Monday – October 6th, 2014 Weekends Agenda Notes – 8-3 Worksheet Plessy

Segregation and Discrimination Chapter 08 Section 03 Segregation and Discrimination

Let’s…break it down! Main Idea: African Americans lead the fight against voting restrictions and Jim Crow laws. Why it matters now: Today, African Americans have the legacy of a century-long battle for civil rights.

Introduction to Reconstruction Legislation 13th Amendment – Ends Slavery 14th Amendment – Deals with Citizenship 15th Amendment – Deals with Voting See Pages 98-100 for specifics

African Americans Fight Legal Discrimination How did voting rights for African Americans change in the late 1800s? African Americans Fight Legal Discrimination Voting Restrictions For at least 10 years after Reconstruction, Southern blacks can vote By 1900, all Southern states restrict voting, deny equality Some limit vote to those who can read; officials give literacy tests Some have poll tax that must be paid annually to vote Some add grandfather clause to constitution to let poor whites vote can vote if self, father, grandfather voted before 1867 Jim Crow Laws 1870s, 1880s, Supreme Court allows poll tax, grandfather clause Racial segregation laws separate races in private, public places Segregation laws called Jim Crow laws after old minstrel song Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson—segregation legal in public places Allows “separate but equal” doctrine if provide equal service

Plessy v. Ferguson The state of Louisiana enacted a law that required separate railway cars for blacks and whites. In 1892, Homer Adolph Plessy -- who was seven-eighths Caucasian -- took a seat in a "whites only" car of a Louisiana train. He refused to move to the car reserved for blacks and was arrested. Was Louisiana's law mandating racial segregation on its trains an unconstitutional infringement on both the privileges and immunities and the equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment?

The Ruling: Separate but Equal The court ruled that the Louisiana state law is within constitutional boundaries and upheld state-imposed racial segregation. The justices based their decision on the separate-but-equal doctrine, that separate facilities for blacks and whites satisfied the Fourteenth Amendment so long as they were equal. (The phrase, "separate but equal" was not part of the opinion.) Justice Brown conceded that the Fourteenth Amendment intended to establish absolute equality for the races before the law. But Brown noted that "in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races unsatisfactory to either." In short, segregation does not in itself constitute unlawful discrimination.

Significance http://www.historynow.org/04_2008/inter5.html The court’s ruling in Plessy v Ferguson launched the era of Jim Crow in the United States -- legal segregation resulting in terrible inequalities for African Americans. http://www.historynow.org/04_2008/inter5.html Above source for the 2 previous slides as well.

Turn-of-the-Century Race Relations Name at least two “expectations” of African Americans at the end of the 1800s? Turn-of-the-Century Race Relations Opposing Discrimination Racial etiquette—informal rules for black-white relations enforce second-class status for blacks Moderate reformers, like Booker T. Washington, get white support W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells think problems too urgent to postpone Born a slave, Ida B. Wells becomes teacher, newspaper editor campaigns for racial justice Violence African Americans who do not follow etiquette are punished, lynched more than 1,400 killed 1882–1892 Discrimination in the North Many blacks migrate North for better paying jobs, social equality Are forced into segregated neighborhoods Rejected by labor unions; hired last, fired first by employers Competition between blacks, working-class whites sometimes violent

Racial Etiquette Examples Blacks and whites never shake hands Blacks yield the sidewalk to a white person Black men always remove their hat in the presence of a white person, even children Blacks were expected to refer to white males in authority as “Boss” or “Cap’n” Blacks were never referred to as Mr. or Mrs. Black men were referred to as “Boy”, “Uncle”, or “Old Man” – regardless of age. Black women were referred to as “Auntie” or “Girl (examples taken from The Americans and Racial Etiquette by Ronald L.F. Davis, Ph. D.)

Discrimination in the West How were Mexicans discriminated against in the West? Chinese? Discrimination in the West Mexican Workers More Mexicans build railroads in Southwest than other ethnic groups forced to work for less than other groups Mexicans major force in Southwest agricultural industries Some Southwest Mexicans, African Americans forced into debt peonage: system of slavery to work off debt to employer 1911, Supreme Court declares unconstitutional Excluding the Chinese Whites fear job competition, push Chinese to separate areas, schools Opposition to Chinese immigration leads to Chinese Exclusion Act

Explain how this cartoon relates to debt peonage?

Did turn of the century advances improve the lives of Americans? Essential Question: Did turn of the century advances improve the lives of Americans?