nrl'K"KluxKI,J/fin/915.
stares.WhenCongresswithdrewfederal tro o ps
fromtheSouthinISn,whiteDemocratswon
controlofthese.too.ReconstructionW3Sover.
Fromthis rimeonwardssouthernblacksweretrc- arcd
moreandmereas"secondclasscitizens"-eth arIS,
theywerenotgivenequal treat m entund erthela w.
Most seriousof 31 1,theywererobbedoftheirrightto
vote.
Somesouthe rnstatesp re ventedblacksfromvot in g
bysayingthato nlypeoplewhopaida taxo n vo ters -
a polltax-co ulddo so. The yrhcnm ad c thetaxso
highth atm o stb lack s cou ldnoralfordto pay it. If
blacksdidtrytopay.rhc[a x collectorsoft enrefused
totake th eirmoney."Grandfatherclauses"werealso
widelyusedtopr ev entblacks fro mvoting .These
clauses,orrules,allow edtill'vo teonlytopeople
whosegrandfath ers had been q u alifiedtovotein
1865.M o stblackshadonlyo bta ined thevotein 1 866
sothe gra nd fathe r clau ses automaticallyrookaway
theirvoting righ ts,
Theeffe ctsofg ran dfa rbcrclausescould be seen inthe
stateofLo uisian a.Befo re 1898 it had164 ,08 8 white
voters and130,344blackvoters. Aft erLo ui sia n a
Introd ucedagrandfathe rclauseit still had125, 437
whitevorcrs.butonly5,3 20 b lackones.
Onceblackslost the vorc.rakingawaythe irot her
rights becameeasy,Allthesouthernstatesp assed
lawstoenforcestrictracialseparation,o r
"segregation."Segregationwasenforcedo n trams,
13 Itl(;()NSTRL:CT!O )\;in parks,1Ilschools,in restaurants.in th eater sand
swimmin gp ool s c-cvenin cemeteries!Anyblack
w ho daredtobreak thesescgrcgnrionlawswaslikely
rocndu p eitherinpj-iscnordead.In the 1890san
avera g eo f 1 51 ) b lacksa yearwerekilled
illegallv-." lynched"- bywhitemobs.Itseemed
thatrh eimprove..m c nr-,theCivilWarand
Reco n stru ct io n hadbroughtblackpeoplewerelost
fo r ever.
Uut Recon stru ctio n hadnorbeenfornothing.Ith ad
beenth e boldes tattemptsofartoachieveracial
j ustice intheUnitedStares. The l-ithAmendment
wasespeciallyimportant.Itwasthefoundationof
the CivilRigh tsmovementofthe1950sand1960s
andmadeit po..siblc for Marti nLuther Kin gtocry
ourcvcuruallvonbehalfofall black Amcricans:
"freear last! Free at last!ThankGodAlmightv.we
are freeat last!"Plessyv.Ferguson
In 189 6 theSupre meCounannounce d its d ecision
ina casecalledPh'ssyv.Ferguson,Itru ledthat the
Constitutio n allowedsepara tefacilitiesan dserv ices
tobe prov idedlorb lackand wh itepeople .solo ng
as the faciliti es andserv iceswereofeq ua l quality.
ThePlessyv.Fe~~lls~l"d ecisionm ad eracialseg rc-
garion a legalput of the Ameri canw ayoflife fo r
m o rt'th an h alf acent ur y.
Southernstatesim med iatelybegan makingsepar-
atebutlIIu'qrl<, 1 pro visio nfo r blacks.Theypassed
laws to enforce scgrcga non ill'every possible
aspect of life -public transportation, theaters,
hotels. caring places. parks. scho o ls.
The " sep arate but eq ual" d ec isio nreached in
Pless}' v, Fcrouson was at last overt urned b y
anotherSupremeCourtdecision in1954. In th e
caseofBrownv ,T opeka.theSupremeCourtru led
th at itwasimpo s siblefo r black child re n to receive
an equal educati on in segreg ated scho ols. It
o rderedthatall publi cschools intheU nitedStates
shouldbe ope ned to ch ild re nofall races.
This195-1decisio ntoaban do nPless}'v.j-:ergllsf.l/l
wasa land m ark in theblack C iv il Rightsmove-
mento f the I950s .Itm ark edth e b eg innin go f a
campaign to end all fo rm s ofleg ally enfo rced
scgrcga no nIIIAmericanlife.,7