Reconstruction and Jim Crow Era in the South

Reconstruction

Period of Southern control by Republicans (1865-1877)

14th Amendment

Granted citizenship and equal protection to all.

15th Amendment

Prohibited voting discrimination based on race.

Military Occupation

Federal troops enforced laws in Southern states.

Freedmen's Bureau

Assisted freed slaves with education and employment.

KKK Violence

Terrorist acts by Ku Klux Klan against African Americans.

Redeemers

Southern Democrats reclaiming control post-Reconstruction.

Election of 1876

Controversial election leading to end of Reconstruction.

Jim Crow Laws

State laws enforcing racial segregation (1877-1960s).

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 case upholding 'separate but equal' doctrine.

Disenfranchisement

Methods used to deny African Americans voting rights.

Poll Tax

Fee required to vote, implemented in Georgia (1877).

White Primary

Only whites allowed to vote in primary elections.

Grandfather Clause

Exempted voters from literacy tests if ancestors voted.

Literacy Tests

Assessments to restrict voting rights for African Americans.

Lynching

Public murders used to enforce white supremacy.

Ida Wells

Anti-lynching activist and NAACP co-founder.

Booker T. Washington

Advocated for economic gains before civil rights.

Atlanta Compromise

Washington's strategy for African American progress.

W.E.B. Du Bois

Promoted immediate civil rights and political equality.

New South

Vision for economic diversification beyond cotton.

Birmingham Steel

Example of industrial growth in the New South.

Children in Labor

Over 22% of Southern textile workers were children.