1877-1910 - Gilded age Flashcards
when was Plessy v Ferguson and what was the impact?
- 1896
- political
- The supreme court upheld ‘separate but equal’ segregation, legitimising racial discrimination in the south
- Segregated schools, transportation and public facilities
what was the Mississippi v Williams case?
- 1898
- allowed Mississippi to prevent AA from voting
- Endorsed voter suppression tactics like literacy tests and poll taxes.
How were voting rights restricted for AA?
- political
- Southern States used literacy tests, poll taxes and grandfather clauses to prevent AA from voting
- Racial violence
What evidence showed the voter suppression from Southern States
- Louisiana
- Black voter registration dropped from 130,000 in 1896 to 1,300 in 1904
- Due to literacy tests, poll tax and grandfather clauses
Why did AA voters feel powerless by 1895?
- hindered by voting restrictions
- unable to vote in Southern states and some northern
Which congressman retired and when, leaving no AA representation?
- 1901
- George H White retired
- no congressional representation
What statistic shows the unfairness of Segregation?
- Public school funding in South Carolina 1900: White school received $14 per student
- Black schools received $1.50 per pupil
How did the Southern Democrats maintain supremacy during the period?
- Jim Crow Laws: segregation of facilities, prohibited interracial marriage, prevented AA from owning property
- Voting restrictions
- racial violence
What did Woodrow Wilson do in the white house?
- 1912
- segregated government departments
- dismissed all black advisors
How did U.S. presidents fail AA during the Gilded age?
- Rutherford B Hayes 1877: Ended reconstruction, removed federal troops
- Grover Cleveland (1885 - 1889, 1893-1897): did not challenge Jim Crow Laws or voting restrictions
- Woodrow Wilson (1912): Segregated federal government, dismissed Black advisors
Lynching statistic from 1889 - 1918
- 2558 AA men were lynched
What was the average death rate of AA by 1890’s?
one every two days
What % of Southern African American’s in 1900 were sharecroppers?
- 75%
- often trapped in cycles of debt
How many black owned businesses were there in 1915
- 30,000
How many AA professionals were there by 1900?
- economic
- 47,000 AA professionals including doctors, lawyers, teachers and artists
- This was out of 8 million though
By how much had the literacy rate increased by 1895?
- social
- In 1865 only 1 in 20 AA could read
- In 1895 1 in 2 AA could read
What was the impact of Booker T Washington’s Tuskegee Institute?
- During 1900 over 1,500 AA teachers were trained annually
- massively improved African American education and economic opportunities
By 1910 how many African Americans had migrated to the North and why?
- 500,000
- escape segregation and find jobs
What evidence shows the impact of migration to Northern states?
- Chicago
- increase from 4,000 in 1870
- 40,000 in 1910
What was W.E.B Du Bois approach to civil rights
- social,political
- co-founder of the NAACP
- rejected Booker T’s approach to gradual progression
- Demanded immediate civil rights
- advocated for the ‘Talented Tenth’, a group of educated AA who would lead the fight
Overall benefits during the gilded age for AA
- AA had higher literacy rates
- 30,000 black owned businesses
- 47,000 AA professionals
- Some AA moved north and got jobs.
- Tuskegee institute provided training and economic opportunities
Overall negatives for AA during the gilded age
- By 1915 no AA representation in congress
- Plessy v Ferguson allowed segregation
- Presidents didn’t help due to fear of losing support by southern states
- 2558 lynching’s with little punishment due to all white juries
