C4L5

poll tax

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

Plessy v. Ferguson (potential short answer) :

1896 Supreme Court ruling that established the "separate but equal" doctrine 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 Southern states Homer Adolph 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 The incident was planned in advance to test the statute to emphasize the folly of the law (laws of segregation)

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 a 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." Therefore, poll taxes did not violate the 15th Amendment.

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

Booker T. Washington - Proposed that African Americans concentrate on achieving economic goals rather than legal and political ones. In his famous speech know as the Atlanta Compromise, he urged fellow African Americans to postpone the fight for civil rights and instead concentrate on preparing themselves educationally and vocationally for full equality. W.E.B. Du Bois - challenged Washington's ideas. He pointed out that white Southerners continued to strip African Americans of their civil rights, in spite of the progress they were making in educational and vocational training. Du Bois argued that African Americans could regain that lost ground and achieve full equality only by demanding their rights. Du Bois was particularly concerned with protecting and exercising voting rights.

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

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

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

Populism posed a challenge for Democrats in the South by appealing to poor whites.

Jim Crow laws (potential short answer)

statutes (laws) enacted to enforce segregation (separation) in the South 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 jurors The Supreme Court, however, ruled that the 14th Amendment provided only that "no state" could deny citizens equal protection under the law Private organizations, such as hotels, theaters, and railroads, were free to practice segregation Further reinforced by the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy v Ferguson, 1896, (established the separate but equal doctrine)

jim crow laws

statutes enacted to enforce segregation

segregation

the separation or isolation of a race,class, or group

lynch

to execute, by hanging, without lawful approval