THE NEW SOUTH THE JIM CROW SOUTH

African Americans in the South  Southern Blacks made political gains during Reconstruction but these gains were rolled back after the Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction  Poll taxes & literacy tests (with grandfather clauses attached) greatly limited African American civil rights and the right to vote in the South.  Northern segregation was generally de facto, with patterns of segregation in housing enforced by covenants, bank lending practices, and job discrimination, including discriminatory union practices for decades.de facto

Jim Crow Laws  In the South, de Jure Segregation – Segregation by force of law.  Laws were enacted between 1876 and 1965, legally enforcing Segregation in the South.  Public places; private businesses, schools, etc…  These Jim Crow Laws followed the same pattern/beliefs as the1800– 1866 Black Codes, which had previously (before the Civil Rights Act of 1866) restricted the movement and civil liberties of African Americans with no pretense of equality.Black Codes Thomas Dartmouth Rice as "Jim Crow" 1832

Plessy v. Fergusson An 1896 Supreme Court case upholding segregation laws as constitutional as long as services and facilities were separate, but equal…will not be overturned until 1954’s Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court Case. Which Amendment had language that would have made such laws possible?

Lynching  Black people were kept from demanding their rights by the threat of lynching.  Lynching was an illegal vigilante mob attack in which a black person was hung for a perceived (often untrue – often “rape”) offense. Sometimes for just being too “uppity”. Lynch mobs were rarely, if ever, prosecuted. Ida B. Wells: newspaper woman and crusader against lynching

The Question Becomes: How to Respond to Segregation and Unrecognized Civil Rights and Lack of Personal Safety? Three Very Different Approaches…  Booker T. Washington  WEB Dubois  Marcus Garvey

Washington vs. Dubois BOOKER T. WASHINGTON ( ): (Atlanta “Compromise”)  Founder and President of Tuskegee Institute  Basic belief: Black people need to economically prove themselves (mostly in trade skills) and make themselves necessary before seeking equal civil rights – patiently work within the segregated system.  Reached an Agreement with southern white leaders at the Cotton States and International Exposition (Atlanta, 1895): “Southern blacks would work meekly and submit to white political rule, while Southern whites guaranteed that blacks would receive basic education and due process in law” - was not received favorably by others, such as…

Washington vs. Dubois W.E.B. DUBOIS ( ): (The Talented Tenth) Basic Belief: Black people need to fight for their Constitutional civil rights RIGHT NOW, or become permanent victims of segregation. He “insisted on full civil rights and increased political representation, which he believed would be brought about by the African-American intellectual elite. He referred to this group as the Talented Tenth and believed that African Americans needed the chances for advanced education to develop its leadership.”Talented Tenth

An Alternative Solution Marcus Garvey ( ) (Declaration of the Rights of the Negro)  Brought the Universal Negro Improvement Association from his native Jamaica to the US in  He established the organization in Harlem, promoting racial pride, black separatism, universal black nationalism, black economic self-sufficiency, and a back-to-Africa movement.  Basic belief…Create a separate African Nation for all Black peoples of the world

Niagara Movement  Dubois’ ideas struck a nerve with many educated black (and white) people, who formed the Niagara Movement, denouncing the idea of gradual progress.  The Niagara Movement eventually became the NAACP, after it was joined by white reformers following a 1908 Springfield, Illinois riot Annual Meeting, Boston Founding members of the Niagara Movement WEB Dubois

NAACP  Used the courts to fight discriminatory laws  In the early years, the NAACP fought for equal access to decent housing and professional careers  While The NAACP concentrated on middle-class political and social justice, the Urban League focused on the growing numbers of poor black urban workers

How much progress did these Early Civil Rights Activists and Movements make?  African Americans did not make much actual progress in their rights during the time period  The Jim Crow Laws and the high rate of lynching in the South were major factors in the Great Migration during the first half of the 20th century. Eventually, 6 million African Americans moved out of the rural south to northern, western and mid- western cities to seek better lives, becoming an urbanized population, but it will take a century and a Civil Rights movement to make real change.

Aside from Jim Crow, what else was happening in The New South ?  “New South”  Term coined by Atlanta newspaper editor to describe the Post-War/Post Reconstruction South; the idea that the “the South will rise again” in a new and improved form  New Railroads  From , 180 new rail companies began operations and southern rails expanded by 135%, networking the South within and throughout the Nation  New Industries  Textile mills, using southern cotton flourished; the tobacco industry expanded with the introduction of cigarette manufacturing companies, like RJR; new industries, such as limestone, phosphate, coal, iron mining and steel were also established throughout the South  New Cities  by 1900, eight Southern Cities boasted populations over 50,000  New Schools  New Post-Confederate Southern State Constitutions all included public education requirements; Public Universities and trade schools also founded; By colleges and universities in the south (though, mostly for whites)