African American Life, 1877-1900

Oppression, and Response

When Reconstruction ended in 1877, the gains African Americans had won were rolled back. A harsh new order was built across the South. ⚠️ The oppression was severe. African Americans were stripped of the vote, separated by segregation, tied to the land by sharecropping, and held down by the threat of violence. None of this is minimised here. ⭐ But this is also a story of response. African Americans built their own churches, schools, colleges and businesses, followed leaders and strategies, and some moved north. The strongest answers hold the oppression and the agency together.

The oppression, and the response

Two things are true of these years at once, and the best answers hold both. Hold both here.

Order how the new order was built

Put these into an order that shows how the harsh new order was built after Reconstruction.

• Reconstruction ends and federal troops leave the South in 1877
• African Americans are stripped of the vote by devices like literacy tests and poll taxes
• Segregation laws separate black and white in daily life
• The Supreme Court upholds separate but equal in 1896
• The whole order is backed by the threat of racial violence

What the Supreme Court decided in 1896

What did the Supreme Court decide in Plessy v Ferguson in 1896?

• It upheld separate but equal, making segregation lawful
• It ended segregation across the country
• It guaranteed African Americans the vote
• It gave African Americans free farmland

Words for the period

Five words that let you explain the new order, rather than just describe the hardship.

Spot the tools of oppression

Three of these were used to hold African Americans down after Reconstruction. Choose the three.

• Segregation laws separating black and white
• Removing the vote through literacy tests and poll taxes
• Trapping families in sharecropping debt
• Giving African Americans free land of their own
• Guaranteeing equal schools for all

Held down, but never passive

The sharpest answers show both the severity of the oppression and the reality of African American agency, and refuse to reduce a whole people to victims. The oppression was systematic. The loss of the vote, segregation in law, sharecropping poverty and the threat of violence together built a harsh new order across the South. But African Americans responded. They built their own churches, schools, colleges and businesses, and leaders such as Booker T Washington offered strategies to advance, while some families moved north. Holding the oppression and the agency together, and being ready to compare this experience with other groups of the period, is the grade 9 move.

Match each term of the period to what it means

Find the sentence that holds both

A student writes about African American life after Reconstruction. Select the ONE sentence that holds the oppression and the agency together.

• Stripped of the vote, segregated and held down by violence, African Americans still built their own churches, schools and businesses and followed leaders who offered ways to advance.
• African Americans simply accepted their fate and did nothing.
• Nothing changed for African Americans after Reconstruction ended.
• The oppression of this period had no economic side to it.

Why historians look for agency

Historians studying an oppressed group are careful not to tell only half the story. It is not enough to list what was done to a people; you also have to see what they did in return. A group can face deep injustice and still act: building, organising, teaching, and finding ways forward under the hardest conditions. To record only the injustice is to leave the people themselves out of their own history. Hold that idea. To judge a period like this, weigh what was done to a people against what they did in response, and keep both in view.

Complete the account of the period

The forced separation of black and white in daily life was _____. The Southern laws that enforced it were the _____. The removal of the right to vote was _____. Farming another persons land for a share of the crop was _____. The 1896 case that made separate but equal lawful was _____.

Judge African American life in this period

Which is the soundest understanding of African American life between 1877 and 1900?

• A period of severe oppression that rolled back the gains of Reconstruction, but one in which African Americans showed real agency, building their own institutions and following their own strategies
• A period in which African Americans passively accepted their fate
• A period in which nothing changed from Reconstruction
• A period of social separation with no political or economic side

The oppression, and the forms of response

The strongest answers weigh both, because this period was shaped as much by the response as by the oppression.

Judge the period like an examiner

You are marking three claims about African American life after Reconstruction. For each, choose the soundest judgement.

• An essay says African Americans passively accepted their oppression. Is that safe?
• An essay says nothing changed after Reconstruction ended. Is that safe?
• An essay says the oppression was only social. Is that safe?

Write: oppression and response, 1877 to 1900

How did life change for African Americans between 1877 and 1900, and how did they respond? Explain the oppression, weigh it against the response, and reach a judgement. This is written in English and is not auto-marked.

• Explain the political oppression: the loss of the vote
• Explain the social oppression: segregation and Jim Crow
• Explain the economic oppression: sharecropping and poverty
• Explain the response: institutions, leaders and migration
• Reach a supported judgement holding oppression and agency together