Jim+Crow+Homework


 * 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. **

**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] The 14th Amendment was one of the 3 amendments that guaranteed African Americans rights the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to people who were once enslaved. The amendment was designed to also protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. The Fourteenth Amendment was passed in June 1866 by Congress and ratified by the states in 1868. "Due process" is very difficult to define. Due process means that you have certain rights and the government has to give you those rights. As for "equal protection of the laws", it means that everyone gets equal rights and the government has to treat you equally. That is why the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments were passed.

**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] Plessy was jailed for sitting in the "White" car of the East Louisiana Railroad. It violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments completely and was soon carried into the Supreme Court of the United States. They heard the case and held the Louisiana segregation statute constitutional. The Plessy decision set the precedent that "separate" facilities for blacks and white were constitutional as long as they were "equal." The "separate but equal" doctrine was quickly extended to cover many areas of public life, such as restaurants, theaters, restrooms, and public schools. I think this is horrible and unfair. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments were supposed to help segregation, but now we are segregated from many different places.

**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] The name Jim Crow is often used to describe the segregation laws, rules, and customs which arose after Reconstruction in 1877 and continued until the mid-1960s. People think Jim Crow was a ragged Black stable boy or an old Black slave who walked with difficulty. People have different thoughts. Jim Crow was an exaggerated, highly stereotypical Black character. Jim Crow was played in plays everywhere. The name Jim Crow soon became famous. Jim Crow did not write the laws, he was just a character played in many plays around the country. Jim Crow was also a racial slur and was used to describe laws and customs which oppressed Blacks. Some Jim Crow laws: White and Black children went to different school, illegal for different races to marry, and that hospitals and doctors are different for whites and blacks.

As a young boy I experienced more than one of those Jim Crow laws. I had to go to a different school than the white children. When I broke my leg I had to go through a colored entrance and got different treatment at the hospital than white people did. In my later years when I got married I wanted to get married in my hometown of Louisiana. However by law no white and colored person could be married. Because of this I had to move up north. Even then when I was riding the train to go get married I could not sit with the white people but in a separate train car just for colored people.
 * 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]

America was a segregated Nation. Blacks had to stand in different waiting lines than whites did. Black and white children had to go to segregated schools as well as pump water from segregated wells.
 * 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]

The Scottsboro Boys were nine black youths who were falsely charged with raping two white women in Alabama. The case began on March 25, 1931. A number of black youths as well as white were riding on a freight train, traveling to see if they could find some work when all of a sudden a fight broke out between a group of white and black hobos and the whites were thrown off the train. This was then reported to the stationmaster who immediately wired ahead for officials to stop the train. The black youths were arrested and taken to jail. Even though there was no evidence that the nine youths raped the two women the court sentenced all but the youngest who was twelve to death. This angered me that even though there was absolutely no evidence that these youths raped these women all but one of these black youths were sentenced to death. It is unfair that whites discriminate us for things we don’t do.
 * What happened in the Scottsboro Case? How did it make you feel as an African American in the South?** [|Scottsboro LINK]

**What do some of your friends and family say about life in Jim Crow America? (listen to one or two)** [|Audio History LINK 1] Charles Gratton~ Charles Gratton grew up with Jim Crow laws. Having been brought up with these laws he didn’t questions them too much. He had to walk six or seven miles to school, rain or shine. He said that one of his memories was when he would be home sick from school he could hear the children in school. However, the sounds he heard was a white school.