1. THE RISE OF SEGREGATION
How significant were social & political gains made by African Americans in the late 1800s?
Disfranchisement, Jim Crow Laws
& Plessy v. Ferguson
THE RISE OF SEGREGATION

2. DISFRANCHISEMENT OF AF. AMERICANS
S. leaders devised ways to keep Af. Ams. from voting & taking advantage of the opportunities granted to them with the Reconstruction Amendments. They fought to keep Af. Ams. as second class citizens.
Disfranchising (= denying right to vote) Af. Ams. through voting loopholes that on the surface applied to “both races.”
Poll tax = requiring all citizens registering to vote pay $ (beyond the means of most poor Af. Ams.)
Literacy test = voters must be able to read & understand the Constitution (many former slaves illiterate)
Grandfather clause = can only vote if have an ancestor on the voting rolls in 1867 (almost all formerly enslaved citizens were now ineligible)

4. Louisiana Literacy Test 1964

5. LEGALIZING SEGREGATION: JIM CROW LAWS
Discrimination in late 1800s in North as well as South
In S., segregation (separation of races) enforced by law
Jim Crow laws = statutes enforcing the state-mandated segregation of public facilities such as railroad cars
Jim Crow = character popularized by slavery-era blackface minstrel, a white musical stage performer who darkened his face with makeup & crudely imitated supposed Af. Am. behavior
Significance: Segregation in virtually all public places – railroad cars, water fountains, swimming pools, restrooms, hotels, restaurants, etc…
2:27mins on jim crow laws about.com

6. PLESSY v. FERGUSON (1896)
1883 Supreme Court rules that 14th Amendment applies to states, not to private organizations/businesses  legalized segregation in public places
Af. Am. Homer Plessy challenges Louisiana law forcing him in separate railroad car. The law was upheld by Judge Ferguson & the Sup. Ct.
In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Sup. Ct. decided that Jim Crow laws were constitutional & did not violate the 14th Amendment.
Ct. ruled that separate facilities could be equal & allowed segregation to continue  “separate but equal” facilities for Af. Am. legal doctrine established that provided legal basis for discrimination for over 50 yrs
This “separate but equal” ruling was finally overturned in Brown v. Board of Ed. decision Were separate but never equal
2:03 plessy v. ferguson video clip

8. AFRICAN AMERICAN RESPONSE
Racial violence: lynching = executions without proper court proceedings, carried out by mobs
Ida B. Wells = African American woman who launched a fearless crusade against lynching, saying greed not just racial prejudice was often behind the brutal acts
Wrote in the Memphis Free Speech newspaper & published a book denouncing mob violence
Helped decrease the # of lynching significantly in the 1900s

9. AFRICAN AMERICAN RESPONSE
Booker T. Washington = an Af. Am. educator, urged fellow Af. Ams. to concentrate on achieving economic goals rather than legal or political ones.
Af. Ams. should prepare themselves educationally & vocationally for full equality
Views explained in a speech known as the Atlanta Compromise
Atlanta Compromise was challenged by W.E.B. DuBois, the leader of Af Am activists born after the Civil War
DuBois said that white Southerners continued to take away the civil rights of Af. Ams, even though they were making progress in edu./job training
Believed that Af Ams had to demand their rights, especially voting rights, to gain full equality