Unit 39.1 - Civil rights and race relations in the USA, 1850-2009
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PEARSON (PEARSON)
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Access to History: Civil Rights and Race Relations in the USA 1850-2009 for Edexcel
Model Essay for: "How significant was the Supreme Court in the worsening conditions experienced by black Americans in the south between 1883 and 1900?"
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how significant was the supreme court in the worsening conditions experienced by black americans in the south
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PEARSON (PEARSON)
History 2015
Unit 39.1 - Civil rights and race relations in the USA, 1850-2009
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Safia Hussain edexcel History
How significant was the Supreme Court in the worsening conditions experienced by black
Americans in the south between 1883 and 1900?
The dire conditions experienced by black Americans could be attributed to the decisions made by
the Supreme Court. However, there were other factors that also contributed worsening conditions
which include the Jim Crow laws, white violence and the divisions amongst blacks.
One way the Supreme Court affected the livelihoods of black Americans was by repealing the
benefits they gained during radical construction. After the compromise of 1887, where federal
troops retreated from the South which prevented them from enforcing the 14th and 15th
amendments which granted birth rights and franchise to black Americans, leaving blacks vulnerable.
This was then taken further with the actions of the supreme court by nullifying the Civil Right Act of
1883 after national backlash as the purpose of this act was the truly safeguard black civil liberties.
The nullification was justified by the branding of the Civil Rights act as unconstitutional and thusly so
institutionalised discriminatory beliefs and took away of civil and political rights for black Americans.
In response, African Americans turned to the court to help protect their constitutional rights which
provided often unsuccessful verdicts. In 1883 this led to the Civil rights cases where the Chief Justice
Morrison Waite and his fellow eight justices of the Supreme Court dealt with several cases
concerning the maltreatment of black Americans. An example was the Plessy v Ferguson case, due to
Louisiana state law Plessy sat in a “white only” train car since he was mixed race. Plessy faced
imprisonment and two courts before the supreme court where he was again ruled against since it
shows how segregation was not deemed to have violated the fourteen amendment. Other land mark
case was the Williams v Mississippi 1898 which concerned about literacy testing and
disenfranchisement of blacks. Lastly Cummings v The board of education which argued that taxes
were collected from everyone included blacks and that the tax dollar were not distributed equitably
since black students didn’t benefit. The Supreme Court retorted that since African Americans are
now equals they must pay taxes like their counterparts and therefore is not unjust. These cases
prove how the role of the Supreme court during 1883 -1900 was counter radical reconstruction and
in fact took away any means of blacks attainting political justice.
However, the Supreme Court was not the only reason for lower quality of life of black Americans
situated in the South, since there was de jure segregation of race which was accepted by law. De
jure segregation occurred because, white Americans wanted to support the decisions of the
Supreme Court. Another reason was increased hostility due to unprecedented rural to urban
migration which increased contact between the two races, aided by the railroad expansion. Lastly
due to the black successes for example black farm ownership had increased by 25% by the end of
1900. The successes of an “inferior” race in white eyes necessitated segregation and firmed white
supremacy making black lives harder. Examples of how de jure segregation affected lives included
education was particularly affect for examples black students in New Mexico had to be taught in
separate classroom and in North Carolina textbooks between races were not interchangeable, but
affected other areas of life such as marriage laws like in Florida, separation in burial and event social
scenes such as restaurants. This demonstrates how segregation repressed and restricted the
freedoms of black Americans. To make segregation palatable the idea of “separate but equal” was
established however the provisions for blacks always going to be significantly worse.
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