1877-1900 Post Reconstruction Self-Segregation

1. 1877-1900Post Reconstruction Self-Segregation Black Codes during Reconstruction Jim CrowLaws after Reconstruction In rural deep south – All black communities in some locales In towns, “the other side of the tracks.”

2. Leo Frank case: 1913/1915 • Leo Frank – Accused of killing Mary Phagan. • Very little evidence against him but Frank was found guilty and sentenced to death. • Frank was convicted of the murder, but his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by Gov. Slaton • Two months later, Frank was taken from the prison by an angry mob, brought back to Marietta, and lynched by a group calling themselves the Knights of Mary Phagan. • Resulted in the rebirth of the KKK • Nov. 1915: Atlanta preacher William Simmons and 34 others climbed to the top of Stone Mountain, lit torches, circled a burning cross, and rallied

3. Jim Crow laws • “Separate but equal” • Laws passed to establish facilities for whites and blacks • Resulted in separate bathrooms, water fountains, railroad cars, waiting rooms, schools • 1889: Georgia General Assembly segregated public facilities • Always separate—rarely equal • African Americans protested the laws in public meetings • Henry McNeal Turner: the civil rights laws and segregation that followed them was ‘barbarous’.

4. Plessy v. Ferguson • Staged as a way to test the constitutionality of the Jim Crow laws (Jim Crow Car Act of 1890) • Homer Plessy: 7/8 white, 1/8 black took a seat in the ‘whites only’ car of a train • When he refused to move, he was arrested under the above act which required separate but equal accommodations on train cars • Heard by the US Supreme Court in 1896 • Upheld by a 7-1 vote (single dissenting vote: John Marshall Harlan, a Southerner) • Plessy v. Ferguson gave states the right to control social discrimination and promote segregation

5. Plessy v. Ferguson • 1899: Richmond County closed the only public high school in Georgia for descendents of enslaved Africans—purely for ‘economic reasons’ to create an elementary school • Parents sued the school board based on the original Plessy v. Ferguson case that ensured separate-but-equal facilities • Lower court agreed; overturned by GA Supreme Court • December 1899: U.S. Supreme Court ruled: • Africans had the right to be educated only to the 8th grade • Closing the white high school did not relate to the equal rights granted by the 14th amendment • The use of funds to open the elementary school by closing the high school was a state issue • Ruling finally overturned in 1954 with Brown V. Board of Education which ended segregated schools Picture: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

6. Disenfranchisement • 1900: African-Americans make up 47% of Georgia’s population • Despite 15th amendment, laws were passed with the sole purpose of keeping them from voting • 1908: Grandfather clause—stated that only men whose fathers or grandfathers had been eligible to vote in 1867 were eligible to vote (b/c so few African Americans had been able to vote in 1867 it kept most of GA’s Af. Amer from voting) • Poll tax: a tax to be able to vote • Other requirements: own property, pass literacy tests • Literacy tests were very subjective—could be asked anything (explain antidisestablishmentarianism) • Gerrymander: a way of drawing up an election district to benefit a certain group (racial, political, special interest) In 1812, the US portrait painter, Gilbert Stuart, known for his portraits of the great US presidents, noticed a map in a newspaper office. The map showed a voting district that had been created by the Democratically dominated Massachusetts Assembly when Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814) was governor. The district had a peculiar shape that assured that any election in that district would favor the Democrats. Stuart drew eyes, claws, and wings on the outline of the district because it looked like a salamander. Someone in the office watched him and blended Gerry with salamander on the spot to create the word, gerrymander which survived to this today.

7. Booker T. Washington • Important civil rights leader • President of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama • Believed that economic independence was the only road to social and political equality • African Americans should focus on learning skills and gaining economic strength • Urged white Southerners to remember that the African American workforce had created the wealth of the South—feared that African Americans would be cast aside for immigrant labor • Speech: Atlanta’s Cotton States and International Exposition in 1895--condoned social segregation of the races, provided that educational and economic opportunities were equal.

8. W.E.B. Dubois • Disagreed with Washington • Called for social and political integration • Talented 10th: higher education for 10% of the African American population—this group could become leaders for the community • Thought Washington was making decisions that affected all blacks negatively • Disagreed that blacks who became economically successful and waited long enough would help improve race relations

9. Atlanta Race Riot--1906 • Sept. 22, 1906: over 5000 whites and African Americans had gathered on Decatur Street • Lasted 2 days: martial law declared • 18 African Americans killed • 3 whites killed • Hundreds injured • Value of property destroyed very high • How did propaganda contribute to the riot? • Tom Watson: spread racial fears • Hoke Smith: used racial fears to gain votes during the governor’s race that year • Atlanta Newspapers: printed story after story of African American violence against whites

10. John and Lugenia Burns Hope