It’s HUMP Day!
Get in your groups and finish your
campaign posters.
 Be ready to present in about 15
minutes.
 Remember, today is a short day so
we’ve got to work quickly.

Segregation in the South
Race Relations in PostReconstruction America
Reconstruction 18651877

Federal government actively supports African
American rights




Civil Rights Act of 1866-citizenship for African Americans
14th Amendment to the Constitution
Civil Rights Act of 1871 AKA Force Act
 “Ku Klux Klan” Act
 Dismantles KKK-wouldn’t reorganize until 1915
Civil Rights Act of 1875-makes segregation illegal
 No “whites only” signs or “no blacks need apply”
Post- Reconstruction
After 1877…


Establishment of Jim Crow laws
 Designed to prevent African American vote,
among other rights
 Segregation in public places
 Barred from sporting events (professional
baseball, Kentucky Derby, etc.)
Lynchings become tactic of terror
Sharecropping


For many African Americans, life in the postReconstruction South was not much better than
slavery.
Many freedmen were SHARECROPPERS –
farmers who “borrowed” land and were
technically free, but they were so far in debt to
their landowners that they could never leave.
Exodusters

Some African American farmers move to
Kansas in search of a better life. They became
known as Exodusters.
The Great Migration



African Americans tired of living in the
“Sharecropping South” will pick up their
families and move north to the Industrial
Cities.
This move will mainly be in search of better
economic opportunities.
They were also hoping for a life free of racism
but the North wasn’t free from prejudice
either.
Denying African Americans the
Right to Vote

3 ways that states got around the 15th
Amendment:



Poll Tax – Voters had to pay $2 to vote. You
would have to pay back taxes to vote in any
election.
Literacy test – Required prospective voters to read
and interpret a piece of the State Constitution.
Grandfather clause – You could vote only if your
grandfather could vote in 1865
Segregation and Jim Crow



Segregation – the separation of races in public
facilities.
Jim Crow laws – Laws that enforced
segregation.
(Named after a minstrel show character)
Segregation in the United
States
De Jure Segregation
•
Segregation imposed by
Law.
De facto Segregation
•
Private citizens enforcing
segregation practices within
their communities
Plessy v. Ferguson



1892 – A man named Homer Plessy buys a
ticket for a “whites-only” train car in
Louisiana.
When Plessy is told he cannot ride, he takes
the case to court, saying it violated the 14th
Amendment.
In 1896, the Supreme Court went against
Plessy, saying that Jim Crow laws were okay
as long as facilities were “SEPARATE BUT
EQUAL.”
Brown v Board of Education


In 1954, the Supreme Court over turned the
“Separate but Equal” ruling from Plessy v
Ferguson which had made segregation legal in
1896.
In Brown v Board of Education of Topeka
Kansas, the supreme court ruled that it was
illegal to have separate facilities based on race,
thus making segregation illegal.
The Constitution as a Living
Document



The Constitution is a living document because
it as society changes, we can reinterpret it
based on our new values.
How is the Brown v Board of Education ruling
an example of the Constitution as a “Living
Document?”
Can you think of any other examples of where
the Constitution is shown to be a living
document?
Lynchings



By the 1890s, LYNCHINGS were growing
increasingly common in the South.
LYNCHINGS are executions without proper
court proceedings.
African Americans attempt to respond to the
lynchings and Jim Crow laws in various ways.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett








Who?
Ida B. Wells
What?
Journalist that crusaded
against lynching in the
South
When?
1892
Where?
Memphis/ Holly Springs,
MS




How?
Used the newspaper to write
about evils of lynching and
made it a public issue
So What?
Brought the issue to light,
and helped reduce lynchings
in the beginnings of the
1900s.
Booker T. Washington








Who?
Booker T. Washington
What?
Educator/ African American
leader
When?
1895
Where?
The South




How?
Opened schools such as the
Tuskegee Institute, gave the
“Atlanta Compromise”
speech.
So What?
BTW said African
Americans should focus on
economic goals, not legal or
political ones. Said African
Americans should learn
trades instead of fighting for
civil rights
W. E. B. DuBois








Who?
DuBois
What?
Author, African American
leader
When?
1903
Where?
America




How?
Writes The Souls of Black
Folk
So What?
Disagreed with Washington.
Thought liberal arts
education was the key to
success. Believed that the
“talented tenth” should be
educated to be black leaders
of tomorrow.
Washington vs. DuBois





Washington wanted:
Job training
Postpone civil rights
Said blacks and whites
could be “separate as
fingers”
Thought if you could
change your economic
situation then you will be
free.





W. E. B. DuBois wanted:
Liberal arts education
Push for Civil Rights
The “talented tenth” to be
educated so they could be
leaders.
Thought Washington was
trying to appease whites
rather than challenge them.