Racial Disenfranchisement and Civil Rights History

Negro Jobs

Symbolic jobs offered to Black Americans, such as minister to Haiti or Liberia, with little real political power.

Disfranchisement after Reconstruction

To nullify Black political power despite the 14th and 15th Amendments.

14th Amendment

Citizenship for Black Americans.

15th Amendment

The right to vote regardless of race.

Methods to disenfranchise Black voters

Violence, intimidation, fraud, gerrymandering, and restrictive laws.

Mississippi Plan of 1890

A set of laws including poll taxes, literacy tests, and petty crime disqualifications to prevent Black voting.

Isaiah Montgomery

The only Black delegate to support the Mississippi Plan.

Grandfather Clause (1898)

A law allowing whites to bypass literacy tests if their ancestors voted before 1867, excluding most Black people.

Jim Crow laws

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the South.

Lynchings between 1882-1891

1,483.

South vs. North race issues

The South had legal segregation and violence, while the North had racial stereotypes and federal indifference.

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Equal access to public places and jury service for Black citizens.

Civil Rights Cases (1883)

The Supreme Court ruled the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional.

Justice John Marshall Harlan

The only justice to dissent in the Civil Rights Cases.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

A Supreme Court case that upheld 'separate but equal' segregation laws.

Homer Plessy

A man of 1/8 Black ancestry who challenged segregation laws in Louisiana.

Brown v. Board of Education

The case that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson.

Booker T. Washington's advocacy

Industrial education and self-improvement as a way to gain respect and rights.

Tuskegee Institute

A school founded by Booker T. Washington focusing on vocational training for Black students.

W.E.B. Du Bois's belief

The 'Talented Tenth' and immediate civil rights through political activism.

NAACP

An organization W.E.B. Du Bois helped found.

NAACP methods

Mass meetings, investigations, and media like The Crisis magazine.

Self-help in the Black community

Building independent Black churches, schools, and businesses.