Edexcel AS History Unit 1

In the 25 years following the American Civil War (1861-1865) attempts were made to make America a fairer society/rebuild Southern states. 

Two further constitutional amendments were passed in an attempt to give African Americans rights 

Fourteenth Amendment 1868: gave citzenship to all people born in the USA, was an attempt to guarentee the rights of people who were formerly been slaves 

Fifteenth Amendment 1870: gave all citizens voting rights regardless of race

never fully enforced

• 1890-1910 southern states introduced legal segregation. 
• Passed local laws which denied black Americans access to facilities used by white Amiercans
• Education, healthcare, transport, restaurants, cinemas, toilets, bus stations, drinking fountains (public facalities) 

Segregated attitude of mind (how people sat, ate etc) 

Despite the Fifteenth Amendment, southern states found ways to desenfranchise the local black population.

• Grandfather Clause - you could only vote if your grandather had
• Litracy tests

One method of challenging segregation was to go to court and show that 'Jim Crow' laws violated the American Consistution. 

• Plessey claimed that segregation was unlawful (fourteenth amendment) 
• Claimed that Louisiana has acted illegally when they had arrested him for sitting in a white-only area of a train 
• Court decided segregation was okay as long as facilities were equal in quality