The Jim Crow South

Reconstruction

The period from 1865 to 1877 aimed at reintegrating Southern states and defining the status of formerly enslaved people.

13th Amendment

Constitutional amendment that abolished slavery in 1865.

14th Amendment

Constitutional amendment granting citizenship to all born in the U.S., ensuring due process and equal protection under the law.

15th Amendment

Constitutional amendment that prohibited the denial of the right to vote based on race, ratified in 1870.

Ku Klux Klan

A white supremacist terror group founded in 1866 that used violence to suppress Black voting and Republican leadership.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Legislation that banned racial discrimination in public accommodations but was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1883.

Compromise of 1877

Deal that resolved the disputed 1876 election, resulting in Hayes becoming president and withdrawal of federal troops from the South, marking the end of Reconstruction.

Jim Crow laws

Laws passed by Southern Democrats in the late 19th century, establishing de jure segregation in schools, transportation, and public facilities.

Disenfranchisement tactics

Methods used to suppress Black voter registration and participation, including poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court case that upheld the doctrine of 'separate but equal,' legalizing state segregation laws.

Ida B. Wells

A journalist known for exposing the realities of lynching and advocating for civil rights.

Civil Rights Cases (1883)

Supreme Court decision that overturned the Civil Rights Act of 1875, ruling that the 14th Amendment applied only to state actions.

Williams v. Mississippi (1898)

Supreme Court case that upheld literacy tests and poll taxes, further allowing racial disenfranchisement.

de jure segregation

Legal segregation that is sanctioned by law, created through Jim Crow laws.

Racial violence

Violent acts, such as lynching, used to enforce and maintain racial hierarchy in the South.