Transcript From the Black Codes to Jim Crow: Disenfranchisement Schemes

From the Black Codes
to Jim Crow
An Oakham History Department
Production (NOT SCN)
The Black Codes (1865-1867)
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In 1865, southern governments created Black
Codes, which served as a way to control and
inhibit the freedom of ex-slaves.
In many states, if unemployed, African
Americans faced the potential of being
arrested and charged with vagrancy. If
convicted, they could be contracted out for
labor.
The Black Codes (1865-1867)
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Codes prevented African Americans from
raising their own crops.
Often blacks were prohibited from entering
towns without permission.
Florida Constitution of 1865: “In all criminal
proceedings founded upon injury to a colored
person, no person shall be incompetent to
testify as a witness on account of color; in all
other cases, the testimony of colored persons
shall be excluded.”
The Black Codes (1865-1867)
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These codes were outlawed by the 14th
amendment (1868) and by the Reconstruction
Act of 1867.
Even the most conservative justice of the
Supreme Court would agree that the Black
Codes were a violation of the 14th amendment.
The Compromise of 1877
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The Southern Democrats in Congress agreed to
authorize the disputed electoral votes for the (hated)
Republican Hayes in exchange for:
1. Federal troops leaving the South
2. The financing of “internal improvements” in the
southern states.
3. The federal government backing off enforcing civil
rights legislation and the 14th amendment.
Hayes accepted these conditions and became
President.
Jim Crow Laws
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Combine this with the Slaughterhouse ruling in
1873, The Civil Rights Cases in 1883, and Plessy v.
Ferguson in 1896 and you have the genesis of the
“Jim Crow” South.
This is a name given to the set of laws and
practices that disenfranchised AfricanAmericans in the south without actually banning
them outright from voting.
Seven Jim Crow Tactics
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Fraud
Intimidation
Grandfather Clauses
Literacy Tests
Poll Taxes
“Good Character” Tests
The White (Democratic) Primary
Fraud
Intimidation
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Ku Klux Klan
Cruickshank and the Ku Klux Cases ex parte
Yarbrough.
Grandfather Clauses
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These took several forms:
1.
2.
3.
A person could only vote if his grandfather had
been eligible to vote.
A person was exempted from other voting
requirements if his grandfather had been eligible to
vote.
A person was registered for life as a vote if he
registered before 1865, and ineligible for life
otherwise.
Literacy Tests
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Worked against both poor whites and blacks at
first.
Gradually evolved into a mechanism applied
only to blacks:
Alabama Literacy Test (1940s)
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Does enumeration affect the income tax levied on citizens in
various states?
A United States Senator elected at the general election in
November takes office the following year on what date?
How many states were required to approve the original
Constitution in order for it to be in effect?
Who passes laws dealing with piracy?
On the impeachment of the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, who tries the case?
After the presidential electors have voted, to whom do they
send the count of their votes?
If the two houses of Congress cannot agree on adjournment,
who sets the time?
Of the original 13 states, the one with the largest
representation in the first Congress was ______.
The Congress decides in what manner states elect presidential
electors. True or false?
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Poll Taxes
Seven states had poll taxes up to the 1960’s, when the
24th amendment abolished them. FL, GA, LA, and
NC had already gotten rid of these taxes in the 1940s.
Generally this tax ranged from $1 to $3.50 per year.
But this was usually a cumulative tax; you had to pay it
each and every year between the ages of 21 and 45,
whether there was an election or not.
There were exemptions for WWI and WWII veterans,
National Guardsmen, and Confederate veterans and
widows.
You also had to make your way to the county
courthouse each year to pay these in person. This
served to severely disenfranchise rural black voters.
Alabama Good Character Test
I, do hereby apply to the Board of Registrars of
____________________________County, State of
Alabama, to register as an elector under the
Constitution and laws of the State of Alabama, and do
herewith submit answers to the interrogatories
propounded to me by said Board.
___________________________________________
_____ (Applicants Full Names)
QUESTIONNAIRE 1. State your name, the date and
place of your birth, and your present address.
2. Are you single or married?______(a) If married, give
name, resident and place of birth of your husband or
wife, as the case may be:
Alabama Good Character Test
3. Give the names of the places, respectively, where you
have lived during the last five years; and the name or
names by which you have been known during the last
five years
4. If you are self-employed, state the nature of your
business
5. If you claim that you are a bona fide resident of the
state of Alabama, give the date on which you claim to
have become such bona fide resident:
_______________________(a) When did you become
a bona fide resident of _______________County?
______________(b) When did you become a bona fide
resident of Ward or Precinct?
Alabama Good Character Test
6. If you intend to change your place of residence
prior to the next general election, state the facts:
7. Have you previously applied for and been
denied registration as a voter? If so give the facts
8. Has your name been previously stricken from
the list of persons registered?
9. Are you now or have you ever been a dope
addict or habitual drunkard, explain as fully as
you can
Alabama Good Character Test
10. Have you ever been legally declared insane? If
so, give details
11. Give a brief statement of the extent of your
education and business experience
12. Have you ever been charged with or convicted
of a felony or crime or offense involving moral
turpitude?
13. Have you ever served in the Armed Forces or
the United States Government
Alabama Good Character Test
14. Have you ever been expelled or dishonorable
discharged from any school or college or from any
branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, or of
any other country?
15. Will you support and defend the Constitution of the
United States and the Constitution of the State of
Alabama?
16. Are you now or have you ever been affiliated with any
group or organization which advocates the overthrow
of the United States Government or the government of
any state of the United States by unlawful means?
Alabama Good Character Test
17. Will you bear arms for your country when
called upon by it to do so? If the answer is no,
give reasons.
18. Do you believe in free elections and rule by the
majority?
19. Will you give aid and comfort to enemies of
the United States Government or the
Government of the State of Alabama?
Alabama Good Character Test
20. Name some of the duties and obligations of
citizenship?
21. Give the names and post office addresses of
two white persons who have present knowledge
of your bona fide residence at the place as stated
by you.
The White Primary
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Democratic parties all throughout the South
passed rules to only allow whites to vote in the
Democratic primary.
Until 1944, the Supreme Court allowed this
practice.
Between 1876 and 1944, no Republican was ever
elected to the United States Senate or elected
Governor of any southern state (except
Tennessee).