Segregation and Discrimination

1. Segregation and Discrimination

2. African Americans Fight Legal Discrimination African Americans saw hostile and even violent opposition to their new political freedom during reconstruction. By 1900, Southern states had developed legal policies to discriminate against and weaken African American power.

3. Voting Restriction • Literacy Tests • Poll Tax • Grandfather Clause

4. Jim Crow Laws • Laws enacted by southern states and local governments to separate white and black people in public and private facilities. • These were put into effect in: • Schools • Hospitals • Parks • Transportation Systems, etc.

5. Plessy v. Ferguson An 1896 Supreme Court case that ruled that the separation of races in public accommodations was legal and did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. Thus, establishing the doctrine of “separate but equal”

6. Violence African Americans (and others who did not follow the racial etiquette) faced severe punishment or death. Blacks were often lynched Between 1882 and 1892 more than 1400 Black men and women were shot, burned, or hanged without trial.

7. Discrimination in the North • Many Blacks sought refuge in the Northern states • Their situation hardly changed: • They saw themselves in segregated neighborhoods, low-paying jobs, and discrimination at work and with unions • Violence would erupt between Blacks and working-class whites • New York City race riot 1900

8. Group Discussion Topic What examples of segregation and discrimination do you see today? Who is affected? What are the similarities/dissimilarities to the segregation and discrimination seen at the turn of the 20th century?

9. Examples of Today’s Discrimination Title IX Title VII Arizona Immigration Law Affirmative Action