America: Civil Rights Background Flashcards
Slavery in the USA
From the founding of the USA IN 1776, till 1865, slavery was legal-several parts of the constitution made it so
Southern plantation owners had considerable political power and defended their legal right to won slaves
How many slaves were owned by southern cotton farmers by 1860?
4 million
What did the issue of slavery cause in the USA?
Civil war 1861-65
750’000 died
The north eventually won, and reunited the country, they banned slavery under the 13th amendment in1865
14th amendment and 15th Amendment
14th: gave slaves American citizenship
15th: gave them the right to vote
The south followed the 13th but ignored the 14th/15th for the next 100 years
African American rights in the 1890s
There were a growing number of white people who wanted to keep black people ‘in place’
This lead to southern states introducing legal segregation known as Jim Crow laws- which created seperate spaces for races and resulted in a surge in racial violence between 1890-1920
How did southern states block African Americans from voting despite the 15th amendment?
Disenfranchisement
What state lead disenfranchisement?
Mississippi
Requirements for voting in Mississippi
Residence requirement : had to have lived in state for 2 years- targets AA farmers who moved
Voters disqualifies if convicted of certain crimes
All taxes had to be paid
Had to be literate
Some white people were disqualified from voting because of the requirements under disenfranchisement. What was the way round this?
An ‘understanding clause’
The voter could qualify if they could understand the constitution even if they couldn’t read it
This had to be to the satisfaction of officials,so few blacks were declared eligible as a result
Which states followed Mississippi voting requirements?
South Carolina
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Georgia
North Carolina
Virginia
Alabama
Voting requirements in South Carolina in 1895
Owning property valued $3oo dollars would qualify an illiterate voter
E.g. whites who owned small amounts of land
Voting requirements in Louisiana in 1898
The ‘grandfather clause’ allowed illiterates to vote if fathers/grandfathers had been eligible to vote on the 1st Jan 1867
This excluded black people
Which states adopted the grandfather clause by 1910?
Oklahoma,Georgia,North Carolina,Virginia and Alabama
Show the effectiveness of disenfranchisement in Louisiana
1896: 130’000 black voters registered
1900: 5’320
Show the effectiveness of disenfranchisement in Alabama
In 1900, there were 121’159 literate black men over 21
Only 3’742 were registered to vote
Explain the spread of segregation
Despite the end of slavery at the end of the civil war,southern states gradually enacted more and more jimcrow laws, that extended into education,transport,healthcare
Blacks always had inferior condiments
There were a lot of unspoken rules of Jim Crow segregation- it was a state of mind
What law did Louisiana have that is relevant to the arrest of Homer please?
Black and white Americans had to be separated when riding a train - carriages for African Americans not as clean
What did Homer Plessy do?
He decided to fight racial segregation with the support of the citizens committee of New Orleans
He was arrested in 1892 for sitting in a white carriage and refusing to move (he was only 1/8th black)
What did Homer Plessy argue in court?
He argued that the Louisiana law violated the constitution
He took the case to the Supreme Court because he believed he was arrested illegally
Ruling of Plessy vs Ferguson
Segregation was legal as long as black and white citizens had access to facilites that were equally good
Consequences of the ruling of Plessy vs Ferguson
People believed it was right to require seperate facilities-supreme court had basically ruled segregation legal
Jim Crow began to spread rapidly across the south
Principal of racial segregation extended because whiles believed segregation was beneficial to both races
How any lynchings were averaged each year between 1890 and 1899?
188 per year
82% of them were in the south
Average lynchings per year 1900-1909
93 per year
92% occurred in the south
Give 2 examples, other than lynching, of increasing black violence in the early 20th century?
1892, Benjamin Tillman (South Carolina senator) declared blacks ‘must remain subordinate or be exterminated”
The KKK was revived in 1915
