Jim+Crow+Life-+HW

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 to the constitution gave citizenship to all African Americans. It also said that states could not make or enforce any law that prohibited blacks from our certain rights. "Due process" means that the government cannot take away my property or my liberties unless they have good reasons that are within the law. "Equal protection of the laws" means that I have to be treated like everyone elses in the eyes of the justice system. If two people are charged with the same crime, we both have to be treated equally, no matter our race.

**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 vs. Ferguson sure brought controversy with it. A man by the name of Homer Plessy decided to sit in the white car. And he did it on purpose. Plessy was black man, but he had a light complexion because he was a Creole. Lousiana had passed the Seperate Cars Act, which said that blacks and whites had to sit in different cars on trains. Well, Plessy didn't quite agree with that, so he sat in the whites only section of the train. He was arrested, and later brought his case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said that it was alright, and legal, for blacks and whites to sit seperately, as long as the facilities were equal. This became known as "seperate but equal". That didn't quite happen, but it was never challenged until th50's.

**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 wasn't really a real person. Some say that he came from a song that was by a crippled black slave, while others say that it was a black stable boy. Thomas Rice heard the song, and decided to create a character out of it. Rice was an actor, and he did little skits. He took Jim Crow, and made him a lazy black man, who was also very stereotypical and very exaggerated. This character that Rice had made him incredibly famous. He went all over the country performing as Jim Crow. Jim Crow grew to be an insult to blacks and a racial slur.

In Alabama, they had a law that said that whites and blacks couldn't play cards with each other. One time, Mother had to call me into the house because I started to hang out with the boy next door. He was white, but he didn't seem to care that I was black. Mother caught us one day, and she said that I was never to see that boy again, or else I could be in a lot of trouble. I never did see that boy again. My uncle got arrested once in Nebraska. He had met this really nice white lady named Anne, and they wanted to get married. But in Nebraska, it's illegal to have interracial marriages, and Anne's father was very strict. I didn't meet many whites until I was an adult, because our schools were seperate. That boy across the street was just about the only white person I knew personally until I was older. Also, when I was about a teenager, nobody ever called me "miss". I was always called by my first name, because it was thought that I was inferior, and didn't deserve a title.
 * 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]

Just about everywhere you went in the South, there were signs that said "Coloreds only" or "Whites only". That's because everything we had was seperate. Even the drinking fountains were seperate from each other. Sometimes there were signs above doors that said "No dogs, Negros, or Mexicans". That was to say that balcks and Mexicans were the same as dogs. The whites thought that we were inferior in everything. There was also a lot of lyching going on, and arresting. Some of the people who got arrested committed the crime on purpose. Usually they said that it was to take a stand, and to prove something. They would purposefully sit in the white section, when they knew that they shouldn't. One time, I was at a movie theater, and there were people outside of it with signs. They were protesting the fact that they weren't allowed in the movie theater. Stuff like that happened a lot; protests were common when I was growing up.
 * 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]


 * What happened in the Scottsboro Case? How did it make you feel as an African American in the South?** [|Scottsboro LINK]

There were nine black boys, two white girls, and some white hobos on a train. The boys got into a fight with the hobos, and the hobos were thrown off of the train. Then a group of armed men gathered the black boys together, and arrested them. The women on the train had had sexual encounters with the men that were thrown off of the train. The boys and the women were not connected at all, but the women testified against the blacks in a criminal case. The women thought that they owuld be frowned upon because of associating themselves with the hobos. Eight of the nine boys were sentenced to life in death. In the next decades, there were many overturning of convictions. This made me feel disgusted. I thought that after the amendments to the Constitution, we would be treated more equally. I guess I was wrong. Those boys didn't even know those women. Also, those women were so wrong to testify against those men. That was just awful of them, and they should've known better.

**What do some of your friends and family say about life in Jim Crow America? (listen to one or two)** [|Audio History LINK 1]

My friend Olivia Cherry was always called by the wrong name. Many whites called her Suzy. Whenever she heard Suzy, Olivia would not respond. She was thought of as a smart alick among the whites that she knew, because she refused to respond to Suzy.

Wilhilmena Baldwin had a friend who bought a Cadillac, and she wasn't allowed to drive it in her neighborhood. Blacks had curfews every night. If you broke curfew, there had to be a written statement from the Chief of Police to say that you could be out. If you broke curfew without permission from the chief, then you were fined by the police.