrats in south, so Democrats appealed to racism to get back the poor white vote

Taking Away the Vote 15th Amendment prohibits states from denying citizens right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” Late 1800s, Southern states imposed restrictions—never actually mentioned race, but aimed at African Americans Mississippi: Required all citizens registering to vote to pay poll tax of $2 Literacy test- required to read and understand state constitution Passages hard to understand Restrictions less strict on whites, but their votes also fell Grandfather Clause- allowed any man to vote if he had an ancestor who could vote in 1867

Jim Crow Jim Crow- laws passed in south to legalize segregation Name derived from song called “Jump Jim Crow” performed by white doing blackface—became derogatory expression meaning “negro” In 1883 Supreme Court overturned Civil Rights Act of 1875 which had prohibited keeping people out of public places on bases of race and barred racial discrimination in selecting jurors Supreme Court ruled that 14th Amendment only said that “no state” could deny citizens equal protection under law. Private organizations were free to practice segregation.

Plessy v. Ferguson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoOlEPoc1PE 1892, Homer Plessy, an African American challenged LA law that forbade African Americans from riding in same train car as whites Appealed to LA supreme court and then to US supreme court In 1896, court upheld states’ rights to segregate “Separate but Equal”

Ida B. Wells In 1892 launched crusade against lynching Driven out of town in TN settled in Chicago and continued 1895 published book denouncing mob violence and demanded “a fair trial by law for those accused of crime, and punishment by law after honest conviction” Congress rejected antilynching bill but lynchings decreased significantly in 1900s

Mary Church Terrell College-educated Worked with women suffrage workers like Jane Addams and Susan B. Anthony Helped found National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Formed Women Wage Earner’s Association—assisted African American nurses, waitresses, and domestic workers Led boycott against department stores in D.C. that refused to serve African Americans

Booker T. Washington Proposed African Americans concentrate on achieving economic goals rather than political goals Atlanta Compromise- speech given to mostly whites Urged African Americans to postpone fight for civil rights Instead concentrate on preparing themselves educationally and vocationally for full equality Helped form Tuskegee Institute in 1881 that taught African Americans trades and agricultural skills

W.E.B. Du Bois Leader of new generation of African American activists The Souls of Black Folk- 1903. Saw no advantage in giving up civil rights. Especially concerned with protecting and exercising voting rights

Booker T. Washington v. W.E.B. Du Bois Washington: “The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing…It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercises of these privileges. The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera- house.” Du Bois: “Negroes must insist continually, in season and out of season, that voting is necessary to proper manhood, that color discrimination is barbarism” What are the overall differences in Washington’s and Du Bois’s opinions?

Assignment Take on the role of one of the African American reformists and write a letter to the U.S. Supreme Court explaining your view of the ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson and what changes you think should be made. Requirements: POV of Wells, Terrell, Washington, or Du Bois Your view of Plessy v. Ferguson Description of African American conditions you see Actions you have tried to use to change ways Your view of how Supreme Court should change ruling