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Difficulty: HardThe New South and Jim Crow

Read the excerpt below carefully.

'The colored people of Memphis have did the only thing they could do to defend themselves. They have systematically stayed off the street cars... and have emigrated by the thousands to the West. The white merchants and railway companies are beginning to feel the loss of their trade and labor. This movement shows that the Negro has a weapon in his own hands—his labor and his patronage—which, if properly used, can force the South to respect his rights and protect his life.'
— Ida B. Wells, *Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases*, 1892

The strategies of resistance described in the excerpt most directly challenge which of the following contemporary approaches to achieving civil rights?

  1. The advocacy of temporary accommodation to segregation in favor of vocational training and gradual economic self-improvementAnswer
  2. B
    The legal strategy of seeking immediate redress in federal courts under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
  3. C
    The formation of interracial political coalitions to challenge the Southern Democratic establishment
  4. D
    The reliance on the immediate enforcement of Reconstruction policies by the federal executive branch

Answer

The advocacy of temporary accommodation to segregation in favor of vocational training and gradual economic self-improvement
The correct answer is correct because Ida B. Wells's calls for direct economic action, boycotts, and mass migration to the West directly challenged the accommodationist strategy popularized by Booker T. Washington. Washington's philosophy advised African Americans to accept social segregation temporarily, remain in the South, and concentrate on acquiring vocational skills and property rather than engaging in political agitation or boycotts.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the historical context and author of the primary source.
The excerpt is from Ida B. Wells's pamphlet *Southern Horrors* (1892), written in response to racial violence and lynchings in Memphis.
Understanding the context helps identify the specific debate within the early civil rights movement during the Jim Crow era.
2
Identify the strategy advocated by the author in the text.
Wells calls for active resistance through economic boycotts of white businesses/transit systems and migration away from the South to exploit white dependence on Black labor.
This establishes the active, confrontational nature of her civil rights strategy.
3
Compare Wells's strategy with contemporary alternatives during the Gilded Age.
Booker T. Washington's approach (accommodationism) argued that African Americans should avoid political agitation, accept segregation for the time being, and focus on self-help and vocational training.
This highlights the ideological divergence between Wells's active protest/emigration and Washington's accommodationist philosophy.

Key Concept

Debates over strategies for civil rights and economic advancement in the Jim Crow South
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Topics

The New South and Jim Crow

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