AP African American Studies Flashcards: The Defeat of Reconstruction
Written by AP Content Team, Verified for 2026 AP Exams, Last updated: May 2026
Review key ideas with interactive flashcards. This set includes 14 cards to help you master important concepts.
Grandfather Clauses
A voting restriction that allowed a man to vote only if his grandfather had been eligible to vote before 1867, effectively disenfranchising African Americans whose grandfathers had been enslaved.
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Grandfather Clauses
A voting restriction that allowed a man to vote only if his grandfather had been eligible to vote before 1867, effectively disenfranchising African Americans whose grandfathers had been enslaved.
De jure segregation
Segregation enforced by law, which became common in Southern states after the Compromise of 1877 as they rewrote their constitutions to include such laws.
Which Supreme Court case established the "separate but equal" doctrine?
The 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson upheld a Louisiana segregation law, establishing "separate but equal" as the legal basis for racial segregation.
Literacy Tests
A measure requiring potential voters to demonstrate the ability to read and write, which was often administered unfairly to disenfranchise African Americans.
What was the significance of the Compromise of 1877 for Reconstruction?
Following the election of 1876, this compromise effectively ended Reconstruction by leading to the withdrawal of federal oversight, which allowed Southern states to dismantle reforms.
What methods were used to suppress Black voting after Reconstruction?
States used measures such as poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses to legally disenfranchise African American voters.
What was the practical reality of the "separate but equal" doctrine?
In practice, the Plessy v. Ferguson decision legalized separate and unequal resources, facilities, and rights for African Americans.
How were Reconstruction-era reforms dismantled in the late nineteenth century?
Reforms were dismantled through the rewriting of state constitutions, the suppression of Black voting, racial violence, and Supreme Court rulings that legalized segregation.
"Separate but equal" doctrine
A legal doctrine established by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that allowed for racially segregated facilities, claiming they were constitutional as long as they were equal in quality.
What role did violence play in the defeat of Reconstruction?
Racial violence, such as lynching, and retaliation from groups like the Ku Klux Klan were used to endanger and intimidate African Americans, suppressing their rights.
Poll Taxes
A fee required for voting that was used as a measure in the late nineteenth century to suppress the votes of African Americans and poor whites.
Which 1954 Supreme Court ruling began the process of dismantling the "separate but equal" doctrine?
The Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) was the landmark decision that started to dismantle the legal basis for segregation established by Plessy v. Ferguson.
Identify a political terrorist group that embraced white supremacist doctrine during this era.
The Ku Klux Klan was a prominent political terrorist group that used racial violence and retaliation against African Americans and their allies.
What was the long-term legal impact of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)?
It provided the legal foundation for racial segregation in many facets of American society for over half a century, entrenching the system of Jim Crow.