PSE - Social Injustice Based on Race in the South Continues (Lesson)
Social Injustice Based on Race in the South Continues
Introduction
From 1865 to 1877 the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were passed to reign in the season of equal rights. The Democrats and numerous white Supremacists gained control of southern state governments. The Georgia Assembly passed Jim Crow Laws in 1889 legalizing separate, but “equal” facilities for blacks and whites. This ranged from hotels, transportation, schools, restrooms, waiting rooms and even water fountains were separated based on race. Even though African Americans had gained federal rights in the post-Reconstruction years, the states took away their civil liberties in a number of ways.
Jim Crow Laws
A group of laws in the South that were designed to limit and restrict the civil rights of African Americans. They were based on white supremacy and separated people of color from whites in schools, housing, jobs, and public gathering places. These laws also prevented African Americans the right to vote.
Plessy vs Ferguson
One Jim Crow law was challenged in the court system in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. In 1892, Homer Plessy was put in jail for sitting in a “whites only” section of the East Louisiana Railroad train cars. Plessy was 7/8th white and 1/8th black, which by law, banned him from sitting in the white section of the railcar. Plessy pleaded his case all the way to the United States Supreme Court, and he argued that his 13th and 14th Amendment rights had been violated. He was found guilty by the Louisiana Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court upheld this decision. This court case confirmed the universal acceptance that separate facilities were legal as long as they were equal.
Disenfranchisement and Racial Violence
In 1900, African Americans comprised 12% of the total population of the United States. In Georgia, African Americans made up 47% of the state population. .
As Democrats gained power, many African Americans began to see their political rights diminished as they became disenfranchised (lost the right to vote). In 1908 Georgia enacted the Grandfather Clause which only allowed males to vote if their grandfathers were eligible to vote in 1867-- this clause disenfranchised the African American population since in 1867 most African American males were not yet recognized as citizens of the United States and were therefore ineligible to vote. Other acts of disenfranchisement were also enacted such as poll taxes which required all back taxes to be paid before being allowed to vote --nearly impossible for sharecroppers. Literacy tests which required the voter to pass a reading exam also restricted voting for African Americans and poor whites since many Southern African Americans and poor whites could not read. The Ku Klux Klan also intimidated voters by threatening their homes and safety and inciting racial violence at the voting booths. These acts of disenfranchisement of almost half of Georgia’s population guaranteed the election of Democrats who favored white supremacy to the state’s political offices.
Review
Review what you've learned by completing the activity below.
After African Americans gained the rights of citizenship and equality after Reconstruction, even being elected to political office, it crushed the community when the Jim Crow backlash of the late 1800s took away many of those freedoms. The New South focused on the growth of the state but the election of a one party system of Democrats continued to disenfranchise the African American population. The state and the South as a whole saw the rise of the first Civil Rights Movement as the activists fought for equality and a voice in society.
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