African American History Flashcards

Flashcards covering African American history from segregation to black pride (1866-1939)

Fourteenth Amendment

Overturned the Black Codes, Three-Fifths Compromise, and the Dred Scott decision and established a principle of equality before the law.

Sharecropping

Trapped African American farmers in an endless cycle of debt and poverty.

Redeemer governments

Reestablished white supremacy throughout the South and used poll taxes and literacy tests to disenfranchise black voters.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Provided legal support for "separate but equal" Jim Crow laws.

Booker T. Washington

Urged African Americans to accept segregation, avoid political agitation, and concentrate on economic advancement.

W.E.B. Du Bois

Urged African Americans to challenge Jim Crow segregation and demand full economic, social, and political equality.

NAACP

Used lawsuits in federal courts as its primary weapon against segregation.

Great Migration

Caused by discrimination and the pull of a booming Northern job market, leading to a mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North.

Harlem Renaissance

Marked an outpouring of literary and artistic works that expressed the assertive spirit of the "New Negro."

Marcus Garvey

Preached a message of black pride and black self-help.

African American voters

Became an important part of the New Deal political coalition.

Black Codes

Designed to limit the labor, mobility, and rights of African Americans after the Civil War.

Fourteenth Amendment (1868)

Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and prohibited states from denying equal protection of the laws.

Fifteenth Amendment (1870)

Forbade the federal government or states from denying citizens the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Sharecropping

A labor system where black families exchanged their labor for the use of land, tools, and seed, typically giving half of the crops to the landowner.

Ku Klux Klan

Began in Tennessee in 1866 and used violence to intimidate blacks and undermine Republican power.

Redeemers

Democratic leaders who aimed to restore white supremacy and save the South from Republican rule.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws mandating segregated facilities based on the "separate but equal" doctrine.

"Separate but Equal" Doctrine

The concept that segregated facilities were acceptable as long as they were equal in quality.

Accommodation (Booker T. Washington)

A policy of accepting segregation and focusing on economic advancement through vocational training.

"Ceaseless Agitation" (W.E.B. Du Bois)

A strategy of actively challenging Jim Crow segregation and demanding full equality.

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

Founded in 1909 to fight Jim Crow segregation through lawsuits in federal courts.

Great Migration

A mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to cities in the North and Midwest between 1910 and 1930.

Harlem Renaissance

A period of black literary, artistic, and political expression in Harlem during the 1920s.

Marcus Garvey

Emphasized black pride, self-help, and a return to Africa.

New Deal

Roosevelt's program of relief, recovery, and reform to address the Great Depression.