U.S. History Study Guide - Chapter 4

poll tax

a tax of a fixed amount per person that had to be paid before the person could vote

Jim Crow Laws

- In 1883, the Supreme Court set the stage for legalized segregation when it overturned the Civil Rights Act of 1875 - that law had prohibited keeping people out of public places on the basis of race and barred racial discrimination in selecting juniors - The Supreme Court ruled the 14th Amendment provided only that "no state" could deny citizens equal protection under law

Plessy vs. Ferguson

- the ruling established the legal basis for discrimination in the South for more than 50 years - while public facilities for African Americans in the South were always separate, they were far from equal - reinforced Jim Crow Laws in the southern states - Homer Adolf Plessy, a light-skinned man who was 1/8 African American, was arrested for sitting in the whites-only section of an East Louisiana Railway train and refused to move

Summarize the ideas of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois on how to address discrimination against African Americans.

-Booker T. Washington - proposed that African Americans concentrate on achieving economic goals rather than legal and political ones. In his famous speech known as the Atlanta Compromise, he urged fellow African Americans

Why did southern states pass poll taxes? What are poll taxes? Did this tax violate the 15th Amendment? Why or why not?

A poll tax is a tax of fixed amount per person that had to be paid before the person could vote. Southern states passed poll taxes knowing many African Americans did not have the means to pay the tax, therefore most could not vote. The 15th Amendment prohibits states from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

What are Jim Crow Laws? Where were they instituted? Who was impacted/targeted?

Jim Crow Laws are statues (laws) enacted to enforce segregation. Southern states passed Jim Crow Laws to enforce discrimination, specifically segregation of African Americans.

How/Why did the Populists pose a challenge to the Democrats in the South?

Populism posed a problem for democrats in the south by appealing to poor whites.

segregation

separation or isolation of a race, class, or group

Jim Crow Laws

statues inacted to enforce segregation

lynch

to execute, by hanging, without lawful approval