5.14 changing lives of black Americans

• Life in the South:

  • cotton industry collapsed after Civil War

  • blacks prevented from better paid jobs

  • majority of blacks worked as sharecroppers on land owned by former slaveholders
• Challanges in the North:

  • many black Americans left South for Northern cities

  • racism meant black workers much less likely to get job than less qualified workers
• Opportunities in the West:

  • Homestead act was open to black Americans

  • formerly enslaved people encouraged to move to Kansas and claim land under the Homestead Act

  • by 1879 over 6000 black Americans had moved to Kansas

  -> know as the exodusters
• Education:

  • in 1882, Booker T.Washington set up school to train black children to be farmers, craftsmen and house seervants

  • by 1900 there were 23,866 teachers, 417 doctors and 300 lawyers
• What did the Jim Crow laws do?

  segregate
• What political violence did black Americans face?

  • redeemers

  • Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

  • lynching
• the Redeemers:

  • Redeemer governments were governments run by ex-slaveholders that wanted to undo changes made after Civil War

  • bought in literacy tests to stop blacks from voting, introduced segregation laws and ignored violence against black Americans
• Ku Klux Klan:

  • violent grouup that believed white were superior to black

  • banned in 1870s, secretly re-formed in 1890s

  • had influence amoung people in power, including state politicians and Southern police forces
• Constitutional changes:

  • campaigned for better treatment due to 13th, 14th and 15th Ammendments promised equality

  • south cannot enslave blacks or remove right to vote
• What is lynching?


  hanging someone without proper trial - kept blacks in fear
• What big businesses grew and how?

  • Cotton and tobacco - number of cotton mills in South doubled - American Tabacco Company controlled 90% of cigarette production

  • Farms and ranches - bonanza farms (farms over 10,000 acres) began to appear

  • Minerals - growth of railroads led to demands for coal, iron, steel and other minerals
• What impact did the growth of cotton and tabacco have on people?

  • more cotton factories meant more demand for cotton

  -> picked by poorly paid blacks or sharecroppers

  • new factories mean new jobs - low paid, low skilled and usually for whites

  • due to America Tabacco Company controlling most production, no reason to improve wages for workers
• What impact did the growth of farms and ranches have on people?

  • people who could not afford own land could get employed and save money

  • bonanza farms controlled best land, water and railroads, stopping smaller farmers from completing

  • bonanza farms sometimes used violence to intimidate small-scale ranches

  • black and minority farmers could not usually compete with bonanza farmers
• What impact did the growth of minerals industry have on people?

  • big corporations usd power and political influence to pay workers as little as possible

  • steel workers went on strike, local militia were sent in - 6 killed

  • black and mexican workers were employed when workers on strike

  • trade unions had little power - used it to prevent black and mexican workers from getting employment

  • big companies could 'blacklist' troublesome employees stopping them from getting work
• How were cities impacted due to growth of big companies?

  • controlled local water supplies - increased power

  • cities overcrowded - 32 families in 6-8 storey tenement

  -> led to disease

  • drew people in with work, entertainment, education and freedom
• What were the reasons for the mass migration to the USA?

  • American economy was booming by 1880s

  • travel to America was faster and cheaper - due to steam ships

  • Jewish people being persecuted in places in Russia

  • America offered freedom of religion and thought
• What was living in America like?

  • immigrant went to cities to find work

  • anti-immigrant violence was common

  • law prevented Chinese workers moving freely

  • immigrants ended up in poorest areas of cities