Segregation of the Late 1800s

1. Segregation of the Late 1800s DW 31

2. 1. Segregation • After Reconstruction, Southern states began passing laws that eroded the rights of African Americans

3. 2. Poverty • Many African Americans in the South lived in poverty. • Most were sharecroppers, landless farmers who gave their landlords a large portion of crops as rent. • Most sharecroppers were left in debt.

4. 3. Exodusters • During the 1870s it became apparent for many African Americans that living in the South was no longer an option. • In 1879, 6000 African Americans left the rural South and went West to Kansas. • One paper compared this movement to the Exodus of Hebrews from Egypt.

6. An Eyewitness Account • “One morning in April, 1879, a Missouri steamboat arrived at Wyandotte, Kansas, and discharged a load of negro men, women and children, with… barrels, boxes, and bundles of household effects…[T]heir garments were incredibly patched and tattered… and there was not probably a dollar in money in the pockets of the entire party….They looked like persons coming out of a dream. And, indeed, such they were….for this was the advance guard of the Exodus.”

7. 4. Colored Farmers’ National Alliance • Modeled after the Farmers’ Alliance • Populist Party recruited African American farmers • Democrats became worried that the poor white and African farmers could become unbeatable, which led to acts of racism. • Warned whites that blacks would take over

8. 5. Acts of Segregation No person shall be denied the right to vote on the basis of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” • The 15th Amendment did not bar states from denying the right to vote for other reasons. • Poll Tax: Citizens registering to vote had to pay $2. • Literacy Test: required voters to read and understand the state constitution. • Grandfather Clause: allowed any person to vote if he had an ancestor who could vote in 1867.

9. Jim Crow Laws: laws passed in the South that enforced discrimination. • “No state” could deny citizens equal protection. This excluded private organizations, i.e. hotels, theaters, and RR. • Plessyv. Ferguson: “Separate but Equal” • Lynchings: hangings without proper court proceedings.

12. 6. Secret Societies • Ku Klux Klan, Knights of the White Camelia, Constitutional Union Guards, Pale Faces, White Brotherhood, & Council of Safety • Tactics used: Intimidation, force, ostracism, bribery, arson, & murder

13. Factors Contributing to Discrimination