Reconstruction to Civil Rights

NAACP

(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) The Niagara Movement founded in 1905 by W.E.B Du Bois became an organization with black and white allies (founded in 1909) to abolish segregation and discrimination and to achieve political and civil rights for African Americans.

Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws

-Black Codes deprived blacks of their rights. They limited the freedom of African Americans and ensured their availability as a cheap labor after slavery was abolished during the Civil War. They forced blacks into cheap jobs or apprenticeships, because blacks feared being charged by vagrancy laws. Masters also were able to discipline their apprentices. This created a way to bring back slavery legally. -Jim Crow Laws were the segregation laws that southern states passed to separate blacks in public and private facilities. (grandfather clause, poll tax, segregation in schools and transportation, ect.) This was a way to bring back the black codes.

Impact of the Great Migration

The Great Migration impacted African-Americans, because it allowed them to have better job opportunities in the cities of the north. The amount of new black migrants to northern cities caused overcrowding and extremely high racial tension. There was still severe segregation and discrimination in the north, which made African-Americans feel inferior.

Civil rights victories during Reconstruction

- The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were passed. (slavery abolished, slaves became citizens, and black men were allowed to vote) -The Civil Rights Act of 1875 prohibited racial discrimination and guaranteed equal access to public accommodations regardless of race or color. -The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded. - The Freedmen's Bureau helped and donated to African-Americans to build schools to educated black children. - Plessy v. Ferguson made blacks and whites separate but equal. Even though this case didn't end the way that blacks wanted, it still forced places to treat everyone equal even though were separate. - African Americans were allowed to have active political roles. - African Americans completely controlled their own churches (this was one of the only things that they could fully control).

Civil War Amendments (13,14,15)

-13th Amendment: (1865) Ended slavery and involuntary servitude in the U.S. Slavery was now illegal. -14th Amendment: Prevented states at denying rights and privileges to any U.S. Citizen. Anyone born or naturalized in the U.S. was defined as a citizen, and this allowed former slaves to become citizens since they were born in the U.S. -15th Amendment: No one can be kept from from voting because of race, color, or previous conditions of servitude. ALL U.S. citizens (of legal age) could vote. This allowed black men the right to vote.

Johnson's Plan for Reconstruction (1865)

-Andrew Johnson became president, because his successor (Abraham Lincoln) was assassinated before he could fully implement his plan. Johnson announced his own plan in 1865, His plan stated that confederate states could rejoin the Union when 10%, excluding high ranking confederates and wealthy southern landowners. He ended up pardoning more that 13,000 former confederates, because he believed that white men alone must manage the south. The seven remaining southern states quickly agreed to his terms, and many people were pardoned. -All of the states, except for Texas, created new governments and and elected representatives. When they got to Washington to take their seats, Congress refused to admit the new legislatures. -Republicans pushed for laws to fix the weaknesses in Johnson's Plan. Johnson shocked everyone when he vetoed these laws (Freedmen's Bureau and the Civil Rights Act).

Poll Taxes and Literacy Tests

-Poll taxes were annual taxes that had to be paid before qualifying to vote. Ex: if someone was 21, wanted to vote, and had never voted before they would have to pay a poll tax for every year that they had been eligible to vote. This made less blacks vote, because they usually didn't have enough money and they couldn't be dismissed of the taxes with the grandfather clause like whites could. -Literacy Tests were reading tests that registration officials administered to people to see if they were eligible to vote. The questions were very broad and confusing, so the official could virtually pass or fail anyone that they wanted to. This resulted in many blacks not being able to vote from failing the literacy tests.

Congressional Plan for Reconstruction (Radical Republicans)

-Radical Republicans wanted to shift the control of Reconstruction to the legislature from the executive branch. In 1866, they overrode Johnson's vetoes of the Civil Rights Act and Freedmen's Bureau Act. They also drafted the 14th amendment. -Radical Republican gained control of Congress in the 1866 elections, and they passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867. This act didn't recognize state governments (except Tennessee) that were formed under Lincoln and Johnson's Reconstruction plans. The former Confederate states were put into 5 military districts. They were required to allow black men to vote and ratify the 14th amendment if they wanted to rejoin the Union. Johnson vetoed this plan, but congress overrode his veto.

KKK and Lynching

-The KKK's goals were to destroy the Republican Party and prevent African-Americans from exercising their political rights. They were very radical and murdered more than 20,000 black men, women, and children. -Lynching is when people were illegally executed (usually hanged) without trials. The KKK lynched many blacks.

Evidence detailing the evolution of American democracy in regard to race and the conflict between majority rule and minority rights

-civil rights victories during Reconstruction -resistance to racial reforms -impact of Jim Crow, books, plays, and movies -civil rights activism -impact of the Great Migration

Lincoln's Plan for Reconstruction (10% Plan-1863)

10% of the population of a Confederate state that voted in 1860 had to swear allegiance to Union in order to rejoin. This plan pardoned all confederates ( except: High ranking Confederate officials and war criminals). After they had 10%, the state could form a new state government, and elect new senators and representatives to Congress. This plan re-admitted Arkansa, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia to the Union.

Military Reconstruction Acts of 1867

1867; divided the South into five districts and placed them under military rule; required Southern States to ratify the 14th amendment; guaranteed freedmen the right to vote. The states had to abide byt the rules of the military officials in their districts.

D. W. Griffith: Birth of a Nation

Birth of a Nation was one of the most innovative American motion pictures. It was set during and after the American Civil War and noted for its innovative technical achievements. It also has the status as the first Hollywood "blockbuster." It provoked a large amount of controversy for its treatment of white supremacy and sympathetic account of the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. It helped "revive" the KKK and depicted them as saviors of the south after Northerns destroyed it by freeing slaves and fighting the south in the Civil War. Caused whites to have MORE doubts about African-Americans.

The causes of the Great Migration

Blacks wanted to escape the Jim Crow laws in the south. There was also a boll weevil infestation, floods and droughts in the cotton fields, which caused famine. Outbreak of War and drop in immigration caused worker shortage, so African- Americans were able to find jobs easier than before.

Tuskegee Institute

Booker T. Washington believed that racism would end when blacks proved economic value to America. He founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama to teach blacks useful skills (agriculture, domestic, and mechanic work) and give them diplomas in these fields.

Carpetbaggers and Scalawags

Carpetbaggers- Northerners who moved south after the war. Stereotype that most northerners came with few belongings and carried everything in small bags made of carpets. Scalawags-White southerners who joined the Republican Party. Many were small farmers who wanted to improve their economic position and prevent former wealthy planters from regaining power.

Freedmen's Bureau

Freedmen's Bureau was established by Congress to provide food, clothing, education, legal protection, and hospitals for former slaves and poor whites in the south (1865).

Thomas Rice, Jim Crow, and Black Face

Jim Crow Laws were the segregation laws that southern states passed to separate blacks in public and private facilities. (grandfather clause, poll tax, segregation in schools and transportation, etc.) These laws were named after an old minstrel show that ended in the words "Jump, Jim Crow." Jim Crow was a black man that Thomas "Daddy" Rice encountered, and is used as a blackface caricature for white men to play (as well as other blackface characters). Daddy Rice created a minstrel show using blackface characters, with names like cotton. They were very uneducated, had thick accents, terrible grammar, mispronunciation, and tried to act and dress like white people but failed miserably. Minstrel shows became very popular amongst white audiences, and some blacks did blackface to play these characters for money and to ease crowds.

Impact of Jim Crow, books, plays, and movies

Jim Crow: - Jim Crow Laws were the segregation laws that southern states passed to separate blacks in public and private facilities. These impacted the relationship between blacks and whites severely, because blacks were still being deemed as inferior being to whites by society. Books, Plays, and Movies: - Minstrel shows made fun of African-Americans by using blackface. African-Americans thrived throughout the Harlem Renaissance in music and literature. They wrote about the trials or being black in America, and many African-Americans produced plays and musical comedies featuring jazz music by other blacks. Picture shows and plays became a very popular thing among blacks and whites in the 1920's. - Many young, talented, blacks AND whites moved to big cities (such as New York City and Chicago) to thrive in literature. This brought them together slightly, but tensions were still high.

Civil rights activism

Many African-Americans were civil rights activists, and fought for their rights. Organizations such as the NAACP wanted nothing less than equal rights between the races. Black people protested for their rights. People Like Booker T. Washington, W.E.B Du Bois, and Ida B. Wells were very strong activists during Reconstruction and had many followers. Programs and movements were created to uplift blacks.

Marcus Garvey and the UNIA

Marcus Garvey was an immigrant from Jamaica that founded the movement called UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association). He glorified all things black, and urged black economic solidarity. He also created the BLack Star Line (with a fleet of five ships). His radical message of black pride made many blacks hopeful. He appealed to many blacks with meetings, parades, and strong messages of black pride. He lured people to support him by having programs in the UNIA to support black businesses. He hoped for blacks to "return" to Africa, and help people there throw off white colonizers. He wanted to build an economically and socially strong nation.

How minorities were impacted by the 1920's

Minorities were impacted by the 1920's in many ways. The were still segregated from whites harshly, but they created their own music and literature, engrained themselves into American society, and created their own shops, schools, and towns. They had to deal with the feeling of inferiority that was placed onto them by whites in America, but they made some advancements. They had more rights than they had before the civil war and Reconstruction, such as the right for ALL men to vote. The 1920's put pride in minorities, especially blacks. Events such as the Harlem Renaissance put a deep feeling of pride into blacks, and they became a bigger part of society through Jazz, poems, books, and plays during the 1920's. Many minorities moved north for better jobs and moved into their own neighborhoods where they thrived.

Plessy v. Ferguson(1896)

Plessy v. Ferguson ruled that states had the right to impose "separate but equal" facilities on its citizens that provide equal service as well as create other laws that segregated the races. Segregation in public accommodations was legal and didn't violate the 14th amendment. Homer Plessy was 1/8 black and couldn't sit with the "real" whites on a train car. He then went to court with Louisiana at the Supreme Court. 8 judges sided with Louisiana and 1 judge sided with Plessy.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Prohibited discrimination against blacks in public place (hotels, amusement parks, ect.) and on public transportation. Declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Election of 1876

Samuel J. Tilden was the Democratic candidate, and Rutherford Hayes was the Republican candidate. Tilden won the popular vote, but he was one vote short of the electoral vote. Southern Democrats agreed to elect Hayes as long as he withdrew federal troops in the south. The House of Representatives voted Hayes into office, and Reconstruction ended in the south.

Sharecropping & Tenant Farming

Sharecropping- A system in which ladowners give farm workers land, seed, and tools in return for a part of the crops they raise. Landowners can tell the sharecroppers to work on whatever they wanted to, and the landowners sold the crops. Sharecroppers didn't know if they were actually getting their fair share of crops or not, because landowners had full control. If the sharecroppers got into debt, it was very hard to pay off. Sharecroppers also couldn't work anywhere else unless they had ALL of their work done. This kept sharecroppers in a cycle of work and debt. They were trapped in a loop. Tenant Farming- Tenant farming was when people rented land from land owner, but they could control everything that they grew on their land. The land owner virtually couldn't control anything about the tenants, and it was a way better alternative than sharecropping for blacks and poor farmers in the south. Most blacks and poor farmers HAD to be sharecroppers, because they just did not have the money to rent land.

How was Reconstruction a success and a failure, particularly in relationship to racial equality?

Successes of Reconstruction: Reconstruction was a success in that it restored the United States as a unified nation. By 1877, all of the former Confederate states had drafted new constitutions, acknowledged the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, and pledged their loyalty to the U.S. government. Reconstruction also finally settled the debate over whether states governments or the national government had more power. It was finally agreed upon that the national government had more power than state governments. Failures of Reconstruction: Radical Republican legislation ultimately failed to protect former slaves from white persecution, especially in the South. When President Rutherford B. Hayes removed federal troops from the South in 1877 (when Reconstruction ended), former Confederate officials and slave owners almost immediately returned to power. With the support of a conservative Supreme Court, these newly empowered white southern politicians passed black codes, voter qualifications, and other anti-progressive legislation to reverse the rights that blacks had gained during Radical Reconstruction. The U.S. Supreme Court supported this anti-progressive movement by repealing the Civil Rights Act of 1875.

Booker T. Washington: The Atlanta Compromise

The Atlantic Compromise was a speech by Booker T. Washington to white southerners. He stated in the speech that blacks need to start from the bottom and work their way up. He wanted the whites to know that blacks were a large asset to the United States (1/3 of the population). "Cast down your bucket where you are" is what he claimed they need to do. said that the whites could utilize the African-American and work with them for the economy of the south, or blacks could be the downfall of the south. He stated that the choice was theirs.

The Civil Rights Acts and their intended impacts

The Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875 The Civil Rights Acts of 1866: - recognized the citizenship of African Americans and granted them the same civil rights as other U.S. citizens. The Civil Rights Acts of 1875: - outlawed segregation in public facilities and stated that all people are entitled to the full and equal accommodations of public places. Their intended impacts were to allow blacks to be equal to whites in American society. These acts were meant to make African-Americans feel less discrimination in public.

The Great Migration (push & pull factors)

The Great Migration was a mass migration of African-Americans from the south to northern cities. They came seeking job opportunities, and to not have to deal with things such as the Jim Crow Laws. Push Factors (to go North): - Recruitments and Jobs: steel, stockyards (slaughter houses), munitions, ect. - Loss of European Immigrants due to WWI Pull Factors ( to leave South): - Jim Crow Laws - Boll Weevil: Attacks cotton - Flood and droughts: Droughts cause no water to seep into soil when it rains, causing floods. - KKK 2.0 (reemerged)

The Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was a literary and artistic movement celebrating African-American culture (art, literature, music, politics). Between 1910 and 1920, hundreds of thousand of African-Americans moved north from the south. Many moved to a neighborhood named Harlem in New York City. As mass amounts of blacks moved in, most whites left.

Reemergence of the Klan

The KKK re-emerged after the Great Migration, and Birth of a Nation. They were devoted to "100% Americanism." They believed that they should keep blacks "in their place". They were paid to recruit new members and bring them into their world of secret rituals and race violence. 4.5 million white, male citizens were members of the KKK by 1924. The "new" KKK was against blacks, semitism, communism, Catholics, etc.

Resistance to racial reforms

The KKK, southern states, and many whites throughout the U.S. resisted racial reform. They didn't want to deal with change, and the passing of the 13th, 14th, 15th amendment made them very angry. Racial violence broke out, especially with the KKK, and lynching started occurring in mass numbers. Whites didn't like the fact that blacks moved in and largely populated their neighborhoods and cities, and rejected racial reform.

James Shepherd Pike: The Prostrate State

The Prostrate State was a book written by James Shepherd Pike. It stated that Prostrate State created second thoughts in the minds of the North on whether or not it was a good idea to give blacks power. It undermined support for Reconstruction.

The justification of the Radical Republicans' impeachment of President Johnson

The Radicals thought that Johnson was blocking Reconstruction, and they wanted to find a loophole to impeach him. Johnson made the mistake of removing a cabinet member (Sec. of War- Edwin Stanton). Under the Tenure of Office Act, presidents can not remove cabinet members during the term of the president that appointed them without the Senate's approval. The House impeached Johnson, but the Senate would NOT vote to convict him, so he remained in office. The Radical's almost succeeded in impeaching Johnson.

What strategies were used by civil rights activists to combat racism?

The strategies used by civil rights activists to combat racism were creating programs to help uplift African Americans (Ex: NAACP). Activists also went to court with states on racial issues (Ex: Plessy v. Ferguson). Activists led protests and meetings to strive for the end of racism. People Like Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois had plans to end racism. Although they were very different, they strived for the same goal. Marcus Garvey wanted blacks to "return" to Africa. W.E.B. Du Bois wanted blacks to end racism NOW and have the top 10% engrain themselves in society. Booker T. Washington wanted blacks to gradually become apart of everyday American life by doing domestic jobs.

What strategies were used to resist attempts at creating racial reform following Reconstruction?

The strategies used to resist attempts at creating racial reform following Reconstruction were the Jim Crow laws being passed. They knew that the Republican Party had virtually no power anymore. After Reconstruction and the Republican Party ended, black rights began to rapidly decline.

W. E. B. Du bois: The Talented Tenth

W. E. B. Du bois was the 1st African American to receive a doctorate degree from Harvard. He founded the Niagara Movement (1905) for blacks to get liberal arts education so the community could have well-educated leaders. He wanted them to become professionals. He wanted the to 10% of the educated blacks to engrain themselves in mainstream American life.