Gilded Age 1875-1915 Flashcards
What percent of land was still subject to sharecropping throughout the gilded age?
75%
What types of crops would white land owners force African American workers to farm and why?
- Labour intensive crops e.g. cotton
- Cotton bolls ripened at different times, meaning machine harvesting would be too indiscriminate
- It was efficient to have cheap labourers farming labour intensive crops
What % of Black farmland was not used for cotton or corn?
3.7%
What % of White farmland was not used for cotton or corn?
10.1%
What is the term used to describe the variety of crops planted?
Diversification
What its the name of the insect that attacks the cotton crop?
Boll Weevil
When did the Boll Weevil arrive in the US and where did it spread?
- 1892
- From Mexico, into Texas, and across the Southern States
What was the change in area of land owned by African Americans between 1875 and 1910?
3 million hectares to 15 million hectares
What % of African Americans owned their own land?
25%
What % of African Americans still lived in the South in 1900?
Almost 90%
Why were White employers prejudiced in their hiring of African Americans into industry?
- To avoid the perceived tension between black and white workers
- A fanaticism in preventing black men from working in proximity to white women
What were parallel businesses?
Businesses set up by African Americans to service black communities (e.g. hairdressers, restaurants) that were otherwise left without services due to segregation.
How could it be said that a black middle class was forming?
African Americans found jobs like ministers, lawyers, and other well paying professions.
What evidence is there to suggest that black literacy rates were rising?
Black newspaper editors, reporters, and readers.
How did increasing literacy rates aid African American progression in the long term?
It laid the foundations for civil rights activity led by educated leaders.
List 4 conditions African Americans faced in the North
- Lack of employment opportunities
- Confinement to specific areas (Ghettos - poor quality but pricey housing)
- Low level of education
- Being barred from trade unions
What was the type of segregation did black people faced in the North?
De Facto - in actuality/reality
What social benefits arose throughout the gilded age?
A strong black culture developed.
Between what years did southern states introduce segregation on trains?
1887-1891
How many states introduced segregation on trains?
- 8 Southern States (3 of which extended the segregation to waiting rooms)
Name 7 things that were segregated by Jim Crows Laws following 1891
- Parks
- Shops
- Playgrounds
- Cemeteries
- Public Facilities (swimming pools)
- Places of Entertainment (theatres and cinemas)
- Professional Sports
What is Social Darwinism?
The belief that people become more powerful in society because they are innately better
What did Social Darwinism justify?
The white working class’s intense emotional feelings of superiority over black people
When was the Plessy V Furguson Case?
1896
What did the Plessy V Ferguson case determine?
Segregation of carriages on trains was constitutional (so long as it was equal), and set the legal precedent for all segregation.
Name 5 additional voting requirements implemented by Southern States in an attempt to remove black voting rights
- Poll Tax
- Property Requirements
- Literacy Tests
- Grandfather Clauses
- Residency Requirements
Name 2 property requirements people in Southern States had to fulfill in order to vote.
- $300 worth of land
- 400 acres of land
Although there was not immediate change, when was African American voting in the South all but outlawed?
1910
What did the Mississippi V. Williams case determine?
The Mississippi poll tax and similar devices were considered constitutional, undermining black voting rights
When was the Mississippi V. Williams Court Case?
1898
Name 3 African American Leaders
- Booker T. Washington
- WEB Dubois
- Ida B. Wells
What did Booker T. Washington stand for?
- African Americans should simply make peace with the establishment and work with the south
- “In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to progress”
What did W.E.B. Dubois stand for?
- Direct confrontation with the South was necessary to achieve true equality and civil rights
- Believed the “talented tenth” of African Americas would raise the race up with them
What organisations did W.E.B. Dubois found?
- The Niagara Movemement
- The NAACP (National Association of the Advancement of Coloured People)
What was the Springfield Riot?
Violent attacks on the African American community, after the authorities refused to hand over a black man who allegedly raped a white woman
When was the Springfield Riot?
1908
What did the Springfield riot trigger?
The formation of the NAACP
What did the Guinn V. US case determine?
The Grandfather clauses in Maryland and Oklahoma were deemed unconstitutional in a court case backed by the NAACP
Over what time period did Lynchings occur?
1877-1950
What are Lynchings?
When white mobs would beat and torture an African American before murdering them, usually by hanging.
What justifications did white people use for lynchings?
The victims were often accused of committing a serious crime like raping a white woman, which was considered an action so vile, that it could not wait for courts. Many of these allegations were proved false by Ida B. Well’s journey across the South.
What party was President Grover Cleveland in?
Democrats
What was Grover Cleveland’s stance towards the mistreatment of African Americans? (2)
- He affirmed the rights of all Americans regardless of colour
- However, he favoured protecting state’s rights and allowed them to pursue whatever policies they individually wanted to implement
What party was Theodore Roosevelt in?
Republican
What was Theodore Roosevelt’s stance towards the mistreatment of African Americans?
- He met with Booker T. Washington
- However, he did not really address the question of black civil rights
What party was President William Howard Taft in?
Republican
What was William Howard Taft’s stance towards the mistreatment of African Americans?
- Met with Booker T. Washington
- However, took little interest in black civil rights, regarding it as a question of state’s rights
What party was President Woodrow Wilson in?
Democrat
What did Widrow Wilson do in regard to the issue of segregation?
- He segregated government agencies
- He appointed segregationist southerners
- He dismissed all black advisors in the federal government
- He refused to associate with black leaders
