AFRICAN AMERICANS IN
THE PROGRESSIVE ERA
Discrimination and Racism
Segregation (2 types)
De Jure Segregation

Segregation enforced
by laws
 enforced
in the South
under Jim Crow Laws

Becomes a reality for
the nation with Plessy
vs. Ferguson
De Facto Segregation

Segregation based on
unwritten laws like
custom and tradition
Plessy vs. Ferguson, 1896

Homer Plessy was 1/8 African American and
bought a white train ticket in Jim Crow
segregated Louisiana…denied seat
 Case goes to the US Supreme Court
 Court’s decision
 uphold
and strengthen Jim Crow segregation
 “Separate
 Is
but equal” is fair
separate ever equal?...Justice Harlan did not think so, only
Justice that went against the 8-1 decision (Harlan Dissent)
 Sets up de jure segregation
African American Reformers
Booker T. Washington VS. W.E.B. Du Bois

Urged for AA to be patient
while waiting for equality
(“Atlanta Compromise
Speech”)



Eventually AA would gain white
respect
“Cast down your bucket” with
the people who share the same
aspirations
Be economically independent


Become craftsmen and learn a
skill
Setup Tuskegee Institute for
vocational education



Urged AA to demand their
rights immediately or else
fall victim to permanent
racism
Promoted an academic
education not skill/trade
based
Called Washington’s speech
the Atlanta Compromise
since he “gave in”
Other Reformers

Ida B. Wells Barnett
Wrote
about the
horrors of lynching
(execution, usually by
hanging, without a
trial) in the South
Helped form the
NAACP
Progressive Reforms for AA

Niagara Movement:
 Against
the idea of
gradual progress
 Disagreed with
Booker T. Washington
 Wanted full voting
rights for AA
NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People:
4 front campaign:
 Socially free from insult
 Mentally free from ignorance
 Physically free from low wage labor
 Politically free from
disenfranchisement
The Crisis was the official magazine of the
NAACP
Founded by Du Bois



Disenfranchisement


Taking away the right of AA to vote
because there were loopholes in the 15th
Amendment
4 strategies
 Through intimidation, KKK
 Through laws:
 Grandfather
Clause: AA could vote if his
ancestors had voted in 1866…15th
Amendment not passed until 1870
 Poll Tax: AA must pay a tax to vote, AA
can’t afford it
 Literacy Tests: AA had been denied an
education so they can’t pass the test
Wilmington Race Riot, 1898

Wilmington is a progressive town






Whites maintain an upper class elite
Election of 1898


Democrats try to oust (Black) Republican/Populist majority
Day after election




AA outnumber whites
AA lawyers, businessmen, and entrepreneurs
able to manage own affairs and buy homes in city
many participated in local government holding positions
group of rioters are led to AA newspaper
break and burn down building and press
Gun fire erupts across Wilmington, 1000s die
AA leadership is banished from Wilmington
Migration


AA leave the South to
go North (Land of
Hope)
Looking to:
 Leave
racism behind
 Find jobs
 Better life in general