Thesis: Although the promise of equality and prosperity were present for African-Americans, this premise was never kept and African-Americans remained segregated. Voting rights were taken, education was limited, and jobs were unavailable due to racism and new immigration. Factor 1: Plessy v.
Ferguson (1896) z– “Separate but equal” * Ruled that separate but equal facilities are constituted in the 14th Amendment * The quality of African American life was unequal to that of whites * Public places (schools, restaurants, restrooms, railroads, etc. ) were segregated. Jim Crowe Laws) * Black facilities were inferior to whites. * Southern whites dealt harshly with blacks who violate the South Cede of Conduct * Blacks were killed/beaten/lynched, most often for asserting themselves as equal.
Factor 2: Booker T. Washington v. Dr. W.
E. B. DuBois – “Complete Equality or Segregation” Booker T. Washington * Supported giving African Americans good education, but did not challenge white supremacy * Founded Tuskegee Institute (trained young blacks in agriculture and trades)POV: He holds the POV that African American need to be self-sufficient but do not need to be fully equal to succeed.
| W.E. B. DuBois * Demanded complete equality of blacks (social and economy)POV: He holds the POV of African-Americans should be completely equal.
| These two’s contrasting opinions showed how the life experience between the North (DuBois)and South (Washington) affect their different goals and choices. Factor 3: Populists and African-Americans – “One Step Towards Equality or Not? ” * The first step towards Populism was the start of the Farmers’ Alliance in the late 1780s. * The Alliance were farmers who came to socialize but also band together to break the grip of the railroads and manufacturers by buying and selling with one another. Downside: Ignored landless farmers, sharecroppers, farmworkers, and blacks (who counted for nearly half the agricultural population in the South.
) * The new political party, People’s Party or Populist, emerged in the early 1890s. * Mostly popular with only a few states in the Midwest * South did not want to risk accepting a new party * At the beginning, they tried to get the black vote since that would give them a strong voice but also they acknowledged that black farmers suffered the same as any farmer. Southerners were afraid of the idea of black people being able to sway any of their decision through votes they did everything they could to stop them from voting. * Literacy test and poll taxes were established * “Grandfather Clause” – No one is allowed to vote if they did not vote before in 1860 (no slaves voted then) * Many intimidation tactics were used to keep as many blacks away from the ballots as possible. * The unsuccessful attempt to gather black votes turned Populist from being interracial to racism due to the consequences that affected the party itself.
