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African Americans in the Progressive Era. Discrimination and Racism. Segregation. De Jure Segregation. De Facto Segregation. Segregation enforced by laws Becomes a reality with Plessy vs. Ferguson. Segregation based on unwritten laws like custom and tradition. Plessy vs. Ferguson, 1896.
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African Americans in the Progressive Era Discrimination and Racism
Segregation De Jure Segregation De Facto Segregation • Segregation enforced by laws • Becomes a reality with Plessy vs. Ferguson • Segregation based on unwritten laws like custom and tradition
Plessy vs. Ferguson, 1896 • Homer Plessy was 1/8 African American and bought a white train ticket in Jim Crow segregated Louisiana…denied seat • Case goes to Supreme Court • Court decides to uphold Jim Crow segregation • “Separate but equal” • Is separate ever equal?...Justice Harlan did not think so, only Justice that went against the 8-1 decision (Harlan Dissent) • Sets up de jure segregation
Reformers Booker T. Washington W.E.B. Du Bois • Urged for AA to be patient while waiting for equality (“Atlanta Compromise Speech”) • Eventually AA would gain white respect • “Cast down your bucket” with the people who share the same aspirations • Be economically independent • Become craftsmen and learn a skill • Setup Tuskegee Institute for vocational education • Urged AA to demand their rights immediately or else fall victim to permanent racism • Promoted an academic education not skill/trade based • Called Washington’s speech the Atlanta Compromise since he “gave in”
Other Reformers • Ida B. Wells Barnett • Wrote about the horrors of lynching (execution by hanging without a trial) in the South • Helped form the NAACP
Reforms • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP): • 4 front campaign: • Socially freefrom insult • Mentally free from ignorance • Physically free from low wage labor • Politically free from disenfranchisement • Niagara Movement: • Denounced the idea of gradual progress • Denounced Booker T. Washington • Wanted full voting rights for AA
The Crisis was the official magazine of the NAACP • Founded by Du Bois
Disenfranchisement • Taking away the right of AA to vote because there were loopholes in the 15th Amendment • Through intimidation, KKK • Through laws • Grandfather Clause: AA could vote if his ancestors had voted in 1866…15th Amendment not passed until 1870 • Poll Tax: AA must pay a tax to vote, AA can’t afford it • Literacy Tests: AA had been denied an education so they can’t pass the test
Wilmington Race Riot, 1898 • AA newspaper editor writes an article about white women enjoying the company of black men just as much as white men enjoy the company of black women…highly controversial • KKK and Redshirts run AA out of Wilmington • Burn down the newspaper building • A definite number of the dead has yet to be determined…evidence tampered with????
Great Migration • AA leave the South to go North (Land of Hope) • Looking to: • Leave racism behind • Find jobs • Better life in general