Topic 5 - American Cultures Flashcards
What were the harsh government policies after 1877?
- After the Great Sioux War, many Plains Indians nations were forced on to US government reservations.
- Indigenous nations were deliberately split up to prevent them fighting back.
- Government didn’t put a lot of money into reservations so supplies were far too low.
- Growth of railroads brought many hunters to the Plains to shoot and kill buffalo.
- 3 million buffalo were killed by 1883.
- The arrival of homesteaders, ranchers and big businesses on the Plains pushed many Plains Indians to starvation.
What were the attempts to destroy Plains culture on the reservations?
- Government took control of Native American courts and made Native Americans set up government structures like in the USA.
- Children who didn’t speak English at school were beaten.
- Many Native American children were educated in Christian boarding schools.
- Indigenous peoples were split up and sent to different reservations.
- Native Americans were encouraged to live in houses.
- Native Americans were forced to convert to Christianity.
- Native American children were made to choose English names.
- In history lessons, Native American children were taught how Plains Indians had attacked and killed innocent white settlers.
What were the ‘Friends of the Indian’?
A group called the Friends of the Indian was set up in 1883 to protect the rights of Native Americans.
What were the problems the Friends wanted to solve?
- Many government agents who ran reservations were corrupt.
- The Friends believed Native American children couldn’t integrate into the United States without formal education.
- Native Americans weren’t full citizens of the USA so they had no rights and couldn’t vote.
How did the Friends solve the problems?
- They reported corrupt agents and monitored how the money on reservations was spent.
- They set up schools to help Native American children learn English, so that they could access jobs in white America.
- They persuaded the government to pass the Dawes act in 1887. It gave each Native American family 160 acres and citizenship if they gave up their claim to their tribal lands.
What was the Ghost Dance and what did it do?
- During the 1890s, a new religious movement called the Ghost Dance movement sprang up on the reservations.
- The Ghost Dancers believed that if they danced and prayed, the white settlers would be swept off the land and the buffalo would return,.
- In 1890, government sent an army to stop the Ghost Dance movement.
- The Ghost Dancers were tracked down and the army opened fire, killing over 250 men, women and children.
- On 15 January 1891, over 4000 ghost dancers surrendered.
What were black Americans lives like in the South?
The cotton industry collapsed after the Civil War and black Americans were generally prevented from getting better paid jobs. The majority of black Americans in the South worked as sharecroppers on land owned by former slaveholders.
What were black Americans opportunities in the West?
The Homestead Act was open to black Americans. In 1877, Benjamin Singleton tried to encourage formerly enslaved people to move to Kansas and claim lan under the Homestead Act. By 1879, over 6000 black Americans had moved to Kansas. By 1880 this had doubled. They became known as exodusters.
What were black Americans challenges in the North?
Between 1877 and 1900, many black Americans left the South for Northern cities. Due to racism, black workers were much less likely to get a job than white workers, even if they were more qualified.
What was black Americans education like?
In 1882, Booker T Washington set up a school to train black children to be farmers, craftsmen and house servants. In 1900, Washington established the Negro Business League to support black businesses. By 1900 there were 23,866 black teachers, 417 black doctors and 300 black lawyers in the USA.
What were Jim Crow laws and what did they do?
- Land ownership among black Americans increased from 1877 to 1900.
- In cities most black Americans had to live in black-only areas.
- Jim Crow laws were introduced in the 1890s in many Southern states.
- They introduced segregation and covered everything from separate seating in trains and theatres to completely separate churches, parks and schools.
- Black churches became more important in the lives of ordinary black Americans and helped build a sense or identity and community.
- There was a growth in published output from black scholars and over 100 books were published by black authors between 1865 and 1893.
What were the Redeemers?
Many southern governments wee run by ex-slaveholders. They called themselves the Redeemer government’s. They tried to undo changes made after the Civil War and brought in literacy tests to stop black Americans from voting, introduced segregation laws and ignored violence against black Americans.
What were the Ku Klux Klan?
The KKK was a violent group who believed that black Americans were inferior to white Americans. The KKK was banned in the 1870s, but had re-formed secretly by the 1890s. The KKK had a lot of influence among people in power.
What were the Constitutional changes?
Black Americans continued to campaign for better treatment because the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments still existed and promised them equality. Whatever the South did it couldn’t enslave black Americans again or remove their right to vote altogether.
What was lynching?
Black Americans were kept in fear through lynching (hanging someone without a proper trial). In 1892 161 black Americans were lynched by white mobs, mainly in the South.
