Jim+Crow's+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 ISN.** **You (and your partne****r, 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] After the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted to the Constitution to guarantee African American rights. The Fourteenth Amendment was one of the three amendments that focused on African Americans. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and the Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed African American men the right to vote.

**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] I remember the date al-right, it was June 7, 1892. Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in the “White” car of the East Louisiana Railroad. He was a Creole of Color, this means that Mr. Plessy could have easily pass for being white though in the Louisiana law, he was considered black. This term was used for people like him because the black people who lived in New Orleans had traces of ancestry from the French, the Spanish, and the Caribbean settlers. The main reason why this would happen is because sometimes a black civil rights organization would decide to challenge the law in courts. So, Plessy deliberately say in the white section and was arrested. The case went all the way up ot the Supreme Court where Plessy lawyer argued that the Separate Car act violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. SEPARATE BUT EQUAL.

**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 the name associated with segregation laws. He did not write the laws. He was a stereotypical black farmer. A white actor would paint his face black and try to look stupid to shun the blacks and entertain the white.


 * 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]

A black person could not reach his hand out to great someone, and we were not allowed us to eat with whites. If a black man were to try to greet a women by shaking her hand it would be considered rape. Different entrances to buildings. Illegal for whites and blacks to look through the same windows. Segregated schools for blacks and whites were established, at these schools blacks and whites had separate water bubblers

He looked like a dirty black farmer; Jim Crow was not one person, many people dressed up as him and painted their face black.
 * 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]

In 1931, the "Scottsboro Boys," a group of nine black youths, gained a lot of world attention as they were falsely accused of raping two White women in Alabama. It started on March 25, when a group of African American youths were on a train looking for work. A fight that broke out between black and white hobos resulted in the whites being thrown off of the train, who told officials about the event. Eventually, the train was stopped and the nine boys were confronted by armed men and thrown in jail. As they were about to be charged with assault, two white women that were dressed in boys clothing were found to be hiding on the train. Without any evidence connecting the boys to the women, the boys were accused of raping the two white women. These women had sexual relations with the white men who were thrown off of the train, but because they were afraid of prosecution for their activities with the white men, they decided to try to blame the African Americans. In the town of Scottsboro, Alabama, the all-white jury convicted them, and all but one of them were sentenced to death. After a series of overturns and reconvictions by the Supreme Court and Alabama, none of them were killed, although many of them spent years in jail. As an African American in the South, I obviously was very scared. Through the treatment of the law, it had come very close to African Americans being killed for a crime they didn't even commit, and I was very scared for my own life. We all hoped that this kind of unfair treatment wouldn't continue or even escalade, but we all wanted to prepare for the worst. But, the part that made me the most furious was my realization that if the whites had been on the other end of this, the severity of their punishment would not even come close to what the "Scottsboro Boys" were almost forced to face.
 * 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]