Jim+Crow+America




 * To set the stage for the civil rights movement, you must first understand the environment of segregation in the United States in the first half of the 20th century. What was life like in Jim Crow America? Cut and paste this information into a new page in your Unit 8 Online ISN. You (and your partner, if you have one) are African Americans who have lived through the era of Jim Crow in America. Using the links provided in this activity, respond to the “oral history questions” in first person  . You can do this in Word by copying this document onto a new document, completing it using the resources below, and cutting and pasting it into a new page on your notebook. **

The 14th amendment to the Constiution guaranteed citizenship to all who are born in the United States, regardless of race, as well as denying the government's ability to claim property or life of any citizen without due process of law, due process relating to court cases and rights related to them and equal protection relating to not discriminating in court - at least against race.
 *  1) Right after the Civil War, the 14th Amendment was ratified. What did the 14th Amendment provide for African Americans? What does “due process” and “equal protection of the laws” mean? [|14th LINK] **

A 'black' man named Plessy(He was actually mostly Caucasian) was challenged due to a Louisiana law that segregated cars on trains. He managed to take it all the way to the Supreme Court, but only one judge was on his side. This led to almost everyone assuming that "separate but equal" was the same as all-out equality.
 *  2) Unfortunately, your equal rights were challenged by the Supreme Court in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. What do you remember about the facts, decision, and impact of this case? [|Plessy LINK] **

By no means was Jim Crow a writer of laws - In many ways, there never was a Jim Crow, but he haunts us nonetheless. Jim Crow was a character created by an actor to be the stereotypical black man, and though highly offensive, he gained great fame all the way to Europe. Jim Crow was used as a derogatory term for blacks for a while, but eventually it came to represent anything that repressed them.
 * 3) The laws developed in the South became known as Jim Crow laws. Who was this Jim Crow fellow? Did he write the laws? [| Jim Crow LINK] **

miscegenation - marriage between two races

In some areas, I wasn't allowed even to play a game of cards with whites! I had virtually no white friends, and even if I were to have a girl/boyfriend that was white, regardless of whether I was black, Chinese, or Japanese, I wouldn't be allowed to marry them. Separation was definitely not equality, in my mind.
 * 4) What are some specific examples of the Jim Crow laws from southern states? How did the laws affect you? [|Jim Crow Laws LINK 1] / [|Jim Crow Laws LINK 2] / [|Jim Crow Laws LINK 3] **

The biggest thing was that there were "colored" and "white" signs EVERYWHERE. It basically gives one an idea of how little whites are even socially allowed to associate with blacks - and even if they started it, the black would get in trouble, not them. From what you can see, whites were clearly the favored company at the time.
 * 5) What did Jim Crow America look like in the 1900s? What are some images that can help explain the realities of the time? [|Jim Crow Images LINK 1] / [|Jim Crow Images LINK 2] **

It was a huge case in which two white women on a train blamed nine black youths for raping them because they thought they'd be prosecuted for being sexually active on the train. All except one were sentenced to death in the initial trial, and I remember thinking about how unfair it was that they'd been judged in such a way.
 *  6) What happened in the Scottsboro Case? How did it make you feel as an African American in the South? [|Scottsboro LINK] **


 * 7) Why should anyone care about your lilfe during Jim Crow America? [|Why should I care? Link] **
 * ﻿For one, us "new negroes" were starting to cause a bit of trouble in the South, and were willing to do anything for our true freedom. **