The Defeat of Reconstruction, Disenfranchisement, Jim Crow PDF

THE DEFEAT OF RECONSTRUCTION African Diaspora  DE JURE (BY LAW) SEGREGATION After the 1876 election and the Compromise of 1877, some states changed their constitutions to enforce segregation laws. Black voting was limited by poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses. African Amer...

THE DEFEAT OF RECONSTRUCTION African Diaspora  DE JURE (BY LAW) SEGREGATION After the 1876 election and the Compromise of 1877, some states changed their constitutions to enforce segregation laws. Black voting was limited by poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses. African Americans faced racial violence, including lynching, from: ○ Former Confederates ○ Political terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan ○ Others who supported white supremacy.  PLESSY V. FERGUSON, 1896 In 1896, the Supreme Court's Plessy v. Ferguson ruling established the “separate but equal” doctrine as the legal basis for racial segregation. In reality, this ruling allowed for separate and unequal resources, facilities, and rights. DISENFRANCHISEMENT AND JIM CROW LAWS African Diaspora  JIM CROW LAWS The term "Jim Crow" began in the 1830s as a slur against African Americans. ○ The term "Jim Crow" originated in the 1830s from a performance by Thomas Dartmouth (T.D.) Rice, a white entertainer. ○ Rice wore blackface and performed Jump, Jim Crow, mocking African Americans through exaggerated speech and dance. ○ The act’s popularity spread harmful stereotypes, making "Jim Crow" a common slur against African Americans.  JIM CROW LAWS Jim Crow laws were local and state statutes, mainly in the South, supported by the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) ruling. These laws: ○ Restricted African American men’s voting rights. ○ Enforced segregation in hospitals, transportation, schools, and cemeteries for Black and White citizens. Jim Crow segregation laws were overturned during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.  THE NADIR African American Studies scholars call the period from the end of Reconstruction to the start of World War II the “nadir” of American race relations. This era saw some of the worst public acts of racism in U.S. history, including lynching and mob violence.  ACTIVISM African American journalists and writers exposed the racism behind Southern lynch laws that justified unjust killings of Black people. African American activists resisted attacks on their freedom through actions like trolley boycotts. Activists used sympathetic writers in the press to highlight the mistreatment and murders of African Americans.