The Reform Movements

Civil Rights&Immigration

The Jim Crow South

► After Reconstruction, most of the newly won freedoms of African Americans began to disappear.

► This systemic discrimination was called “Jim Crow” (after a minstrel song-and-dance).

► Jim Crow laws began in the South and had spread throughout the country by 1900…

► Dominating every aspect of life for African Americans.

The Effectsof Jim Crow

► Voting Restrictions—poll taxes, literacy tests, etc.

► Segregation—schools, parks, public buildings, hospitals, transportation systems, etc.

► Random Violence—lynching of suspected criminals.

► Mass Migration—many Africans move north, seeking to escape discrimination…causing race riots in major cities.

Plessy v. Ferguson Was the upholding of the

Jim Crow laws by the Supreme Court.

The case arose when “Octoroon” Homer Plessy was refused a seat on the Louisiana Public Railroad.

The court held that segregation was legal as long as the separate facilities were “equal”…

Which led to the “Separate but Equal” standard for all public places.

African American facilities were rarely (if ever) equal.

African American Resistance

Booker T. Washington—supported legal challenges to segregation and “economic equality”…criticized for his quiet moderation.

W.E.B. Dubois—founded the Niagara Movement, which called for full civil liberties and an end to racial discrimination…argued that education was the key to equality.

NAACP—founded in 1909 and became the main organizing force in the fight for civil rights.

W.E.B. Dubois

Immigrants Between 1865 and 1920, 30

million immigrants arrived in the US…

Most came from northern Europe…

They traveled in steerage—a large open area below deck.

70% came through New York City’s Ellis Island facilities (the “Golden Door”).

Many were placed in quarantine upon arriving.

Most settled in the Northeast, some went to western mining towns…

Only 2% settled in the South. In big cities, pay for

immigrants was always very low.

“Steerage” Accommodations

Ellis Island, 1905

Ellis Island, Today

Ellis Island Processing Facilities

Rejected Ellis Island immigrants, waiting for deportation

An immigrantin quarantine

Nativism► A political movement that

sought to guarantee better treatment for native-born Americans…

► And also promoted SUSPICION of immigrants.

► The American Protective Association—called for the teaching of American culture and English-only instruction in schools.

► Fought for the Chinese Exclusion act…

► Supported forced literacy tests for immigrants.

► The biggest targets were immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and Asia.