Ch 21 Racism and Progressivism

Progressivism rose in a time where racism was at its highest in America.  In 1900 more than two-thirds of the nations 10 million blacks lived in the South as sharecroppers and tenant farmers.  Black men in the cities took jobs in factories, mines, docks, and railroads or became carpenters or bricklayers.  Most women went into jobs that were such as: domestic servants, seamstresses and laundry or tobacco workers.”Jim Crow” laws segregated streetcars, schools,parks,and even cemeteries.  Many southern cities imposed residential segregation by law until the Supreme Court restricted measures in 1917.  Segregation was enforced by violence, white rioters in Atlanta in 1906 murdered twenty-five blacks and burned many blacks homes.  African Americans had to depend on one another for child care and The urban black community included black-owned insurance companies and banks, and a small elite of entrepreneurs, teachers, and ministers.  President Woodrow Wilson racism was out of control, he allowed racial segregation in all levels of the government.