Resistance and Repression Click the mouse button to display the information. After Reconstruction, most African Americans were sharecroppers, or landless farmers who had to give the landlord a large share of their crops to cover their costs for rent and farming supplies.  In 1879 Benjamin “Pap” Singleton organized a mass migration of African Americans, called Exodusters, from the rural South to Kansas.

Some African Americans that stayed in the South formed the Colored Farmers’ National Alliance.  The organization worked to help its members set up cooperatives.  Many African Americans joined the Populist Party.  Threatened by the power of the Populist Party, Democratic leaders began using racism to try to win back the poor white vote in the South. Resistance and Repression (cont.) Click the mouse button to display the information.

By 1890 election officials in the South began using methods to make it difficult for African Americans to vote. Resistance and Repression (cont.)

What did African Americans do to try to improve their conditions in the South after Reconstruction? Exodusters left the rural South and migrated to Kansas. African Americans who stayed in the South joined organizations such as the Colored Farmers’ National Alliance and the Populist Party. Click the mouse button to display the answer. Resistance and Repression (cont.)

Disfranchising African Americans Click the mouse button to display the information. Southern states used loopholes in the Fifteenth Amendment and began to impose restrictions that barred almost all African Americans from voting.  In 1890 Mississippi required all citizens registering to vote to pay a poll tax, which most African Americans could not afford to pay.

The state also required all prospective voters to take a literacy test.  Most African Americans had no education and failed the test.  Other Southern states adopted similar restrictions.  The number of African Americans and poor whites registered to vote fell dramatically in the South. Click the mouse button to display the information. Disfranchising African Americans (cont.)

To allow poor whites to vote, some Southern states had a grandfather clause in their voting restrictions.  Disfranchising African Americans (cont.) This clause allowed any man to vote if he had an ancestor on the voting rolls in Click the mouse button to display the information.

What methods did Southern states use to disenfranchise African Americans? Southern states imposed restrictions such as a poll tax and literacy tests. Click the mouse button to display the answer. Disfranchising African Americans (cont.)

Legalizing Segregation Click the mouse button to display the information. In the late 1800s, both the North and the South discriminated against African Americans.  In the South, segregation, or separation of the races, was enforced by laws known as Jim Crow laws.  In 1883 the Supreme Court overturned the Civil Rights Act of  The ruling meant that private organizations or businesses were free to practice segregation.

Southern states passed a series of laws that enforced segregation in almost all public places.  The Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson endorsed “separate but equal” facilities for African Americans.  This ruling established the legal basis for discrimination in the South for over 50 years. Legalizing Segregation (cont.) Click the mouse button to display the information.

In the late 1800s, mob violence increased in the United States, particularly in the South.  Between 1890 and 1899, hundreds of lynchings–executions without proper court proceedings–took place.  Most lynchings were in the South, and the victims were mostly African Americans. Click the mouse button to display the information. Legalizing Segregation (cont.)

What was the result of the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson? The Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson endorsed “separate but equal” facilities for African Americans. This ruling established the legal basis for discrimination in the South for over 50 years. Click the mouse button to display the answer. Legalizing Segregation (cont.)

The African American Response Click the mouse button to display the information. In 1892 Ida B. Wells, an African American from Tennessee, began a crusade against lynching.  She wrote newspaper articles and a book denouncing lynchings and mob violence against African Americans.

Booker T. Washington, an African American educator, urged fellow African Americans to concentrate on achieving economic goals rather than legal or political ones.  He explained his views in a speech known as the Atlanta Compromise. Click the mouse button to display the information. The African American Response (cont.)

The Atlanta Compromise was challenged by W.E.B. Du Bois, the leader of African American activists born after the Civil War.  The African American Response (cont.) Du Bois said that white Southerners continued to take away the civil rights of African Americans, even though they were making progress in education and vocational training.  He believed that African Americans had to demand their rights, especially voting rights, to gain full equality. Click the mouse button to display the information.

How did the viewpoints on solving discrimination differ between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois? Click the mouse button to display the answer. The African American Response (cont.)

Booker T. Washington urged fellow African Americans to concentrate on achieving economic goals rather than legal or political ones. Washington said African Americans should prepare themselves educationally and vocationally for full equality. Du Bois said that white Southerners continued to take away the civil rights of African Americans, even though they were making progress in education and vocational training. He believed that African Americans had to demand their rights, especially voting rights, to gain full equality. The African American Response (cont.)