The position of African American 1890-1912 Flashcards
The Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896
• What happened?
Plessy refused to leave a ‘white’ carriage.
The Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896
• Supreme Court judgement
7 out of 8 Supreme Court judges ruled that segregation was legal because ‘separate but equal facilities’ were sufficient to be within the law.
Cumming v. Board of Education in 1899
• Significance upon civil rights
The separate but equal ruling was extended to schools, which in practice meant under-funded, poor quality schools for African Americans were allowed to continue.
Overview of lynching during the period 1880-1910
The period 1880-1910 saw the height of the lynching campaign against African Americas with an average of one hundred each year.
Voting rights by 1910
Very few African Americans were able to vote in the South. Therefore few of them became political leaders at local, state or national level.
Example in which AA were barred from voting
• Mississippi 1890
In 1890, Mississippi introduced a literacy test in order to register to vote, which effectively excluded many illiterate African Americans.
What did Booker T. Washington believe?
If white Americans could regard African Americans as potential economic partners rather than a threat to their political control, the race question would be resolved.
What did Booker T. Washington suggest that AA should focus on?
Education and economic progress rather than trying to remove segregation and discrimination and achieving voting rights.
Criticism of Booker T. Washington
Name three examples
1) He accept the idea of white supremacy
2) Made no attempt to challenge the second-class social position of AA
3) Underestimated the importance of the vote for improving the position of AA
The position of African Americans in 1912
• Politically
The active political role at lower levels of government that some African Americans had gained in the Souther during Reconstruction had disappeared.
The position of African Americans in 1912
• Example in policits
There were no African Americans in Congress and state legislatures.
The position of African Americans in 1912
•Voting rights
Voting rights had been systematically removed in the South by a series of states laws, meaning it was extremely difficult to challenge white political domination in the South.
Washington’s achievement
• Being a role model
He provided a role model for African Americans because of the way he progressed from slave to college principal, along with his strict standards of behaviour and self-discipline.
Washington’s achievement
• Valuable contacts
He developed valuable contacts for African Americans within the white-dominated political world of the USA
Washington’s achievement
• Roosevelt
Roosevelt frequently consulted Washington on African-American issues and invited him to tea at the White House.
