USA ( ESSAY 2 ) Flashcards
Introduction US Essay 2
In 1865 The American Civil war ended, with the union states victorious the 13th amendment was passed and slavery was abolished.
In 1870, the 15th amendment was ratified and African American men were supposed to get the vote.
Paragraph 1 - KKK (Knowledge)
Between 1918 and 1927, 416 blacks were killed -mostly in the south- of the tens of thousands of onlookers and lynchers only 4 have seen legal repercussions.
By the 1920’s, scandals discredited the KKK. In Alabama, where they had been most powerful they numbered less than 6,000 but stayed strong in local groups.
Paragraph 1 - KKK AA+E
A - Dues to the KKK’s widespread influence, over Judge’s and Police Officers they were not prosecuted for their actions.
A + - Klan no longer held such a widespread Influence across the country, state laws in the south would have been KKK influenced however SCOTUS decisions, would have been widespread prejudice.
E - KKK depended on a Local Anarchic Autonomy, simply put, they could do whatever they pleased because no one could force the southern states to do anything, which is true under the tenth amendment to the constitution.
Paragraph 2 - Legal Impediments Knowledge
In 1892, Homer Plessy was thrown out of a whites-only railway carriage in Louisiana. He Brought his case to the Supreme Court, where he lost in 1896, This was a significant judgement because it affirmed the legality of Racial Segregation under the ‘Separate but Equal’ Concept.
Jim Crow laws were another kind of legal racial segregation: In Alabama, for example no white female nurse was allowed to work in wards with negro males.
However, The Jim Crow laws which prevented Black Americans from living a normal life in the south didn’t exist as much in the North.
Paragraph 2 - legal impediments AA+E
A - Due to the ‘Separate But equal’ premise dividing Black and White people legally in every aspect of life, not just their social life’s.
A+ - The fact that the Jim Crow laws didn’t severely impact life in the Northern States proved that it was state law that enforced racial segregation suggesting prejudice was more important than legal impediments.
E - Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States during World War 1 states ‘segregation is not humiliating but a benefit & ought to be so regarded by you [Black] gentlemen’ reinforces the fact that many, including those in power, weren’t sympathetic toward Black people.
Paragraph 3 - Popular Prejudice in the North
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the USA said ‘a perfectly stupid race, (blacks) can never rise to a very high plane’.
After WW1 millions of African Americans moved from the south to the north to cities like Boston ,Chicago and New York where they found employment. Black migrants were seen as a threat to a white man’s job security.
Race Riots erupted in the north after ww1 as Black soldiers returned from France & were not willing to put up with being treated badly.
Paragraph 3 - Popular prejudice in the North. AA+
A - Poor, white Americans targeted Blacks as the source of their own economic and Social problems which meant a large portion of the American population held these prejudices.
A + - Sheer fact that race riots occurred in the North proved that Blacks people were much stronger in the north than in the south, a possible cause for less strength in the south is KKK, suggesting that the KKK was more important than popular prejudice in the north.
Paragraph 4 - Lack of Political Influence K
In the 1898 supreme court case of Mississippi Vs Williams, SCOTUS ruled that there was no discrimination in the states voting laws, because, even though the laws made discrimination possible, the laws themselves didn’t discriminate against African Americans.
Paragraph 4 - Lack of Political Influence AE
A - Even though there were laws placed against a certain group of people, In America, if SCOTUS rules something unconstitutional the law must be altered, suggesting that prejudice held by SCOTUS justices was more important than lack of political Influence.
E - Lack of political influence led to many racist state laws being passed like the Jim Crow Laws, these laws and the ‘Separate but equal’ decision made by SCOTUS were directly responsible for the Great Migration and the resulting race riots. Lack of political influence led to popular prejudice in the North.
Conclusion Links ( US 2)
Legal Impediments - Questionable court decisions led to life for black people being harder
KKK - not as important as legal impediments cause many bills were brought forth that would make some actions of the KKK Illegal e.g. the Dyer-Anti Lynching Bill, but many of these were defeated in the senate by southern democrats, allowing the KKK to continue as they had been.
prejudice many northern whites held was due to economic fears rather than prejudice, Jim crow laws didn’t exist in north making African Americans in the northern states have more liberty than their southern counterparts
