Jim+Crow+Life




 * 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 Notebook. 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. Make sure your responses are in first person! **

** 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__] **  The 14th Amendment was designed to provide citizenship and protect the liberties of recently freed slaves. Due process is following the correct procedure, to make sure people's rights are protected. Equal protection of the laws basically means that the government has to treat everyone the same under these laws. These acts and laws were designed to make sure we are treated equally. We see how well that worked out......*sigh*

** 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__] **  The Plessy Case was one that really affected everyone. I remember hearing on my radio that Homer Plessy sat in a “White” car of a train. Yeah, he could’ve passed as a white man, but his ancestry showed bits and pieces of African American blood. He was arrested, and his case was taken all the way to the Supreme Court. This was a very controversial case, yet only the Supreme Court Justice himself voted in favor of Plessy. His lawyer showed that those laws being passed were violating our 13th and 14th amendment rights, which basically got the whole darn country talkin’. Was this so? Was the government really violating our rights? Why yes. Yes it was. And the big reaction got the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine passed which extended the 14th amendment to more public places such as restaurants and theaters. This caused the concept of legal segregation to begin.

** 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__] **  ‘Jim Crow’ was a white man named Rice. He portrayed an extremely offensive, exaggerated, and highly stereotypical Black character in a popular play. This character became quite famous and his name soon became an offensive term for us. This term came to represent the oppressive laws against us even though he didn’t truly exist, let alone write them.

**4) What are some specific examples of the Jim Crow laws from southern states? How did the laws affect you? Which one do you feel is the worst? ** ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__Jim Crow Laws LINK 1__] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> / <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__Jim Crow Laws LINK 2__] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">/ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__Jim Crow Laws LINK 3__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #001ee6; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> / <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__Jim Crow Laws Link 4__]  ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Some of them Crow Laws really pounded us down. Some things we could never do in nearly all southern states were: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I feel that the shaking of hands one is the worst. We can’t touch those white people, they’re so ‘precious’. Ugh. It disgusts me! Even body language can get us arrested if it’s suspected of suggesting equality. What happened to ‘America, home of the free?’ It affects every aspect of my life; I’m starting to get paranoid about what I do. Anything could get me shot. My baby girl could get killed in an accident at an intersection because she thought the other driver was black. It’s a dangerous life and I hate it, I don’t feel safe anywhere I go.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">offer to shake hands with a white man (suggested equality)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">eat with the whites unless a partition was up between us and they were served first
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">show PDA
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">light a white gal’s cigarette
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sit in the front seat
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">call a white person by their first name-but they could only address us by our first name
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">get the right of way in an intersection - it was always their turn
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">segregated water fountains, restaurants, circuses, libraries
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">different entrances, ticket booths, windows
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">white nurses couldn't work in a ward with a black man
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">no black and white marriage

** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5) What did Jim Crow America look like in the 1900s? What are some images that can help explain the realities of the time? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__Jim Crow Images LINK 1__] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">/ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__Jim Crow Images LINK 2__] ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> There were lots of signs telling us where we could go or be seen, since it seemed we couldn’t even look at a white person. We had different theaters, waiting rooms, bus stations, and even water coolers. There were books and pamphlets also written about these topics of lynching and Jim Crow laws. Still, there were a few influential people who represented us, such as Booker T. Washington. He really tried to help us in the seemingly impossible fight for equality.



** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6) What happened in the Scottsboro Case? How did it make you feel as an African American in the South? <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Scottsboro LINK ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Well, there were some white and black hobos riding the rails, as usual, when a fight broke out. The whites were thrown off the train, but a few were still left on. The train was called to a stop and the nine “Scottsboro Boys” were arrested in the '30s. Two of the whites left on the train were women in disguise, and when the po-po found out about this, they immediately charged the boys with rape. Of course, there was no relations between them whatsoever, but the women were getting it up with the other hobos, if you catch my drift. They were afraid of confrontation so they agreed to charge the nine boys. The Scottsboro Boys went to court, in front of an all white jury, and all but the youngest, a 12 year old boy, were sentenced to death. Over the years, they were all released so luckily none of them were execute. Still, this was probably the saddest thing I’d heard in my life. 8 lil youngs almost killed for nuthin’? It’s crazy! The police have so much bias that they will do anything to get a black man. It’s inhumane, unjustified, and morally wrong. It makes us feel like the gum stuck on the bottom of a shoe; chewed-up garbage from the streets, now in your presence that you just want away because it doesn’t belong there.

** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7) Why should anyone care about your life during Jim Crow America? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__Why should I care? Link__] ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> People definitely need to care about of life during this terrible, horrendous life of injustice during Jim Crow America!!!! This has been a terrible era where the color of our skin, instead of the person underneath it, represents who we are. There isn’t a single phrase that could portray how treacherous life was for us during this time. It was also hard that so many of these boundaries, codes, and customs were unspoken or implied. If simply looked at someone different or gestured at them, we could get in deep trouble. If we were too confident we would be subjected to harassment, assault, and even murder. Although we did try to resist, it didn’t really work too well. People should care about our life during Jim Crow American, not simply because of the terror and fear all around, but also to appreciate the Civil Rights Movement more, and to help us decide how much has changed, and if we still are on a search for true American equality.