Question

Discuss the significance that segregation voting rights and education had on african American life in the South during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Answer 1

Segregation and racism had a huge impact on African-Americans in the South during the late 1800s and early 1900’s. One example of this would be public schools. The Plessy vs Ferguson case established the idea that there can be separate facilities for blacks and whites as long as they are “equal.” Despite this law, schools for African-Americans often had lower quality buildings and textbooks.

Another example of how African- Americans were limited during this time was when voting. Southern states passed laws such as a poll tax or literacy tests to prevent African-Americans from voting. A poll tax was a sum of money required to vote. This greatly affected African- Americans especially during the 1800’s because many of them did not have a lot of paper money due to their previous status as slaves. The literacy tests were extremely difficult reading comprehension tests that African-Americans usually failed during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. This was due to the fact that schooling was limited for this group of people.