How far did black civil rights fail to develop between 1877-1915?

Question 1

What was the situation with African American rights by the mid 1870s?

Answer 1

-many black sharecroppers->controlled by white landowners
-industrial employment was discouraged by whites fearing for their jobs
-Freedman’s Bureau closed in 1872->real fear of violence becomes evident
-contrast between de jure (in theory/law) and de facto (in reality/fact) rights became clear
-segregation was common but not formalised until later
-African Americans seen as a corrupting influence on white children

Question 2

When was the Slaughterhouse Case?

Answer 2

1873

Question 3

What was the Slaughterhouse Case of 1873?

Answer 3

-in judging a case concerning a meat monopoly, the federal Supreme Court decided that the rights of citizens should stay under state rather than federal control
-it ruled that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution protected a person’s individual rights but not his or her state civil rights, this is rights granted at the discretion of the civil government, the state

Question 4

What did the Slaughterhouse case establish?

Answer 4

-that state rights can overrule the federal (central) government rights and laws
-sets a precedent->a path to follow->future judgements or decisions have to align with it

Question 5

Why was this case significant for African American civil rights?

Answer 5

-it would be easier to adapt laws in different states->affected African Americans->would lead to more oppression

Question 6

Why had Reconstruction failed?

Answer 6

-weakness of Southern Republicans compared to Southern whites opposing equality for African Americans
-Northern apathy and increased racism due to immigration
-desire for reconciliation between North and South
-anti-government intervention feelings in the US generally->Congress did not defend the changes that it had made and Presidents did not fully support civil rights

Question 7

What was within the 15th Amendment?

Answer 7

-Understanding Clause
-Literacy Tests
-Poll Tax
-Grandfather Clause

Question 8

What was the Understanding Clause within the 15th Amendment?

Answer 8

-voters had to explain a part of the Constitution to the Registrar before they could vote
-difficulty of the passage would vary according to skin colour

Question 9

How would the Understanding Clause within the 15th Amendment have prevented African Americans from voting?

Answer 9

-this was a challenging legal document using complex and archaic language
-many black voters did not have a level of education to read or explain it

Question 10

Where did the Understanding Clause apply to?

Answer 10

Southern States

Question 11

What were the Literacy Tests within the 15th Amendment?

Answer 11

-voters had to take literacy tests
-many black schools were significantly under-funded

Question 12

How would the Literacy Tests within the 15th Amendment have prevented African Americans from voting?

Answer 12

-education for African Americans was limited so they wouldn’t be able to pass the tests ->challenging for them

Question 13

Where did the Literacy Tests apply to? When?

Answer 13

Mississippi 1890

Question 14

What was the Poll Tax within the 15th Amendment?

Answer 14

-voters had to pay $2 in poll tax to vote
-many black voters could not afford this

Question 15

How would the Poll Tax within the 15th Amendment have prevented African Americans from voting?

Answer 15

-many African Americans couldn’t afford this which would make it challenging for them to vote

Question 16

Where did the Poll Tax apply to? When?

Answer 16

Georgia 1877

Question 17

What was the Grandfather Clause within the 15th Amendment?

Answer 17

-if your grandfather had been able to vote before 1867 you did not have to take a literacy test, so illiterate whites could still vote

Question 18

How would the Grandfather Clause within the 15th Amendment have prevented African Americans from voting?

Answer 18

-many African Americans wouldn’t have had grandfathers living in the US or voting in this time which would make it challenging for them and the Grandfather Clause wouldn’t apply for many

Question 19

Where did the Grandfather Clause apply to? When?

Answer 19

Louisiana 1898

Question 20

What impact would the preventing of voting have on the African American progress?

Answer 20

-if they were unable to vote or there were limited people who were able to vote they wouldn’t be able vote in someone who could give them further rights->their rights would be prevented and limited with not much progress

Question 21

Why do we have to be careful about generalising when discussing black experiences of voting in this time period?

Answer 21

-different for everyone due to different states having different State Laws

Question 22

Who was George Henry White of North Carolina?

Answer 22

-the last black Congressman elected from the South in the 19th century was George Henry White of North Carolina, elected in 1896, re-elected in 1898
-his term expired in 1901->no black people served in Congress for the next 28 years, and none represented any Southern state for the next 72 years

Question 23

What percentage of eligible black people voted in South Carolina for the 1880 Presidential Election?

Answer 23

70%

Question 24

What percentage of eligible black people voted in South Carolina for the 1896 Presidential Election?

Answer 24

11%

Question 25

Why, despite amendments, were Civil Rights not received in practice?

Answer 25

-the 15th Amendment passed by the Federal Law granted that you can’t discriminate the right of people to vote based on their race etc
-however, State Law had the capacity to overall. For example the Grandfather Clause in Louisiana 1898
-this affected African American lives by restricting their right to vote

Question 26

What was Jim Crow?

Answer 26

-the minstrel show and the beginning of legalised segregation
-a name given to people of colour
-Southern states

Question 27

What were the Jim Crow Laws?

Answer 27

-series of state laws in the Southern and border states put into place between 1887 and 1891

Question 28

What did the Jim Crow Laws do?

Answer 28

-started with 8 southern states introducing formal segregation of races on trains, 3 extended this to waiting rooms->this re-enforced school segregation which was now common across the South

Question 29

When was segregation escalated more as a result of the Jim Crow Laws?

Answer 29

-after 1891 segregation was extended to cover public places of all kinds

Question 30

When were the Jim Crow Laws deemed constitutional? How?

Answer 30

-his was deemed constitutional in 1896 by the Supreme Court in a landmark case Plessy vs Ferguson with its ‘Separate but Equal‘ ruling

Question 31

When did the Jim Crow Laws end?

Answer 31

-school segregation was eventually deemed unlawful in 1954, all other Jim Crow Laws were finally disbanded following the Civil Rights Act of 1964