15 Questions
When was legal segregation in the United States overturned?
1954
What was the main goal of paramilitary groups like the Ku Klux Klan?
Preserving white supremacy
When did the KKK reemerge after its decline in the mid-1870s?
1915
What was the impact of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision?
Paved the way for legal segregation
How did President Grant respond to the violence perpetrated by paramilitary groups?
Crackdown at the federal level
What were some of the problems faced in the Post-War South?
Destruction, hunger, lawlessness, and violence
What was the immediate problem faced by Southern farmers after the war?
Late spring and the need to plant crops before it was too late
What new labor arrangements were born out of necessity in the Post-War South?
Tenant farming and sharecropping
What happened to the familiar social order in the Post-War South?
It was gone
What was the impact of the Civil War on the white male population in the American South?
It had been decimated by the war
What was the primary difference between tenant farmers and sharecroppers?
Tenant farmers paid in cash and had the freedom to plant crops of their choice.
What was a significant challenge faced by sharecroppers in marketing their harvest?
Lack of resources to market their harvest independently and being cheated during the sale.
Which group worked to reclaim social and political control in the South, passing laws that limited the rights of African Americans?
Redeemers
What was the impact of convict leasing on laborers?
Working without wages and benefiting business owners.
What was the outcome of Homer Plessy's challenge to Jim Crow laws in 1892?
The landmark Plessy v. Ferguson case.
Study Notes
Reconstruction Era and the Impact of Sharecropping, Convict Leasing, and Redeemers
- Tenant farmers rented fields and paid in cash, with the freedom to plant crops of their choice.
- Sharecroppers rented tools and animals, paid the landowner between half and two-thirds of the crop, and planted specific crops required by the landowner.
- Sharecropping and tenant farming became ways for wealthy white people to dominate society and keep Black people repressed after the Civil War.
- Sharecroppers lacked resources to market their harvest independently and were often cheated during the sale.
- Plantation stores granted credit accounts to sharecroppers, but many found their share of the harvest insufficient to pay their debts.
- Convict leasing was a legal way for laborers to work without wages, benefiting business owners and generating significant income for state governments.
- Criminal populations multiplied in several states due to real and imagined offenses, and convict leasing existed in every former Confederate state except Virginia, lasting for almost 60 years.
- Redeemers were white Southerners who worked to reclaim social and political control in the South, passing Black Codes that limited the rights of African Americans.
- Southern Democrats quickly regained control of Southern states after their right to vote was restored, passing laws that disenfranchised African Americans.
- Redeemers passed Jim Crow laws at the local and state levels to keep non-white people separated in public spaces.
- Homer Plessy challenged Jim Crow laws in 1892 by refusing to move to the 'Colored' train car, leading to the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson case.
- The impact of sharecropping, convict leasing, and Redeemers had lasting effects on the social and political landscape of the Southern United States.
Test your knowledge of the Reconstruction Era and its impact on the Southern United States with this quiz. Explore the practices of sharecropping, convict leasing, and the influence of the Redeemers on society and politics. Delve into the lasting effects of these historical developments.
Make Your Own Quizzes and Flashcards
Convert your notes into interactive study material.
Get started for free
