PLESSY V. FURGUSON

VOTING

• In order to vote men had to own property or pay a poll tax
• Poll tax is a special fee you have to pay before you vote
• People had to pass literacy tests that proved they could read, write, and meet minimum standards for knowledge

VOTING

• Kept poor white men and blacks from voting
• Didn't want poor whites and blacks to unite and elect a populist candidate
• Protected white voters by making laws with grandfather clauses
• Grandfather clauses exempted men from certain voting restrictions

SEGREGATION

• Made sure blacks were treated as second class citizens
• Segregation was required by Jim Crow laws
• Jim Crow laws appeared a few years after segregation
• Segregation in parks, schools, public buildings, hospitals, and transportation systems

LYNCHING

• Blacks had to remove their hat or step off the curb to let white men pass
• Small breaches of this racial etiquette would lead to serious trouble for blacks

LYNCHING

• Worst kind of violence was lynching
• Estimated 1,200 blacks were lynched between 1882 and 1892
• Mostly lynching was down south but there was some in the north

PLESSY V. FURGUSON

• Homer Plessy argued for his right to equal protection of the law
• 14th amendment said that blacks have political and civil equality but not social equality
• Segregation was legal as long as facilities for blacks were just as good as ones for whites

THESIS

• This is the most important crisis in U.S history because it stopped lynching

CURRENT Connection

• Down south there are still some places where there's segregation

PRIMARY SOURCE