After the civil was plantations were broken up into smaller plots and rented to tenant farmers. The tenant farmers paid rent but had their own tools and seeds necessary for farming. The sharecroppers had no money and gave the portion of their crops as rent but they were in constant debt.
When the federal troops left the south after the civil was strict racial segregation laws known as the Jim Crow laws were placed in effect. The laws separated blacks from whites in all aspects of society: transportation, schools, public places. In Plessey vs. Ferguson the Supreme Court upheld "separate but equal" by stating African Americans had to ride in separate cars from whites on trains. John Marshall Harlan was the only Supreme Court justice to vote against racial segregation.
The Populist Party was a new political party who wanted to help poor farmers and sharecroppers. In the 1800s the south attempted to pass laws preventing African Americans from voting although the 15th amendment gave that right
Methods used to disenfranchise African Americans:
An African-American child at a segregated drinking...
Sign for "colored" waiting room at a Greyhound bus...
"White" and "Jim Crow" railcars; racial segregatio...1. Poll Tax
2. Literacy test
3. Grandfather clauses.
Booker T. Washington was an African American leader who taught others racial segregation must be accepting. He emphasized the importance of learning a skill and founded the Tuskegee Institute. W.E.B Dubois was another African American leader who spoke out against booker t. Washington and believed in equal rights for all. He emphasized the importance of education, not skills and that racial segregation must end.