Journal 1-21
1. What does “Separate but equal” mean?
2. How does this phrase apply to American history?
Topics/Events to Cover:
Unit Broken up into 6 chronological sections:
1. Slavery
2. Civil War
3. Reconstruction
4. Tension leading up to Civil Rights
5. Civil Rights
6. TODAY
End of Reconstruction
● Many Northerners lose interest in the cause because
it was costing a lot of money. Darwinism contributed
to this because it caused a paradigm shift in North
● Darwinism: If whites are naturally a superior race,
why are we fighting nature and spending all of this
money on a lost cause?
● 1876 Election and Bargain of 1877: Close race. The
republican candidate would be made president but in
turn, he would remove federal troops from the South.
Essential Question:
How did America proceed after Reconstruction?
Agenda:
1.Lecture on Post-Reconstruction laws
2.Literacy Test
3.Plessy vs. Ferguson
4.You be the judge!
5.The Verdict
Post-Reconstruction
14th Amendment: People of all races treated equal by law
● Many states got around this by segregating people
Segregation: Separating people by race
● Jim Crow Laws: Racial segregation laws enacted between
1876 and 1965.
● Those in support of these laws argued, “separate but
equal”
Post-Reconstruction
15th Amendment:
- Cannot restrict voting based on race.
The South got around this law…
1. Literacy Tests: Some states required blacks to take
timed “literacy tests” to vote that didn’t actually
test literacy at all.
2. Grandfather Clause: If your grandfather did not vote,
you cannot vote either.
3. Some states required a payment to vote, knowing that
many blacks did not have the money.
Literacy Test!
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You have TEN minutes!
You must complete the entire test.
ONE wrong answer is a failing grade.
If you leave a space blank, that is considered a
wrong answer.
GO!!!
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Background:
● In 1890, Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act,
requiring that there were separate railway cars for
blacks and whites.
● A man named Homer Plessy, who was in a group of
citizens that wanted to repeal this act, bought a
train ticket and boarded a “whites only” car of the
East Louisiana railroad on June 7, 1892.
● Plessy was asked to leave the car and get on a
“blacks only” car, but he refused.
● The railway company had been informed about Plessy
and they were ready with someone to arrest him.
Plessy vs. Ferguson
● In this case, Homer Plessy vs. The State of
Louisiana, Plessy’s lawyers argued that the railway
company denied Plessy’s 13th and 14th amendment
rights, which call for equal treatment under law.
● However, the judge presiding over his case, John
Howard Ferguson, decided that Louisiana had a right
to regulate their railway cars within state
boundaries.
● Plessy was convicted and sentenced a $25 fine.
● Plessy appealed this and it eventually went to the
Supreme Court as Plessy vs. Ferguson
● How do you think the Supreme Court ruled?
The Facts: Think-Pair-Share
1. Plessy’s lawyer argued that his conviction was a
violation of the 13th and 14th amendments.
2. 13th Amendment: Abolished slavery and involuntary
servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
3. 14th Amendment: People by all races must be treated
equal by law.
4. Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, making it
illegal to sit in the opposite race’s car.
5. Plessy sat in the “whites only” car, and was arrested
6. Segregation is legal because “separate but equal”
1. Does Plessy’s conviction violate the 13th and 14th
amendment? 2. What do you think happened?
Verdict:
● Plessy was found guilty
● This case set a precedent for many similar cases in
the future.
● It set the precedent that “separate” facilities for
blacks and whites were constitutional as long as they
were “equal.”
● The “separate but equal” doctrine was quickly
extended to cover many areas of public life, such as
restaurants, theaters, restrooms, and public schools.
● The doctrine was a cover. Facilities for blacks were
always inferior to those for whites.