Georgia Studies Unit 5: The New South

Lesson 2: Social and Political Change

Study Presentation Lesson 2: Social and Political Change • ESSENTIAL QUESTION: – How did influential African Americans influence social, political, and economic change? Separate But Equal • Civil Rights: rights a person has as a citizen • Jim Crow laws passed to separate blacks and whites; legal basis for segregation (separation of people based on race) • Plessy v. Ferguson: Homer Plessy, in an act of planned civil disobedience, was arrested for sitting in a white only train car. Plessy, who was only 1/8 black, was considered colored in Louisiana. • Supreme Court decided that segregation (Jim Crow Laws) was allowed by federal law in public institutions as long as they were “separate but equal” – decision in place until 1954 (Brown v. Board of Education). A Loss of Voting Rights • Rules created to keep African Americans in Georgia from voting (disenfranchisement): – Poll tax: a tax paid to vote – Voters had to own property – Voters had to pass a literacy test (which was determined by the poll worker and could be different for different people) – Grandfather clause: only those men whose fathers or grandfathers were eligible to vote in 1867 could vote – Gerrymandering: election districts drawn up to divide the African American voters Racial Violence • Race riots and terrorist activities (like the 1906 Riot and the lynching of Leo Frank) increased during the New South (1877-1918). • White Supremacist Groups, like the Ku Klux Klan, continued to spread and grow throughout the South during this time period. • Racial violence in the United States (particularly in the South) continued for decades and would not begin to slow until the of the 1960’s. Booker T. Washington • Outstanding civil rights leader of the era • President of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama • Supported good relations between blacks and whites • Worked to improve the lives of African Americans through economic independence • Believed social and political equality would come with improved economic conditions and education (known as accommodationism). • Gave the famous “Atlanta Compromise” speech in 1895; discussed his ideas of shared responsibility and the importance of education over equality. W. E. B. DuBois • Professor at Atlanta University • Recognized the importance of speeches given by Booker T. Washington but did not agree with accommodationism • Believed in “action” if African Americans and whites were to understand and accept each other • Thought Booker T. Washington was too accepting of social injustice • Began urging black activists to organize together in protest against segregation and discrimination. African Americans Organize • W.E.B. DuBois founded the Niagara movement; group which met in Niagara Falls to assemble a list of demands, which included the end of segregation and discrimination • NAACP (1909): National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Worked for the rights of African Americans • W.E.B. DuBois left Atlanta to work for the NAACP in New York • National Urban League formed in 1910 – Worked to solve social problems of African Americans in cities – Assisted people moving from rural South to urban North John and Lugenia Burns Hope • was a Civil rights leader from Augusta, GA • President of Atlanta University • Like DuBois, believed that African Americans should actively work for equality • Part of group that organized NAACP • Hope’s wife, Lugenia, worked to improve sanitation, roads, healthcare and education for African American neighborhoods in Atlanta Atlanta Mutual Insurance Company

• Alonzo Herndon started barber business • 1905: Purchased small insurance company and managed it well • Now one of the largest African American businesses in the US • Worth over $200 million and operates in 17 states

Women’s Suffrage • Suffrage: the right to vote • Seneca Falls, NY – famous meeting of suffragettes • 1920: 19th Amendment gives women the right to vote – Georgia did not ratify (approve) the amendment