Reconstruction and Racial Segregation, 1865-1900

Who laid down the political framework for Reconstruction?

Northern Republican politicians in Congress in 1866 and 1867.

What did the 14th Amendment guarantee to African-Americans?

It guaranteed that African-Americans born in the country were citizens and ensured equal protection of the laws.

What did the 15th Amendment prohibit?

It prohibited states from denying citizens the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

What role did churches play in the Black community during Reconstruction?

Churches served as spaces for education, fraternal organizing, political meetings, and religious worship.

What significant political movements did African-Americans participate in during Reconstruction?

They set up union leagues and local Republican organizations and elected Black men to political offices.

What was the stance of White supremacist groups during the Reconstruction era?

They violently resisted the Freedmen's participation in society, often targeting Black Republicans.

What were the key tactics used by Southern Whites to establish racial segregation?

Violence, intimidation, poll taxes, and literacy tests.

What landmark Supreme Court case upheld racial segregation?

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which ruled that separate facilities were constitutional if equal.

How did the federal government contribute to the failure of Reconstruction?

By hesitating to intervene and withdrawing federal troops, leaving African-Americans unprotected.

What did rising racial tensions in the South lead to by the dawn of the 20th century?

The construction of a racially-segregated society supported by laws that oppressed African-Americans.

What impact did Social Darwinism have on perceptions of African-Americans?

It provided pseudo-scientific justification for claims of natural Black inferiority.

How did some African-Americans respond to post-Reconstruction oppression?

By taking pride in emancipation and realizing progress through declining illiteracy and rising land ownership.

Who was Ida B Wells?

A Black woman who campaigned against lynching and represented resistance to racial oppression.

What was the general condition of African-Americans at the beginning of the 20th century?

Most lived in rural poverty and were trapped in sharecropping and debt peonage.

What is significant about Booker T. Washington in this context?

He was a celebrated Black spokesman attempting to devise a strategy for African-Americans to prosper.