The Gilded Age Creating American Apartheid

Race Relations in Transition 1865 – 1890 White “Redeemers” tolerated a lingering black voice in politics Through the 1880s, politics remained open and democratic 64% of eligible voters (black & white) participated in elections Blacks remained in elective office oSouth Carolina until 1900 oGeorgia until 1908 South sent black legislators to Washington every election but one through 1900 Disfranchisement remained inconsistent & largely a local issue oOccurred mainly through fraud and intimidation oOccurred often enough to ensure white domination

Minimizing the Black Vote Gerrymandering There are two principal strategies behind gerrymandering: ●maximizing the effective votes of supporters ●minimizing the effective votes of opponents. Packing, is to place as many voters of one type into a single district to reduce their influence in other districts. Cracking, involves spreading out voters of a particular type among many districts in order to reduce their representation by denying them a sufficiently large voting block in any particular district.

Gerrymandering

Race Relations in Transition (1865 – 1880s) Whites showed no great haste in erecting barriers of racial separation. Segregation appeared before end of Reconstruction in some areas  Schools  Churches  Hotels & rooming houses  Private social relations Discrimination more sporadic in places of public accommodation  Trains  Depots  Theaters  Restaurants

Lynch Law A form of mob violence and putative justice, usually involving the illegal hanging of suspected criminals. A terrorist method of enforcing social domination. Characterized by a summary procedure ignoring, or even contrary to, the strict forms of law. Victims of lynching have generally been members of groups marginalized or vilified by society – 4,743 lynchings [3,446 blacks] Texas ranks third with 352

Lynching across Time

Lynching by State Alabama Arizona310 Arkansas California41243 Colorado66268 Delaware011 Florida Georgia Idaho200 Illinois Indiana Iowa17219 Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maryland22729 Michigan718 Minnesota549 Mississippi Missouri Montana82284 Nebraska52557 Nevada606 New Jersey011 New Mexico33336 New York112 North Carolina North Dakota13316 Ohio Oklahoma Oregon20121 Pennsylvania268 South Carolina South Dakota270 Tennessee Texas Utah628 Vermont101 Virginia Washington25126 West Virginia Wisconsin606 Wyoming30535 Total1,2943,4424,736

Lynching in Texas Paris ^ || <= Waco

Colored Men of Texas Report of the Committee on Grievances at the State Convention of Colored Men of Texas – 1883 Reaction to the Supreme Court decision that struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875 as unconstitutional. Drafted prior to the national convention in Kentucky. Whites pretended to accept blacks change in status: oWhites never fully accepted changes oWhites offered to accept changes as a condition to regain former positions in the Union

Colored Men of Texas Report of the Committee on Grievances at the State Convention of Colored Men of Texas – 1883 Mack Henson A.R. Norris J.N. Johnson J.Q.A. Potts “… the degree to which any right is enjoyed as a citizen is measured by the willingness of the whole body of citizens to protect such a right; if there is a lack of regard there is, therefore, the lack of will to protect.”

Colored Men of Texas Report of the Committee on Grievances at the State Convention of Colored Men of Texas – 1883 Miscegenation Free Schools Treatment of Convicts Railways, inns and taverns Juries

Ida B. Wells ( ) Campaigned for women’s rights Campaigned for black equality Outspoken opponent of lynching (A Red Record – 1895) Helped found NAACP (1909)

The Mississippi Plan 1890 Four components: 1. Residency requirement 2. Convicted criminals disqualified 3. All taxes had to be paid before voting 4. Literacy requirement

Segregation by Law Judicial retreat created legal climate for Jim Crow laws The Slaughterhouse cases (1873)  Limited application of 14th Amendment  Concluded most rights of citizens remained under state control U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876)  Gutted the Enforcement Acts  Ruled only violations of rights by states, not individuals, fell under federal purview Civil Rights Cases (1883)  Invalidated Civil Rights Act of 1875  Ruled that unequal treatment prohibitions of 14th amendment only applied to states, not private businesses

Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 Most important civil rights case of the 19 th century  Louisiana law required railroads to maintain separate cars for blacks & whites  Concerned black residents of New Orleans launched a test case  Railroad a willing participant  Homer Plessy refused to move to the “colored only” section & was arrested, tried, & found guilty  Case wound up at the Supreme Court  High Court upheld Louisiana law  Established “separate but equal” doctrine

Jim Crow Laws

Birth of a Nation  Released in 1915  Presented a negative picture of Reconstruction  Portrayed the KKK as heroes  Encapsulated dominant historical view of the time  Vigorously opposed by Wells, Du Bois, & others  Helped shape national attitudes on race  Contributed to the rise of the second KKK in 1915

Booker T. Washington ( )  Political leader, educator, author  President of Tuskegee Institute  Publicly urged accommodation w/ whites (Atlanta Compromise – 1895)  Privately funded legal challenges to segregation

W.E.B. Du Bois ( )  Harvard graduate (1890)  Civil rights activist - Advocated confrontation w/ whites to achieve equal rights  Author  The Souls of Black Folk  Black Reconstruction  Helped found NAACP (1909)

Exodusters Many Blacks migrated West to avoid repression