The Rise of Jim Crow To recap: For a brief period after the Civil - TopicsExpress

The Rise of Jim Crow To recap: For a brief period after the Civil War African-Americans really did enjoy a taste of the rights promised them under the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, and under federal laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1875. (This period was known as Radical Reconstruction.) The period of Radical Reconstruction refers to the time in southern history after the conclusion of the Civil War (1865), but before southern Democrats discontinued social and political reforms and began a broad program of systematic repression of African-American southerners (roughly 1875). The Civil Rights Act of 1875 guaranteed the “full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theatres, and other places of public amusement … applicable alike to citizens of every race and color, regardless of any previous condition of servitude.” The U.S. Supreme Court later declared the Act unconstitutional. Congress would remain silent on the question of civil rights for the better part of a century. The Jim Crow period can be traced to the result of the bitterly disputed presidential election of 1876. After months of chaos, the outcome of the 1876 presidential election was finally determined in early 1877, thanks to the back-room deal that secured the White House for Rutherford B. Hayes and effectively ended Radical Reconstruction. Thanks to works of fiction like Gone with the Wind, only one sides version of what happened during the period of Radical Reconstruction has really captured the popular imagination: the side that focuses on things like notorious, opportunistic Northern politicians and high taxes on Tara. What was airbrushed over in Scarletts story? A couple of minor details, including the first free exercise of the right to vote by African-Americans in the United States, the establishment of a state-supported free school system, and the repeal of racially discriminatory state laws. White southerners wouldnt stand for any of this. When it became clear that they couldnt win elections by making (implausible) promises to African-American voters, they began a campaign of abuse and intimidation of African-Americans that included, among other developments, the founding of the terrorist Ku Klux Klan group. Customs and Traditions—of Terror After the end of the era of Radical Reconstruction in 1877 came a long period of northern tolerance for overt discrimination and violence against African-Americans, typically couched in language of respect for (white) southern customs. It was in this period of national acquiescence to racist “traditions” that African-Americans first encountered a new set of formal rules and regulations designed to perpetuate white supremacy. For the laws of the Jim Crow era to function, the vast majority of white Americans, North and South, had to go along with them. They had to make a conscious choice to accept legally sanctioned racial prejudice, blatant electoral abuses, and the clear, deadly signals the laws sent that virtually any abuse of African-Americans would probably go unpunished. White America went along for the ride. In one way or another, of course, it had been doing so for years. Jim Crow Cars Among the earliest pieces of Jim Crow legislation were those regulating enforcing the segregation of railway facilities. Public segregation of transport facilities was a fact of life in the South by the turn of the century, and a good many states outside of the South adopted equally discriminatory measures. On the March Before Rosa Parks, there was Homer Plessy, a Louisiana carpenter. As part of an intentional constitutional challenge against Louisiana segregation law, Plessy stepped onto a train on the seventh of June 1892, and took a seat in the whites-only car. He declined to give up his seat and was placed under arrest. His case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which held not only that Plessy had not been harmed by the Louisiana law, but also that state-mandated racial segregation did nothing whatsoever to brand African-Americans “with a badge of inferiority.” There are some contemporary references to the Souths “colored-only” railroad cars as “Jim Crow cars.” These cars were often poorly lit, unbearably overheated, and overcrowded. Passengers were frequently forced to share space with farm animals; whisky-drinking white male passengers sometimes passed through the cars long enough to share foul language and abuse. Many African-Americans protested; an 1882 editorial, for instance, indignantly urged southern railway systems to “toe the mark of progress.” But that mark was being moved—steadily and predictably—backward. The Supreme Court Signs Off on Jim Crow Before long, state legislatures had passed a wave of discriminatory laws. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court formally endorsed these laws with its decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. The decision was a critical formal endorsement of the entire Jim Crow cultural and legal structure. Others would follow. Today, Plessy v. Ferguson is widely regarded as one of the lowest points in the long history of the Supreme Court. The decision would not be formally overturned for nearly 60 years. Did the U.S. Supreme Court ever rule on the question of Jim Crow-era racial segregation in schools? Yes. In Cumming v. County Board of Education (1899), the court held that separate educational facilities were permissible, even when no facilities at all were available to African-American students. Independent Practice What factors lead to a lack of trust in the Republicans? • There was a lot of corruption so people think their leaders did something wrong. • They feel their leaders aren’t responsible and looking over the Union…if there’s corruption they’re not doing their job. How did the Amnesty Act effect elections in the south? What other factors lead to a shift in the balance of power? • It’s a law that gives white southerners the right to vote. • The white southerners were mostly democrats and democrats were able to get more votes and win more elections. • People were threatening African Americans and that kept them from voting. • This lead to only three states still under control of the Republicans. • Southerners vote democratic because they didn’t like the republicans’ actions from Reconstruction. Who did Democrats and Republicans nominate for President in 1876? What platform did both candidates run on? • The democrats nominate Samuel Tilden and the Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes. • They promised to fight corruption. What circumstances lead to an undecided race in the Electoral College? How did the states of the south potentially affect the outcome? There were a total of 369 electoral votes…how many do you need to win? 185 are necessary to win. • Tilden won the popular vote but needed one more electoral vote to win. • There are twenty electoral votes out there and the three southern states still controlled by the Republicans control 19 of them. • South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee hold the extra electoral votes. How did Congress try and solve the problem? Why was the commission likely to vote in one direction? • They try to solve the problem by setting up a commission made of mostly republicans. • The commission is likely to support Hayes because it was made up of almost entirely of republicans. Why were Democrats willing to go along with Hayes’ victory even though he was a Republican? • They decide to give all of the electoral votes to Hayes. • Hayes had agreed to end Reconstruction. He removes all troops from the south. • Democrats could have been outraged but they weren’t because Hayes agreed to end reconstruction if he became President. Evaluation and Closure What long-term effects will Reconstruction have on the south? Use readings, what you have learned and prior knowledge to identify and predict. • African Americans will lose a lot more rights. • There will be abuse against African Americans who try and vote. • The south will be aggravated against the African Americans and take it out on them. • The Democrats will start gaining control of the south because it’s strictly a democratic area. • The south will slowly improve for the white people because they didn’t like the way the government was ruling over them. • They will make laws that will affect the lives of African Americans. How did northerners affect the possible end of Reconstruction? What role, if any, did the plight of African Americans play in feelings of northerners? What does this show about northern goals and feelings from all three units we have studied? • This relates to our opening discussion because society saw the south and the African Americans as not their problem anymore even if rights are lost. This ties into education in the south Bronx because some people don’t experience what we go through and they don’t see it as a problem. • At this point they had lost interest and they wanted the south to run their own governments even if African Americans lost their rights. • The north kind of gave up on the south they wanted them to look out for themselves. • The freedmen will suffer because that means that their rights will not be protected by the north anymore. • The north feels like they’ve done their part by fighting not guaranteeing their future.