Transcript Jim Crow

The image that prompted Abe
Meerepole, a teacher, to write the
lyrics to the song Strange Fruit.
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote
shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or by any State on account of race, color,
or previous condition of servitude. . . .”
— 15th Amendment, Section 1, United States
Constitution, 1870
Which actions did Southern States take to keep
African Americans from exercising the rights
guaranteed in the 15th amendment?
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or
(1) suspending
habeas corpus and denying
previous condition of servitude. . . .”
15th
Amendment,
women —
the
right
to voteSection 1, United States
(2) collecting poll Constitution,
taxes and1870
requiring literacy tests
Which actions did Southern States take to keep African Americans from
(3) establishing
religious and property holding
exercising the rights guaranteed in the 15th amendment?
requirements for voting
(4) passing Black Codes and establishing
segregated schools
“… we have
tasted the bitter
swill of civil war
and segregation,
…”
Jim Crow
The Plight of the Freedman After
Reconstruction
Reconstruction Ends
• Election of 1876/Compromise of 1877.
• White Supremacists controlled Southern
States.
• Whites took steps to limit the rights and
freedoms of blacks.
What is the obligation of the
nation to uplift those that have
been victims of past injustice?
Did Reconstruction meet these
obligations?
Voting restrictions:
• Poll Tax: a voter must own property and
pay a tax in order to vote.
• Literacy Tests: voters had to demonstrate
minimal standards of knowledge.
• Grandfather Clauses: Segregated blacks
from whites by allowing those whose
ancestors could vote to be exempted by
new laws.
Segregation
• Jim Crow Laws:
– Required the
separation of the
races (Schools,
parks,
transportation,
hotels, diners, etc.)
De Facto Discrimination
• Discrimination in
fact rather than
actual law.
• Was common in
the North where
there were fewer
Jim Crow Laws.
Plessy v. Ferguson
• 1896 US Supreme Court case which
legalized separate facilities for whites and
African-Americans.
• Separate facilities had to be equal:
“Separate but equal”
• Reality: Black facilities were always
unequal.
Lynching
• An illegal seizure and
execution of a
suspected criminal or
troublemaker.
• African-Americans were
often lynched without
reason.
• Thousands were killed.
"If it requires lynching to protect
woman's dearest possession
from ravening, drunken human
beasts, then I say lynch a
thousand negroes a week ... if it
is necessary."
Blacks had won elections in
Wilmington, NC and whites
reacted by launching a brutal
campaign which led to riots and
the death of over 20 Blacks
Anti-Lynching
• Ida B. Wells
• Made statements in
her newspaper about
white women seeking
black men
• Took on the challenge
of anti-lynching
165 Black soldiers stationed at Fort Brown in
Brownsville, Texas were discharged by President
Teddy Roosevelt for working in a conspiracy to
remain silent over being accused of firing shots, of
which one killed a white male.
Six of the discharged
soldiers were
recipients of the
Congressional Medal
of Honor.
"There has never
been a race riot in
Atlanta. The white
man and the negro
have lived together in
this city more
peacefully and in
better spirit than in
any other city, in
either the North or
South.
More than 25 blacks were
killed in the streets of
Atlanta after mobs
claimed blacks had raped
white women.
African-American Response
• Booker T. Washington:
– Founded the Tuskegee
Institute in Alabama.
– Emphasized education in trades
boost the economics of AfricanAmericans.
– Trades would help AfricanAmericans gain acceptance as
they filled occupations whites
needed but did not want to do.
– Spelled out his theories in his
1895 Atlanta Compromise
Speech.
Booker T. Washington
• Spelled out his theories in his 1895
Atlanta Compromise Speech.
• Believed that African-Americans had to
accommodate whites, rely on white aid for
education through which to gain racial
equality.
Niagara Movement
• Led by W.E.B. Du Bois.
"We claim for ourselves
• Denounced
political, civil, and
every single right that
public
discrimination.
belongs
to a freeborn
political, civil and
• DuAmerican,
Bois’
Souls of Black Folk
social; and until we get
(1903)
rejected
Washington’s
these rights
we will never
cease to protest and assailmessage
accommodationist
the ears of America. The
andbattle
argued
through
we wagethat
is notonly
for
ourselves alone
but forblack
all
education
would
leaders
true Americans. It is a fight
rise
up.
for ideals, lest this, our
commonshould
fatherland,define
false to
• Blacks
its founding, become in
themselves
not
truth the land of
the as
thief whites saw
and the
of the
slave in their
them
buthome
take
pride
African and American
heritages.
"The problem of the Twentieth Century is
the problem of the color-line.”
"It is a peculiar sensation, this doubleconsciousness, this sense of always
looking at one's self through the eyes of
others, of measuring one's soul by the
tape of a world that looks on in amused
contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness -- an American, a Negro; two souls,
two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings;
two warring ideals in one dark body,
whose dogged strength alone keeps it
from being torn asunder."
NAACP
"a powerful body of citizens to come to their aid."
• National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People, founded in 1909.
• An organization of African-Americans and
whites to support civil rights.
• Combined the educational goals of
Washington with the more immediate
vision for equality of Du Bois.
Exodusters
• To escape the violence and the discrimination in
the South, many African-Americans left.
• Some went North to find jobs in factories, but
thousands headed west to take advantage of
farming opportunities.
• Those who went west were known as
Exodusters, many ending up in Kansas.
Journal Entry
“Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can
scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the
rule of law and the rights of man, a charter
expanded by the blood of generations. Those
ideals still light the world, and we will not give
them up for expedience’s sake.”
As a historian looking to interpret our past, do you
think that these ideals were protected in the
period of 1865-1900?
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote
shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or by any State on account of race, color,
or previous condition of servitude. . . .”
— 15th Amendment, Section 1, United States
Constitution, 1870
Which actions did Southern States take to keep
African Americans from exercising the rights
guaranteed in the 15th amendment?
(1) suspending habeas corpus and denying
women the right to vote
(2) collecting poll taxes and requiring literacy
tests
(3) establishing religious and property
holding requirements for voting
(4) passing Black Codes and establishing
segregated schools