1890-1920 Society

What was Plessy vs Ferguson 1896?

• Homer Plessy challenged Louisiana state law and refused to leave a ‘white carriage’

• 7/8 Supreme court judges ruled segregation was legal due to the ‘separate but equal’ facilities

• However, equal could be interpreted however anyone desires

How were African Americans restricted from voting?

• Georgia introduced a $2 poll tax- most AA couldn’t afford this

• Mississippi introduced a literacy test to register to vote (questions were harder for African Americans)

• ‘Grandfather Clause’- you could vote if their father or grandfathers voted before 1st January 1867 (when AA got the vote)

Who was Booker.T.Washington?

• He was a former slave

• He set up the Tuskegee institute for African Americans

• Did the Atlanta Compromise speech

• Roosevelt invited him to the white house to discuss issues for AA

Who was William.E.B.DuBois

• First AA to get a degree at Harvard

• Argued more active resistance to discrimination

• Set up the NAACP and was involved in the Niagra Movement

What was the 1905 Niagra movement?

• Rejected washington’s cautious approach and emphasised protests for civil rights

• Didn’t develop into a mass movement due to lack of money and organisation

What was the NAACP 1909?

• Investigated racisms, publicised it and suggested solutions

• Constitutional approach

• The Crisis Newspaper

Who was Marcus Garvey?

• Founded the UNIA- wanted a strong economic base for AA (liberate Africa from colonisation)

• Black Star Shipping line (over 2 million members by 1920)

• Opposed by NAACP

• He provided hope for African Americans

How did African Americans progress during WW1

• 200,000 fought abroad

• Black consciousness due to being treated fairy by Europeans

• Pay in the North was much better than in the South

• The Great Migration

How did the war have a negative impact on African Americans?

• The military was segregated, AA usually worked in construction roles

• Government was restricting what the NAACP could publish

• 1919 Red Summer-race riots erupted across the USA

• 76 lynchings in 1919

How were African Americans involved in the war?

• Harem Hellfighters- aided the French and spent 191 days on the frontline

• over 350,000 helped in the war

• they thought there assistance in the war would improve their rights

How were cities shaped by immigration?

They created ethnic enclaves such as ‘little Italy’ in New York

How many immigrants came to the US from 1881-1920?

Over 18 million

What were push factors for European immigrants?

• persecution (Russia)

• Poverty and Hunger (south Italy)

What were pull factors in to America?

• America is the land of freedom and the riches

• High demand for migrant workers

Why did some immigrants choose to leave America?

• 60% of Italians

• 3% Russian Jews

• 1/3 immigrants went home

Why was Jewish Immigration different?

• Many families wanted to start a permanent life

• Many were poor but educated

• 2/3 Jews considered themselves skilled workers

How did urbanisation shape US society?

• tower buildings, emergence of the film industry

• Dynamic growth in the North and the East

How did WASP’s react to immigration?

• American Protective association- attempted to put pressure on the government to limit immigration

• 1905 Asiatic Exclusion League- limited Japanese immigration (by 1908 it ceased to exist)

Examples of violence faced by immigrants

• 11 Italians lynched in New Orleans after being acquitted of murder

• Revival of the KKK in 1915

• Hatred towards Roman Catholics, Jews and foreigners

What laws did the federal government pass during WW1?

• 1917 Espionage Act- instructed all postmasters to keep an eye on suspicious mail

  Eugene Debbs socialist leader jailed under this act

• 1919 Sedition Act-expansion of espionage act-1500 prosecutions made

What acts were passed to limit immigration?

• 1921 Emergency Quota Act- drastically limited the number of immigrants allowed into the USA
  1917 Immigration Act- introduced literacy tests

What was the Red Scare?

• Following 1917 bolshevik revolution

• Boston Police Strike-75% of officers went on strike

• More than 20 race riots in 1919

• uprisings made the government fear a revolution was incoming when it was actually industrial unrest caused by WW1

What were the Palmer Raids?

• US attorney general Mitchell Palmer had a touch stance on communism

• A wave of bombs including one outside palmers house

• His justice department agents raided the offices of ‘radical’ organisations in 12 cities (after a month 249 were deported)

• Red flags banned

• The raids were deemed illegal removing Palmer’s credibility

What was prohibition?

• 1917- 2/3 majority of drys in the house and senate

• war strengthened prohibition movement due to anti german sentiment

• Anti Saloon League- anti german propaganda against german breweries

• 18th ammendment

What was the fight for female suffrage?

• Begun in 1848- influenced prohibition and abolition of slavery

• National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) established

• 19th amendment granted all female citizens the vote, it came to effect in 1920