Segregation

1. Segregation

2. Jim Crow Laws • Designed to keep blacks from exercising their rights under the 14th and 15th Amendments • Literacy tests: had to prove you could read and comprehend in order to vote • Poll taxes: had to pay a fee to vote • Grandfather clauses: anyone whose ancestor had voted in past elections was exempt from literacy tests or poll taxes • Other Jim Crow laws would enforce segregation in all public facilities

3. The Ku Klux Klan • Founded in the 1860s • Used violence to prevent blacks from voting and to intimidate them from seeking legal help • In worst cases, resorted to lynching – mob violence involving torture, mutilation, and hanging • Reached peak strength in 1920s, but still exists

4. Benjamin “Pap” Singleton • 1809 – 1892 • Escaped slave • Believed that blacks would never be treated as equals in the South, promoted idea of black separatism • Started the Exoduster movement • Late in life, tried unsuccessfully to get US government to create a special “black state” in Oklahoma

5. The Exodusters • As Reconstruction ended in the late 1870s, many blacks left the South to seek a better life in Kansas and other Plains states • About 50,000 left the South in 1879 & 1880 alone • Migration continued well into the 1900s

6. WilmingtonRace Riot • November 10, 1898 • Democratic Party members and white supremacists illegally burned the offices of the black newspaper the Daily Record and overthrew the Republican municipal government of Wilmington, NC, many of whom were black • An unknown number of blacks were killed in the violence that followed (est. of 6 to over 100) • NC Gov. Russell and US Pres. McKinley took no action against those responsible

7. “De jure” Segregation • Segregation under the law or legal segregation • Many Southern states passed laws banning blacks and whites from mixing in public spaces such as restaurants, schools, hospitals, theaters, restrooms, etc.

8. “De facto” Segregation • Segregation “in fact” • Not required by law, but rather due to social norms • For example, many churches and neighborhoods remain segregated today due to de facto segregation – by the choice of the people

9. Plessy v. Ferguson • 1896 • Homer Plessy (who was 1/8th black) was arrested in Louisiana for sitting in a whites-only car on a train • Plessy sued, saying the Louisiana law was unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court ruled that so long as facilities were supplied to both blacks and whites that were “separate but equal” then de jure segregation was legal • Only 1 Justice dissented with the ruling!

10. Booker T. Washington • 1856 – 1915 • Launched the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama • Encouraged blacks to achieve economic freedom by learning a blue-collar trade • Believed that racial equality would have to be earned over generations, would not come overnight • Received great attention for his Atlanta Address of 1895 in which he explained these philosophies to a mostly white audience

11. W.E.B. Du Bois • 1868 – 1963 • Strongly opposed Booker T. Washington’s ideas, referred to his famous speech as the Atlanta Compromise • Argued that blacks should strive to achieve jobs in management and professional fields and be strongly politically active to safeguard their legal rights • Refused to accept segregation as a social norm, also refused to wait for social equality • Later emigrated to Africa

12. Niagara Movement • Founded in 1905 • Civil rights movement which sought a “mighty current” of change • Called for an end to segregation and open opposition in the black community to beliefs like Booker T. Washington’s

13. Ida Wells-Barnett • 1862 – 1931 • Rose to fame after refusing to give up her seat on a train • Became an outspoken writer and newspaper editor who focused on racial relations, lynchings, and women’s suffrage

14. The NAACP • Founded in 1909 “to promote equality of rights and to eradicate caste or race prejudice among the citizens of the United States; to advance the interest of colored citizens; to secure for them impartial suffrage; and to increase their opportunities for securing justice in the courts, education for the children, employment according to their ability and complete equality before law.” • Founders included Du Bois & Ida Wells; replaced the Niagara Movement as the premiere civil rights organization in the US • NOT a “blacks only” organization – has historically had as many Jewish members as black!

15. Marcus Garvey • 1887 – 1940 • Jamaican born newspaper editor and activist • Endorsed his “Back to Africa” movement - the idea that most people of African descent should return to Africa and all Europeans should leave Africa • Once met with the leader of the KKK, arguing that they should work together since they wanted the same thing! • Created a sense of “black pride” in African cultural heritage for many African-Americans • Convicted of mail fraud and deported in 1927 • Considered a prophet in the religion of Rastafarianism

16. The Great Migration • Between 1910 and 1930, about 2 million blacks left the South in an effort to escape racism and to find good industrial jobs in Northern and Midwestern cities • This migration continued into the 1970s, but has since reversed – today, many blacks are leaving the North and moving south

18. Native American Suffrage Act • Also called the Snyder Act of 1924 or Indian Citizenship Act • Gave US citizenship to all Native Americans WITHOUT requiring them to surrender their tribal affiliations • Act was pushed through by whites – Indians had learned enough not to trust the federal government’s promises!