How To Legalize African Americans In The Early 1900s

During 1865 to 1900, freedoms for African Americans were extremely limited socially. After Reconstruction ended, African Americans were being segregated from white society. Many Southern states created laws that segregated blacks from whites. This included segregation in schools, parks, water fountains, and hospitals. These laws became known as the Jim Crow Laws. Many people believed that these laws were in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled “separate but equal” facilities for blacks and whites was not in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. They said that as long as the whites and blacks were of equality quality it was legal to have the segregation between whites and blacks. On top of all of this, a terrorist group called the Ku Klux Klan terrorized African Americans. They didn’t want them to be treated as equals and by doing this they burned down schools and destroyed homes of both blacks and white citizens that felt sympathetic toward the African Americans. They also struck fear by hanging citizens without trial.

After the end of the Civil War, Black Codes were created by Southern states to make it illegal for African Americans to vote, testify in court against a white citizen and serve on juries. The ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment ended the Black Codes but the Southern states found a way around this. They used literacy tests and poll taxes to prevent blacks from voting. They also created a grandfather clause. It stated that anyone whose father or grandfather had been eligible before 1867 has the right to vote but before that time, slaves didn’t have the right to vote. This clause also allowed white citizens to vote even if they failed the literacy test or could not pay poll