Ch. 9 Civil War Flashcards
40 acres and a mule
General Sherman declared that free slaves should get 40 acres and a mule- he wanted to stop the poor blacks from following his army (not done out of morality), but blacks’ expectations were raised.
Union League
Many newly freed blacks joined the Union league, which was an important arm of the Republican party in the South. It gave them some political power at the end of the war.
Segregation
Separation of blacks from whites. Schools, churches, entertainment, housing, public facilities were segregated all throughout the South. Sometimes, though, blacks kept to themselves as a statement of community and identity.
Redeemer
Democrat whites who wanted to restore the South to white rule and supremacy.
Bourbons
Derogatory term for Southern democratic administrations who wanted to return to the old regime of slavery.
Populists
A political movement strong in the west, mid-west, and South in the last ⅓ of the 19th century. Drew support from struggling farmers who wanted to introduce more $ into the economy and regulate banks, railway companies, and big businesses. Populists tried to unite poor black and white farmers against the Bourbons.
Poll tax
Southern whites subverted the 15th amendment by forcing blacks to pay a poll tax. Those who did not pay or were not recorded as paying could not vote.
Mississippi V. Williams
Supreme Court case in 1898 that approved state laws designed to disenfranchise blacks. Henry Williams said that the Miss. voting laws were designed to disenfranchise blacks, violating 14th amendment, but the court ruled that the laws were not against blacks specifically.
Grandfather clause
Because literacy tests and poll taxes also prevented some poor whites from voting, Southern states adopted a grandfather clause that gave the right to vote to all male adults whose fathers or grandfathers had voted before 1867- effectively eliminating blacks while still allowing whites to vote.
Plessy v. Ferguson
Miss. and Louisiana made laws requiring passengers to occupy the car for their race on railway trains. When this law came about in Louisiana, Homer Plessy decided not to sit in the black car, but Supreme Court decided that segregation was fair as long as blacks and whites had equal facilities. Sole dissenter was John Marshall Harlan, former slaveholder, who that the ruling would stimulate aggressions upon blacks.
Cummings vs. Board of Education
Richmond County- Supreme Court extended “separate but equal” ideology to schools- the idea was not necessarily to endorse segregation bc the court was northern-dominated, but the northerners thought they could not do anything about it. Separate was better than nothing to them.
Jim Crow Laws
segregation laws passed in the South in the 1890s. Originally targeted railways and led to plessy v. ferguson. Actually gave legal sanction to practices that were already in place.
Lynching
Judging and putting people to death without the usual forms of law. Lynchings were invariably carried out by mobs of white people to strike fear into the black communities.
Booker T. Washington
Black leader Booker T. Washington accepted white view of blacks being 2nd class and determined that they would have to work slowly and steadily to prove their worth to whites thru education and hard work.
W.E.B. DeBois
Northern black leader who was critical of Booker T. Washington and argued forcefully in favor of blacks defying segregation and discrimination.
What are some examples of discrimination and continued slavery in the South at the end of the war?
Sharecropping recreated slavery conditions, black codes were designed to keep blacks at the bottom (required labor contracts, blacks were not allowed to buy land or get married, etc.), and segregation in churches, schools, housing, etc.
What was the significance of black churches in the South?
In 1865, almost total black withdrawal from white churches as blacks aimed for self-determination, and churches became a focal point of black life. Black institutions to parallel whites gave blacks opportunities to lead and manage. Churches were the first social institutions to be fully controlled by blacks.
How did the Supreme Court erode Reconstruction success?
In 1880s, no uniform pattern for segregation, but Supreme Court deprived blacks of guarantee of equal treatment by deciding in 1875 that the 14th amendment only protected rights of citizens when they were infringed upon by the action of a state, and ruled that the Civil Rights Act 1875 was unconstitutional. Also decided that segregation in schools, railroads, and voting was legal.
What division existed between northern and southern blacks in regards to leadership?
Southern blacks typically accepted Booker Washington’s view that they would have to live with segregation until they could work hard enough to prove themselves to whites, while Northern blacks opposed this and followed WEB DeBois, who argued for blacks to forcefully defy segregation/discrimination
What evidence is there that African Americans were better off after slavery?
Major improvement in living standards and mortality rates for blacks, black land ownership increased (by 1900, about ⅕ of black farmers owned their land), black businesses grew, particularly those catering to black customers (this was one of the few advantages of segregation), and the number of professional blacks grew.
Jim Crow laws vs. Black codes
Black codes came right after the war and were designed to recreate slavery conditions by requiring blacks to be employed, among other things. Jim Crow laws came later and were designed to marginalize/segregate blacks in education, voting, and jobs.
