Life in 1917-

• Segregation


  Many southern governments passed a series of laws that set up a system of segregation. Jim Crow Laws-laws that segregated all aspects of life eg. black and white people were to live separately. There were different buses, theatres, hospitals, schools, benches and toilets. Black teachers were paid less.
• Violence was used to enforce the segregation system. 2000 people were lynched in the last 2 decades of the 19th century they were advertised in news papers and were seen as a normality.
• Black people were free from slavery however they were still considered inferior and had different rights.
• The racism and segregation reached the top levels of government; president Wilson had no issue with segregation and introduced it in government offices in 1913.
• 1919-25 anti-black race riots in which hundreds were killed. Worst was the 'Red Summer' riots in Chicago.
• Legal

  1870-black Americans were given; equal civil rights, right to vote, right to sit in juries and become judges, the right to get married and have children without fear. However, racial hatred still remained. Many state governments still chose to persecute black people.
• Freedman's Bureau


  Set up in order to tackle the problems freed slaves may face. 4000 free schools which educated 250,000 black students. By 1870, 21% of black people in the South could read. In 1877, many black schools were forced to shut down due to white racists; some schools were burned and students got beaten up.
• Share cropping

  Introduced by Southern landowners because they no longer had slaves to work. Free black people could work on the farms for a share of the crops. Many black share croppers ended up working for their old masters but as free men.
• Ku Klux Klan

  Terrorist group set up by a secret society. They aimed to ensure that white people controlled society by terrifying black people and ethnic minorities. They used brutal violence, people were beaten, lynched, burned, drowned and shot. It was banned in 1872 but continued as it was still popular and judges and policemen were often members. They wore white robed and hoods. By 1925 they had 3-8 million members. This lead to children being brought up as white supremacists.
• Booker T. Washington


  Famous black American who advocated for accepting segregation. He had a significant following, especially from better off black people. He also had white support; they felt he saw how many Southern Whites feared black people gaining equality.
• Plessy vs Ferguson

  The court had ruled that despite the 14th amendment, segregation was possible if provision was 'separate but equal. It was used to support many other cases on segregation.
• When the great depression hit the government focused solely on correcting that and civil rights issues slid even further out of sight.
• 1919 red summers


  Racial violence in 25 riots. 250 killed 500 injured.
• Please v Ferguson 1896


  Supreme court ruling legalised de jure and defacto racism in all ways of life.