Jim Crow Laws and Political Figures of the Gilded Age

1. Chapter 9 Test Review

2. Vocabulary Jim Crow laws • legislation meant to segregate blacks and whites • grandfather clause says that if a person’s ancestors voted prior to 1866, he did not have to pass a literacy test in order to vote • poll tax tool used to prevent African Americansfrom voting by charging them money • spoils system Giving jobs to people who support a political party regardless of qualifications (led to the assassination of Garfield)

3. People • W.E.B. Du Bois Harvard graduate who criticized BookerT. Washington’s ideas • Ida B. Wells schoolteacher, journalist, and anti-lynchingactivist • Oliver H. Kelley founder of an organization that taught farmersnew farming techniques • William McKinley Republican winner of the 1896 presidentialelection • William Jennings Bryan Democratic presidential candidate whosupported “free silver”

4. Groups • Las GorrasBlancas group of Mexican Americans who fought toprotect land claims • Farmers’ Alliances organizations that brought farmers togetherto form farm cooperatives

5. Questions • Which African American leader said that African Americans need to build their own economies and “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”? Booker T. Washington • For what did Susan B. Anthony get arrested? Voting in a New York election • What was Thomas Nast’s occupation? Political cartoonist • How did the spoils system make political parties more powerful? by filling important government positions with party supporters

6. Questions • For what did white workers accuse Chinese workers on the West Coast? Stealing “white” jobs • Why did Republicans favor high tariffs and the gold standard? They thought it would improve the American economy

7. Short Response Why does Mark Twain call the economic and social conditions depicted in his novel “an entirely ideal state of society”? Use the quote below and your script to answer the question.

8. Short Response Sample • Mark Twain describes an ideal society in The Gilded Age but in reality, that type of society is only in people’s imaginations. For example, the excerpt says that “the poor are all simple-minded and contented” in the current society but, really, they are unhappy and working towards improving their lives. Groups such as the Farmer’s Alliance and labor unions represent the poor, working class and their goals are to improve income, working conditions and the overall standard of living for these people. Therefore, they are not simple nor content, which the elite of the Gilded Age pretend to believe, but instead they are tired of living poorly and unequally.