Guided Reading Activity Answer Guide

Struggles for Justice – the Failures of the Progressives

FILL IN THE BLANK. African Americans faced DISCRIMINATION in the NORTH as well as in the SOUTH. Landlords often refused to RENT HOMES in white areas to African Americans. Across the nation, they were restricted to the worst HOUSING and the POOREST jobs.

African Americans Confront Racism

Booker T. Washington, Founder of Tuskegee

Tuskegee Institute in AlabamaIndustrial and Agricultural Training

Washington was born as a slave in Virginia, and was denied a formal education as a youth. He worked in coal mines as a child, and went to school whenever he could.

He was lucky enough to learn how to read and showed so much potential that he was offered the opportunity to attend school at Hampton Institute – right across the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel - a school which was reserved for African-American and Native American students.

Washington believed that vocational education was essential if African-Americans hoped to gain economic and social equality with whites. He counseled African-Americans to remain patient, but also criticized whites whose racism undermine black progress. He stated: “One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him.”

Booker T. Washington was the author of Up from Slavery, an autobiographical commentary on African-Americans experiences. He claimed, “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.”

Booker T. Washington

Andrew Carnegie

Philanthropists Supported Booker T. Washington’s Trade Schools

John D. Rockefeller

W.E.B. DuBoisDubois was the first African-

American to be awarded a doctorate from Harvard University.

He was the founder of the magazine Crisis, which chronicled the plight of African-Americans in the United States.

He wrote the novel The Souls of Black Folk, and was the founder of the Niagara Movement – a business coalition which demanded immediate economic and social equality for blacks.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

The NAACP was

founded in 1909 in

order to confront

the problems of

racism,

segregation,

discrimination,

and lynching in

American society.

The Springfield, IL

Riot of 1908,

pictured left,

demanded a

response.

The NAACP was founded in 1909

The NAACP’s Crusade Against Lynching

A Duluth, MN Lynch Mob Murdered

Three

Over 1000 African Americans were the victims of lynching during the 1890sLige Daniels of

Center, TX, Murdered by a Mob

Ida B. Wells-Barnett Ida B. Wells was the author of A

Red Record, a book which described the history of lynching across the South during the 19th Century and early 20th Century. She attempted to identify the murderers and publicly humiliate mob members, even if the court systems would not persecute them.

Wells was also the editor of her own magazine, Free Speech, which attempted to expose murderers and organize boycotts in the towns where mob violence had resulted in the lynching of African Americans.

Woodrow WilsonWilson, who was

considered a

Progressive

President for his

efforts at

financial reform

and the

expansion of the

vote to women

during his

Presidency, was

openly racist and

segregated all

federal buildings

in Washington

during his time in

office.

George Washington Carver

George Washington

Carver is most

famous for his

work as a botanist

and scientist . His

primary mission

was to find

alternative crops to

the Southern staple

crop, cotton. He

studied the peanut,

soybean, and

sweet potatoes in

order to maximize

the value of each

crop.

Revolution tormented Mexico throughout

the early 1900s, as a series of dictators

and strongmen vied for power in the

nation – Porfirio Diaz was overthrown by

Francisco Madero; Madero was

overthrown in a military coup by

Victoriano Huerta; Huerta, in turn was

overthrown by Venustiano Carranza.

Meanwhile, Emiliano Zapata, illustrated

to the left, led revolutionaries in the

South and Pancho Villa led resistance in

the North. The result was constant

warfare, instability, economic depression,

and famine across the nation. Thousands

fled to the United States, finding low

paying jobs north of the border. Most

chose to remain in the Southwest,

territory which had once belonged to

Mexico.

Revolution and Famine in Mexico Led to Migration

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Segregated Public Schools in San FranciscoIn the Deep South,

American had created a

system of segregation,

enforced it using “Jim

Crow” laws, and created

a racist and divided

society. African-

Americans there were

treated a second class

citizens. In the West,

Native Americans,

Mexican-Americans, and

Asian immigrants were

treated in much the

same fashion. In San

Francisco, Chinese,

Japanese, and Filipino

students attended

segregated schools.

Throughout the West,

segregation and

discriminatory laws

victimized non-whites.

The Gentlemen’s Agreement

The Empire of Japan was offended that Americans treated their

people in such a racist manner. Theodore Roosevelt offended

the Japanese further by insisting upon the “Gentlemen’s

Agreement” which asked the Japanese to restrict immigration

to the United States voluntarily. In return, TR pledged to allow

the wives of current immigrants to join them in the United

States and to end the segregated schools in California.

Roosevelt never delivered on this promise, and the Japanese

resented Americans for this ever after. Immigration to Angel

Island, left, was restricted dramatically.

In 1913, the state of California forbid Asian immigrants from owning land.

The storefront signs stating

“NO IRISH NEED APPLY”

were common during the

1800s – mostly motivated by

anti-Catholic feelings. Many

Catholics encountered

teachers ranting against

“Papists,” fearful that the

Pope’s influence would

undermine American political

freedoms and American

democracy. As a result,

Catholic communities founded

and attended parochial

schools. Nativist groups like

the Know Nothing Party, the

American Protective

Association, and the KKK

targeted Catholics with

threats and intimidation.

Anti-Catholic Sentiments in 19th Century

Members of the

Ku Klux Klan were

feared that the

“Roman Catholic

Church is now,

and has been,

insidiously

working (in

various ways, and

especially through

our Public

Schools) to make

America Catholic.”

Anti-Catholicism in the KKK

The hatred of and

prejudice towards

members of the

Jewish faith.

Anti-Semitism in

the United States

was a

longstanding

problem, and

Nativist groups

like the KKK

aggressively

threatened Jewish

people across the

United States.

Anti-Semitism

Leo Frank, a Jewish

factory owner from

Marietta, GA, was

accused, tried, and

convicted of

strangling a teenage

girl who worked for

him. He was

sentenced to death.

But the presiding

judge, unconvinced by

the conflicting

evidence presented at

the trial, reduced his

sentence. The people

of Marietta, unwilling

to accept the

commuted sentence,

broke into the jail,

abducted Frank, and

then lynched him.

The Lynching of Leo Frank

After the brutal

lynching of Leo

Frank and various

other instances of

anti-Semitic

behavior, Jewish-

Americans founded

the Anti-

Defamation League

in 1913, "to stop

the defamation of

the Jewish people

and to secure

justice and fair

treatment to all."

The Anti-Defamation League