the gilded age creating american apartheid. race relations in transition 1865 – 1890 white...
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The Gilded Age
Creating American Apartheid
Race Relations in Transition
1865 – 1890White “Redeemers” tolerated a lingering black voice in politics
• Through the 1880s, politics remained open and democratic• 64% of eligible voters (black & white) participated in elections• Blacks remained in elective office
o South Carolina until 1900o Georgia until 1908
• South sent black legislators to Washington every election but one through 1900
• Disfranchisement remained inconsistent & largely a local issueo Occurred mainly through fraud and intimidationo Occurred often enough to ensure white domination
Minimizing the Black Vote
GerrymanderingThere are two principal strategies behind gerrymandering:
● maximizing the effective votes of supporters
● minimizing the effective votes of opponents.
Packing, is to place as many voters of one type into a single district to reduce their influence in other districts.
Cracking, involves spreading out voters of a particular type among many districts in order to reduce their representation by denying them a sufficiently large voting block in any particular district.
Gerrymandering
Race Relations in Transition(1865 – 1880s)
Whites showed no great haste in erecting barriers of racial separation.Segregation appeared before end of Reconstruction in some areas
Schools Churches Hotels & rooming houses Private social relations
Discrimination more sporadic in places of public accommodation
Trains Depots Theaters Restaurants
Lynch Law
• A form of mob violence and putative justice, usually involving the illegal hanging of suspected criminals.
• A terrorist method of enforcing social domination.• Characterized by a summary procedure ignoring, or even
contrary to, the strict forms of law.• Victims of lynching have generally been members of
groups marginalized or vilified by society. • 1882-1968 – 4,743 lynchings [3,446 blacks]• Texas ranks third with 352
Lynching by StateAlabama 48 299 347
Arizona 31 0 31
Arkansas 58 226 284
California 41 2 43
Colorado 66 2 68
Delaware 0 1 1
Florida 24 257 282
Georgia 39 491 530
Idaho 20 0 20
Illinois 15 19 34
Indiana 33 14 47
Iowa 17 2 19
Kansas 35 19 54
Kentucky 63 142 205
Louisiana 56 335 391
Maryland 2 27 29
Michigan 7 1 8
Minnesota 5 4 9
Mississippi 40 538 578
Missouri 53 69 122
Montana 82 2 84
Nebraska 52 5 57
Nevada 6 0 6
New Jersey 0 1 1
New Mexico 33 3 36
New York 1 1 2
North Carolina 15 85 100
North Dakota 13 3 16
Ohio 10 16 26
Oklahoma 82 40 122
Oregon 20 1 21
Pennsylvania 2 6 8
South Carolina 4 156 160
South Dakota 27 0 27
Tennessee 47 204 251
Texas 141 352 493
Utah 6 2 8
Vermont 1 0 1
Virginia 17 83 100
Washington 25 1 26
West Virginia 20 28 48
Wisconsin 6 0 6
Wyoming 30 5 35
Total 1,294 3,442 4,736
Lynching in Texas
Paris - 1893^||
<= Waco - 1916
Colored Men of Texas
Report of the Committee on Grievances at the State Convention of Colored Men of Texas – 1883
• Reaction to the Supreme Court decision that struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875 as unconstitutional.
• Drafted prior to the national convention in Kentucky.• Whites pretended to accept blacks change in status:
o Whites never fully accepted changes
o Whites offered to accept changes as a condition to regain former positions in the Union
Colored Men of Texas
Report of the Committee on Grievances at the State Convention of Colored Men of Texas – 1883
Mack Henson
A.R. Norris
J.N. Johnson
J.Q.A. Potts
“… the degree to which any right is enjoyed as a citizen is measured by the willingness of the whole body of citizens to protect such a right; if there is a lack of regard there is, therefore, the lack of will to protect.”
Colored Men of Texas
Report of the Committee on Grievances at the State Convention of Colored Men of Texas – 1883
• Miscegenation
• Free Schools
• Treatment of Convicts
• Railways, inns and taverns
• Juries
Ida B. Wells(1862-1931)
Campaigned for women’s rights
Campaigned for black equality
Outspoken opponent of lynching (A Red Record – 1895)
Helped found NAACP (1909)
The Mississippi Plan
1890
Four components:
1. Residency requirement
2. Convicted criminals disqualified
3. All taxes had to be paid before voting
4. Literacy requirement
Segregation by Law
Judicial retreat created legal climate for Jim Crow lawsThe Slaughterhouse cases (1873)
Limited application of 14th AmendmentConcluded most rights of citizens remained under state control
U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876)Gutted the Enforcement ActsRuled only violations of rights by states, not individuals, fell under federal purview
Civil Rights Cases (1883)Invalidated Civil Rights Act of 1875Ruled that unequal treatment prohibitions of 14th amendment only applied to states, not private businesses
Plessy v. Ferguson
1896Most important civil rights case of the 19th century Louisiana law required railroads to maintain separate
cars for blacks & whites Concerned black residents of New Orleans launched a
test caseRailroad a willing participant
Homer Plessy refused to move to the “colored only” section & was arrested, tried, & found guilty
Case wound up at the Supreme Court High Court upheld Louisiana law Established “separate but equal” doctrine
Birth of a NationReleased in 1915Presented a negative
picture of ReconstructionPortrayed the KKK as
heroesEncapsulated dominant
historical view of the timeVigorously opposed by
Wells, Du Bois, & othersHelped shape national
attitudes on raceContributed to the rise of
the second KKK in 1915
Booker T. Washington(1856-1915)
Political leader, educator, author
President of Tuskegee Institute
Publicly urged accommodation w/ whites (Atlanta Compromise – 1895)
Privately funded legal challenges to segregation
W.E.B. Du Bois(1868-1963)
Harvard graduate (1890) Civil rights activist -
Advocated confrontation w/ whites to achieve equal rights
AuthorThe Souls of Black FolkBlack Reconstruction
Helped found NAACP (1909)
Exodusters
Many Blacks migrated West to avoid repression