From the Black Codes to Jim Crow

1. From the Black Codes to Jim Crow An Oakham History Department Production (NOT SCN)

2. The Black Codes (1865-1867) • 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.

3. The Black Codes (1865-1867) • 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.”

4. The Black Codes (1865-1867) • 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.

5. The Compromise of 1877 • The Southern Democrats in Congress agreed to authorize the disputed electoral votes for the (hated) Republican Hayes in exchange for: • Federal troops leaving the South • The financing of “internal improvements” in the southern states. • The federal government backing off enforcing civil rights legislation and the 14th amendment. • Hayes accepted these conditions and became President.

6. Jim Crow Laws • 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 African-Americans in the south without actually banning them outright from voting.

7. Seven Jim Crow Tactics • Fraud • Intimidation • Grandfather Clauses • Literacy Tests • Poll Taxes • “Good Character” Tests • The White (Democratic) Primary

8. Fraud

9. Intimidation • Ku Klux Klan • Cruickshank and the Ku Klux Cases ex parte Yarbrough.

10. Grandfather Clauses • These took several forms: • 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.

11. Literacy Tests • Worked against both poor whites and blacks at first. • Gradually evolved into a mechanism applied only to blacks:

12. Alabama Literacy Test (1940s) • 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?

13. 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.

14. 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:

15. 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?

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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?

19. 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?

20. 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.

21. The White Primary • 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).