Disenfranchisement, Jim Crow, and Plessy v Ferguson

VOTINGDisenfranchisement means to keep someone from voting

Whites developed ways to keep African Americans from voting:•Literacy Test•Payment of Poll Tax•Grandfather Clause•White only Primaries.

1. Literacy Test—African Americans were required to take a test to determine if they could read and write before voting. (Many Southern whites could not read or write but did not have to take the test.)

2. Payment of Poll Tax—African Americans were required to provide proof that they had paid their poll tax (a tax assessed based upon the number of people in a family) (Many Southern whites had not paid their poll tax but did not have to show proof.)

3. Grandfather Clause--An additional requirement that said to be able to vote, one’s grandfather had to have been able to vote in 1860. African Americans were not allowed to vote in 1860 so Grandpa had NOT voted.

4. White Only Primaries—Elections to pick the candidates to represent each party in the General Election were treated as “Clubs” and open for voting only by whites.

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The Road to Vote

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SegregationSegregation became the way of life for the South. Segregation refers to the period of time in the U.S. when the laws of the government allowed blacks and whites to have SEPARATE FACILITIES.

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• De jure segregation— Separation by race in public and private facilities BY THE LAWS MADE.

•De facto segregation— Separation by race in public and private facilities that exists by HUMAN CHOICE.

2 Kinds of Segregation

The "Jim Crow" figure was a fixture of the minstrel shows that toured the South. Minstrel shows began in the 1830’s with white men dressing up as plantation slaves.

Jim Crow would become a synonym in the late 1800’s for anyone who was African American.Jim Crow

JIM CROW LAWS--A Jim Crow law was the name given to the laws passed in the southern states which made segregation legal. The Supreme Court of the U.S. made it acceptable in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson.

Plessy vs. Ferguson

Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Mr. Homer Plessy 1/8th African American, who attempted to ride in a train car reserved for whites. This case meant that the U.S. courts supported the idea of “Separate but Equal.”

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Separate But Equal--became the law in the United States and would last until the Supreme Court ruling in the case of

Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954. Facilities were ALWAYS separate BUT NEVER equal and there was no enforcement of this part of the ruling by the Supreme Court.

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“Separate But Equal” became the law in the South.

RACIAL VIOLENCE

Riots, lynchings, mob attacks, threats and

intimidation were ways whites were able to

enforce black codes and Jim Crow laws. The legal system did very

little to protect the rights of blacks in the South.

Racial Violence Continued

• Hate groups like the KKK used violence to keep blacks from voting or exercising other rights that were supposed to be protected in the US Constitution.

• Racial violence also played a role in the Great Migration of blacks moving to northern cities.

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