From Slavery to Freedom
th
9 ed.
Chapter 12
The Color Line
The Path to Disfranchisement
 Preventing Black Voting Legally
 Rise of the Conservative Democrats; sought a
probusiness climate of order and stability
 Used a variety of means to prevent the black vote
 Poll taxes, literacy tests, complicated balloting
processes, centralized election codes; gerrymandering
 Black Reappearance in Politics
 With black Republicanism gone, disputes
between white classes appear
 Poor whites distrust Conservative Democrats
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A rural black man “freely” exercises
right to vote
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The Path to Disfranchisement
 Economic depression caused farmers to organize
against the New South proponents of business
and industry
 Some short-lived instances of racial cooperation
 Readjuster Party: emphasized economic interests
instead of racial differences
 The Radical Agrarian Movement
 Black and white farmers drifted together under
radical agrarianism
 Colored Farmers’ National Alliance and Cooperative
Union
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The Path to Disfranchisement
 Led to creation of Populist Party, the political
agency of the resurgent famers
 Sought to win black vote and secure black franchise
 Tom Watson
 Successful Coalitions
 Coalition of Populists and remnants of old
Republican organizations had some success
 Able to open up voting to blacks in North Carolina
in 1894
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The Path to Disfranchisement
 Complete Disfranchisement
 After collapse of agrarian revolt, both white
factions agreed on the need to disfranchise black
voters
 Disagreed on the methods of disfranchisement; many
poor whites afraid they too would be disqualified
 Mississippi Plan
 Suffrage amendment with purpose of disfranchisement
set precedent for several other states

Poll tax, disqualification for convicts, required persons to read
and understand state constitution
 South Carolina; “Pitchfork Ben” Tillman
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Isaiah Montgomery
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The Path to Disfranchisement
 The Black Response
 Bitterly denounced racist amendments; unable
to garner white support
 Effective Disfranchisement
 By 1910, blacks effectively disfranchised in
North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Georgia, and
Oklahoma
 Back to Slavery
 “White primary” excluded blacks by party rules
 Blacks had no political clout
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Black men fought unsuccessfully to defend themselves in
the Wilmington, North Carolina, riot in November 1898
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Drawing,
The Union as It Was,
by Thomas Nast,
Harper’s Weekly,
October 24, 1874
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Legalizing Segregation
 Plessy v. Ferguson
 1895 Supreme Court case upheld segregation
doctrine of “separate but equal”
 White Man’s Country
 “Insider” and “outsider” status based on racial
identity sanctioned by legal process
 Public space considered white private property
 Segregated transportation evoked most notable
challenges to Jim Crow
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Handwritten decision,
Plessy v. Ferguson
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Confronting the Urban
Color Line
 Confronting the Urban Color Line
 Rapid growth of blacks in urban cities
 More economic and social opportunities; more
prominent color line
 Employment and Unions
 Difficult for blacks to find jobs and join unions
in cities
 Housing
 Difficulty finding housing exaggerated by
segregation; created congestion
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Confronting the Urban
Color Line
 Transportation
 Introduction of Jim Crow streetcars brought on
black boycotts and protests
 Black women played primary role
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America’s Empire of Color
 The United States Expands
 U.S. imperialist ambitions focused on lands and
resources of world’s darker-skinned peoples
 “Scramble for Africa”
 Hawaiian Islands and other small pacific islands
 The Caribbean
 U.S. increasingly interested in South America
and Caribbean
 Cuba
 Sinking of the Maine
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America’s Empire of Color
 The Spanish American War
 Some African Americans enlisted in the army;
some vocal anti-imperialists
 Blacks troops treated poorly during the war but
had much success in battle
 Reinforced the Rough Riders
 Garrison Duty and Pacific Services
 U.S. citizens not entirely in favor of arming
African Americans or having them serve as
troops of occupation
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The Tenth Cavalry
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America’s Empire of Color
 The United States as a Great Power
 U.S. victory over Spain established it as a world
power
 Treaty of Paris gave the U.S. Cuba, Puerto Rico,
Spain’s other West Indies islands, and the Philippines
 Puerto Rico
 U.S. had to pursue an imperial policy that would
not upset racial balance at home
 Puerto Rican government carefully supervised by
Congress; officials appointed by U.S. president
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America’s Empire of Color
 The Virgin Islands
 U.S. purchased Danish West Indies in 1917 for
their strategic and military importance
 Haiti
 African American ministers went to Haiti with
hopes of extending American influence
 Liberia
 American ministers sought to develop the
commercial and economic life of the country
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The Pattern of Violence
 Lynch Law
 Racial violence continued into the new century;
lynching an important part of punishment in
the U.S.
 Race Riots
 Epidemic of race riots swept the country
 The Atlanta Riot
 White newspapers intensified fear and hatred of
blacks; violence and rioting erupted
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Lynching
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The Pattern of Violence
 Brownsville Texas
 Riot involving some members of black TwentyFifth Regiment
 President Roosevelt dismissed entire battalion
 Roosevelt criticized for not giving members a full and
fair trial
 1909 act of Congress provided for a court of inquiry
 Violence in the North
 Hostility and violence toward blacks also grew in
the North
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The Pattern of Violence
 The Springfield Riot
 Black man falsely accused of beating and raping
a white woman
 Mob began to destroy African American
businesses; lynched African American man
 Militia was called in to restore order
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