New South
a Southern vision for a self-sufficient economy post-Civil War; built on capitalism, industrial growth, and improved transportation
Henry Grady
coined the term “New South”
Slaughterhouse Cases
a series of post-Civil War Supreme Court cases containing the first judicial pronouncements on the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
Civil Rights Cases
1883 - five cases brought under the Civil Rights Act of 1875; Supreme Court decided that discrimination in a variety of public accommodations (such as theaters, hotels, and railroads) could not be prohibited because such discrimination was private and not state discrimination
lynching
the act of putting a person to death by mob action without due process of law; hanging by trees
Booker T. Washington
African American progressive who supported segregation and demanded that African Americans better themselves individually to achieve equality
Tuskegee Institute
college founded by Booker T. Washington in Alabama that trained thousands of blacks to become better farmers/merchants
Atlanta Compromise
argument put forward by Booker T. Washington that African Americans should not focus on civil rights or social equality but concentrate on economic self-improvement
George Washington Carver
African American scientist who discovered many new uses for peanut and other southern crops to improve the farming industry
W.E.B. Du Bois
the 1st black to earn a PhD from Harvard; protested against Booker T. Washington’s ideas; encouraged blacks to resist systems of segregation and discrimination; helped create NAACP in 1910; Talented Tenth
The Souls of Black Folk
book by W.E.B. Du Bois
Plessy vs. Fergusson
a “separate but equal” doctrine that lasted for more than 50 years that ruled that segregation was legal as long as African Americans had access to public facilities equal to whites
“Separate but Equal”
principle upheld in Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) in which the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public facilities was legal
Jim Crow Laws
laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites; state laws in the South that legalized segregation
Grandfather Clause
a clause in registration laws that allow people to vote if their father or grandfather had voted before Reconstruction (before 1867)
NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; an interracial organization founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination and to achieve political and civil rights for African Americans
Great American Desert
the vast arid territory that included the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Western Plateau; the lands between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Coast
Homestead Act
1862 - an act that allowed a settler to acquire as much as 160 acres of land by living on it for 5 years, improving it, and paying a nominal fee of about $30; was out in place to encourage American settlers to cultivate land in the west
Granger Laws
a set of laws designed to address railroad discrimination against small farmers, covering issued like freight rates and railroad rebates
Wabash Case
1886 - a United State Supreme Court case that severely limited the rights of states to control interstate commerce; stated that only the federal government can regulate interstate commerce; led to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission; limited States’ rights
barbed wire
invented by Joseph Glidden; used to fence in land on the Great Plains, eventually leading to the end of the open frontier; twisted strands of fence wire with barbs at regular intervals
Plains Indians
a diverse group of Indian tribes and their languages that inhabited the West; posed a serious threat to western settlers because,unlike the Eastern Indians from early colonial days, they possessed rifles and horses
Battle of Little Bighorn
1876 - battle in which Indian leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated Custer’s troops, who tried to force them back on to the reservation; Custer and all his men died
Chief Joseph
leader of Nez Perce who fled with his tribe to Canada instead of reservations; U.S. troops came and fought and brought them back down to reservations
Battle of Wounded Knee
1890 - the massacre by U.S. soldiers of 300 unarmed Native Americans in South Dakota; ended the Indian Wars
Helen Hunt Jackson: A Century of Dishonor
1881 - written to expose the atrocities that the United States committed against the Native Americans in the 19th century
Dawes Severalty Act
1887 - authorized the President to survey American Indian tribal lands and divide it into allotments for individual Indians; those who accepted allotments and lived separately from the tribe would be granted U.S. citizenship; attempt to destroy Indian culture and the unity of the tribe and make each Native American head of household more like the White citizen/farmers
Frederick Jackson Turner
U.S. historian who stressed the role of the western frontier in American history (1861-1951); said that humanity would continue to progress as long as there was new land to move into because the frontier provided a place for homeless and solved social problems
Frontier Thesis
the argument by Frederick Jackson Turner that the frontier experience helped make American society more democratic; emphasized cheap, unsettled land and the absence of a landed aristocracy