1. Life in the South—Race Relations
Chapter 8 Notes

2. President Johnson, the white South, and Radical Reconstruction
The Black Codes were laws designed to regulate the affairs of the emancipated blacks
Mississippi passed the first law in November It became as anti-African American as any state in the Union through the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s
Goal of Black Codes: gain a stable, subservient labor force (i.e. get the cotton fields growin’ again)
Black Codes meant the freedmen generally had to commit to work for their employer for a year. If not, they’d face forfeiture of previous wages or be dragged back to the farm by a paid “Negro-catcher”
President Johnson’s race relations sympathy was questioned when he vetoed the renewal of the Freedman’s Bureau in Feb. 1866
Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Bill in March 1866 which gave blacks American citizenship and struck at the Black Codes
Johnson became known as “Sir Veto” yet the Republican Congress kept re-passing the bills with a super majority to get them into law
Civil Rights Bill led to the 14th Amendment, as mentioned earlier…what I didn’t say earlier was that Johnson urged the Southern states to reject it

3. Keepin’ It Real: Effects of Congressional Reconstruction
After Johnson’s speaking tour hurt the Southern Democrats he wanted to help in the Congressional elections of 1866, (even though Johnson was a Republican), the Republicans had a veto-proof Congress
Radical Republican leaders: the no-longer-bloodied Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens
Wanted to apply federal power to bring about a drastic social and economic transformation in the South
However, moderate Republicans stayed away from the Radical Republicans’ agenda as they preferred states’ rights and self-government…still the Republicans would combine in voting to stop the Southern Democrats’ agenda
South was divided in 5 military districts by Reconstruction Act in March 1867; those districts were commanded by Union soldiers and a Union general
Former Confederate states had to ratify the 14th Amendment to return to the Union, and full suffrage would be given to all males, including former slaves, through their state constitutions
Freedmen were not given land or education through federal money though
By 1870, African Americans gained the right to vote via the 15th Amendment
Between 1868 and 1876 fourteen black congressmen and two black senators served the government; accused of being scalawags and carpetbaggers
Goal was to protect blacks: it didn’t work very well

4. When Keepin’ It Real Goes Wrong: White Opposition to Empowering Blacks
By law, blacks were free
By social customs of the South, they weren’t free
The Ku Klux Klan emerged as “the Invisible Empire of the South” in 1866 in Tennessee
The Klan continuously ravaged the South, antagonizing, threatening, maiming, and killing many free blacks and those who supported them throughout Reconstruction
In one Louisiana parish in 1868, whites in two days killed or wounded 200 victims to make sure blacks were “kept in their place”
Keeping blacks from voting was a consistent goal, whether through intimidation, fraud, and trickery

5. So You Wanna’ Vote? Play by My Rules—The White Man’s Rules!
End of Reconstruction
Violence was avoided by sacrificing black freedmen in the South
Republicans quietly abandoned a commitment to racial equality
Former slaves had no choices other than to sharecrop, and remain in constant debt
Literacy tests, poll taxes, “grandfather” clause were all established to prevent blacks from voting
If previous family voted before 1860, you didn’t have to pay
Voting restrictions for African Americans
Some states mandated blacks be able to pass a literacy test to vote
Poll tax: annual tax blacks had to pay to be able to vote
Do you think poor whites had the same issues voting?
Grandfather clause: stated that even if a man failed the literacy test or could not afford the poll tax, he was still entitled to vote if he, his father, or his grandfather had been eligible to vote before January 1, 1867

6. So You Wanna’ Vote? Play by My Rules—The White Man’s Rules!
Jim Crow Laws
Started as an informal separation of the races post-Civil War
Developed into legal codes of segregation by the 1890s
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Ruled that “separate but equal” is allowed under the law
Effectively legalized Jim Crow laws
All public facilities (schools, railroad cars, theaters, restrooms, etc.) are segregated between “White” and “Colored”

7. Class Conflicts The Chinese Question Immigrant competition for jobs
After railroad crisis, ½ of the Chinese went back
Those that stayed had lonely difficult lives with menial jobs like cooking and laundry
Irish born Denis Kearney incited followers to violence against Chinese
Irish terrorized the Chinese like the KKK terrorized blacks
Focus was over working class jobs
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
Closed the door on any Chinese legally immigrating to U.S. until 1943

8. Educational Viewpoints
Booker T. Washington
vs. W.E.B. Dubois
Believed racism would end when blacks acquired useful labor skills and proved their economic value to society
Believed blacks should seek a liberal arts education so the African American community would have well-educated leaders
Started Tuskegee Institute where he wanted to equip African Americans with useful skills in agricultural, domestic, and mechanical work
Started the Niagara Movement; the “talented tenth” should try to achieve immediate inclusion into mainstream American society
Suggested a gradual approach to racial equality
Demanded full social and economic equality for blacks; the Niagara Movement becomes today’s NAACP

9. The Rules…and “The Rules”
Social Status Customs
Blacks were expected to remove their hats for whites
Blacks and whites never shook hands
Blacks were expected to yield on sidewalks to whites

10. The North wasn’t Perfect Either
Violence towards blacks
: over 1,400 African American men and women were shot, burned, or hanged without trial in the South
This is called lynching and happened because blacks were accused of violating social customs etiquette
Northern Discrimination
Discrimination may have been worse in the South, but also happened in the North
Blacks had to live in segregated neighborhoods
Many labor unions discouraged black citizenship
Employers hired blacks as a last resort; fired blacks first
New York City race riot
A young black man killed a white policeman in retaliation for what he felt was mistreatment of his wife
When word of the killing spread, whites throughout New York retaliated by attacking blacks with no connection to the murder