THE JIM CROW ERA

Plessy v. Ferguson, Jim Crow Laws,the KKK and Lynching

Reconstruction Ends

• Compromise of 1877– Rutherford B. Hayes over Samuel Tilden

(Dem) – Hayes removes federal troops from Florida,

Louisiana, and South Carolina• Democratic Party returns to power in the

“Solid South” – Doesn’t change until 1950s, when Dems

support Civil Rights legislation

Jim Crow both culturally and legally imposed racial inferiority

• Jim Crow a minstrel character from 1820s

• Came to mean any black kept in inferior social status

• Also refers to laws imposed after Reconstruction to segregate whites & blacks

Jim Crow Laws

• Case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) – Famous Supreme Court case upheld Jim

Crow laws, racial segregation– Ruled that Louisiana law mandating

“separate but equal accommodations” on trains was constitutional

– What are the main arguments of the majority opinion?

– What are the main arguments in Harlan’s dissent?

Jim Crow Laws After Plessy

• Decision opened door to segregation across South and beyond

• Jim Crow laws common until ruled unconstitutional by Supreme Court in Brown v. Board (1954)

• Note some examples of Jim Crow laws…

Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan

• Secret terrorist organization founded in Tennessee in 1865 by Confederate veterans– Started after Civil War to fight Reconstruction

in the South

• Believed in the innate inferiority of blacks– mistrusted and resented the rise of former

slaves to an equal status

• Attacked, murdered, and lynched both freedmen and white Republicans

• Intimidated African Americans and their allies– If intimidation didn’t work, they would torture

and/or murder these individuals

• Local chapters (klaverns) became so uncontrollable and violent that the Grand Wizard, former Confederate general Nathan B. Forrest, officially disbanded the Klan in 1869

• In 1871, President Grant issued a proclamation calling on members of illegal organizations to disarm and disband (Force Acts)

• Second Klan founded in 1915– expanded rapidly in 1920s

– 1924 - 3 million members (height of membership)

– Focused its attack on what it considered to be alien outsiders (Roman Catholic church and all non-Protestants, aliens, liberals, trade unionists, and striking workers - threatening traditional American ways and values)

• Masked Klansmen burned crosses on hillsides, marched through the streets of many communities, threatening various persons with punishment and warning others to leave town.

• 1944 KKK disbanded formally when unable to pay back taxes to federal government

• Civil Rights Movement caused increased interest and membership in Klan– Brown v. Board (1954)– Civil Rights Act of 1964

Lynchings in the U.S.• 1890-1960, 4,742 Americans were documented as

having been lynched; actual numbers are believed to be much higher. – Over 70 percent of the victims were African-Americans.

• By late 1920s, 95% of lynchings took place in South.

• Few lynch mob participants ever went to jail. – Police and other eye-witnesses refused to identify lynch mob

members, and Southern all-white juries rarely convicted them.

• The white mobs who lynched African-American men often justified their actions as a defense of "white womanhood"

– the usual reason given for lynching black men was that they had raped white women

– lynch mobs' real motive was the determination to keep African-American men economically depressed and politically disenfranchised.

Claimed Causes

• 41% Felonious Assault• 19.2% Rape• 6.1% Attempted Rape• 4.9% Robbery and Theft• 1.8% Insult to White persons• 22.7% Misc. or no offense at all• 11.5% Trivial Offenses-"disputing with a white

man”, “attempting to register to vote", "unpopularity", "testifying against a white man", "asking a white woman in marriage", "peeping in a window"

Rubin Stacey, 1935: Knocked on door of white woman, asked for food (NYT)

Anti-Lynching Crusade• Constitution leaves law enforcement up to

the states, a movement spearheaded by Ida B. Wells and the NAACP sought to pass anti-lynching laws at the federal level– Southern states unwilling

• From 1890 to 1960, nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced to the U.S.Congress.

• The U.S. House of Reps. passed three anti-lynching bills, but all failed in the Senate

• Left the federal government powerless to intervene and protect Americans from these heinous acts of mob violence.

•Ida B. Wells (1862 – 1931)

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)

• Leader in black education (Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute)

• Believed the way to achieve economic equality was through education

• Promoted idea of working with whites to achieve progress – criticized for this

“Put down your bucket where you are” and work for immediate self-improvement rather than long-range social change.

- Booker T. Washington

He urged blacks to postpone efforts to achieve political equality and concentrate on self-improvement.

W.E.B. DuBois(1868-1963)

• Demanded racial equality immediately and criticized Booker T. Washington

• Started a newspaper called The Crisis to report on racial equality issues

• Founded the NAACP in 1905– “talented tenth”, exceptional blacks would gain

positions of full equality

• 1963 gave up U.S. citizenship and became a citizen of Ghana

Marcus Garvey (1887-1940)

• Believed in black nationalism

• Founded Universal Negro

Improvement Association (1914)– Audience: lowest class of blacks, most

disenfranchised

– Goals: 1) foster worldwide unity among blacks 2) encourage pride in African heritage 3) rejected integration 4) “back to Africa” movement

• Moved to New York (1916)

• Charismatic speaker and published newspaper called “Negro World”– Had millions of followers

• Misused funds in 1925, jailed, deported and died in obscurity