Lives of African Americans, 1877–90 (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes
Lives of African Americans, 1877–90
Context: the post-Reconstruction period
Following Reconstruction's conclusion in 1877, African Americans found their recently acquired civil rights under threat from intensifying racial hostility. This sentiment pervaded both Southern and Northern states, though its manifestations differed by region. The growing African American population in the North heightened white anxieties and prompted hostile responses. Poverty remained the standard condition for most African Americans, whilst institutionalised segregation in the South actively diminished rather than expanded civil liberties during this period. Despite these obstacles, a minority of African Americans achieved measurable economic advancement between 1877 and 1890.
The period following Reconstruction marked a critical turning point for African Americans. While legal freedom had been secured, the practical exercise of civil rights faced systematic erosion across both regions, though through different mechanisms—legal segregation in the South versus de facto discrimination in the North.
Internal migration and economic life in the South
Population growth and movement patterns
The African American population nearly doubled across these three decades, rising from 4.4 million in 1870 to 7.9 million by 1900. Emancipation had granted African Americans legal freedom to relocate to different plantations or regions. Whilst the majority remained in Southern states, considerable movement occurred within the region itself. African Americans typically migrated south and west from the border states, primarily in pursuit of better-paying employment. Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas experienced the largest population increases. Employment opportunities centred on farming, railroad construction, turpentine production, and lumbering.
The sharecropping system
Most African Americans in the South worked as agricultural labourers. Sharecroppers received artificially inflated prices for produce from landowners whilst being compelled to continue cultivating either cotton or tobacco. These were labour intensive crops—crops requiring substantially more workers than others because machinery could not always be deployed. This arrangement created a pool of inexpensive labour for plantation owners, which benefited those growing such crops.
Understanding Sharecropping's Impact
Though sharecropping provided freedmen with a livelihood, it also exposed them to disproportionate hardship. The system trapped African Americans in cycles of debt through:
- Artificially inflated prices for goods and supplies
- Forced cultivation of specific crops (cotton or tobacco)
- Vulnerability to crop failures and economic shocks
When the boll weevil (an insect that consumed cotton buds and flowers) devastated crops in 1892, sharecroppers in the southern states bore the severest consequences.
Key Terms:
Labour intensive crops: Cotton and tobacco required substantially more workers than other crops because machinery could not always be deployed for planting and harvesting.
Boll weevil: An insect pest that attacked cotton plants, consuming their buds and flowers, causing widespread agricultural devastation in 1892.
Progress towards land ownership
A gradual shift towards landownership occurred among African Americans, though the vast majority remained sharecroppers. By 1910, approximately 25 per cent of black farmers owned their land outright, and their living standards showed improvement. This represented modest but measurable economic progress for a minority within the African American farming population.
Migration to the North and West
Population changes and urban settlement
The black population in Northern and Western states nearly doubled from roughly 460,000 to over 910,000 between 1870 and 1900, with migration accounting for half this increase. The movement of African Americans northwards during the Gilded Age intensified white Northern awareness of and negative responses towards black communities.
The Formation of Harlem
A small group of African Americans relocated to the Harlem district of New York during the 1880s, where the first black ghetto began to form. A ghetto is a densely populated urban area inhabited by a socially and economically disadvantaged minority. This marked the beginning of what would become one of America's most significant African American cultural centres.
African Americans frequently encountered exclusion from trade unions and were relegated to substandard housing.
Discrimination and limited opportunities
Whilst African Americans in Northern states did not face legally mandated segregation, they routinely experienced discrimination across multiple spheres of life. Their employment prospects remained restricted, housing quality poor, educational access limited, and residential options confined to specific neighbourhoods. These conditions meant that quality of life for Northern African Americans did not improve substantially during this period.
Discrimination Without Legal Segregation
The North presented a paradox: African Americans escaped the legal framework of Jim Crow segregation, yet faced systematic discrimination through:
- Exclusion from trade unions and skilled labour opportunities
- Confinement to substandard housing in specific neighbourhoods
- Limited educational opportunities
- Restricted residential mobility
This demonstrates that the absence of legal segregation did not guarantee equal treatment or opportunity.
Comparative advantages in the North
Despite persistent discrimination, Northern states offered certain advantages over the South. African Americans enjoyed greater possibility of exercising the franchise in the North. Additionally, a robust black cultural community was developing in Northern urban centres, providing social networks and cultural expression that were more difficult to establish under the repressive conditions of the South.
Key Points to Remember:
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The African American population nearly doubled from 4.4 million (1870) to 7.9 million (1900), with most remaining in the South but experiencing internal migration towards Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas.
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Sharecropping dominated Southern black economic life, creating dependency on landowners who charged inflated prices and required cultivation of labour intensive crops like cotton and tobacco, leaving sharecroppers vulnerable to crises such as the 1892 boll weevil infestation.
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By 1910, 25 per cent of black farmers owned their land, representing modest economic progress for a minority of African Americans.
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Northern migration increased the black population from 460,000 to over 910,000, leading to the formation of urban communities such as Harlem (1880s), though African Americans faced discrimination in employment, housing, and union access.
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The North offered no legal segregation and greater franchise possibilities compared to the South, alongside the development of a strong black cultural community, yet overall quality of life improvements remained limited.