Jim Crow & Jim Crow & Plessy V. Plessy V. FergusonFerguson

“The slave went free, stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.”

-- W.E.B Du Bois

Three People Dancing Around SunImage: © Images.com/CORBISCreator Name: Bob Commander

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After the Civil War:After the Civil War:

•13th Amendment - gave 4.3 million slaves their freedom

Blacks make political and civil gains…

•14th Amendment - African Americans given citizenship

•15th Amendment - African American men given right to vote

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•Most white Southerners resented the new rights of African Americans

But…

•White Southerners chipped away at African Americans rights

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•40 Acres & a Mule - After slavery, many African Americans thought they would get this, but didn’t

African Americans Lost Economic PowerEconomic Power

•Sharecropping - Instead work on land owned by whites & share profits from crops

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•Poll Tax - had to pay to vote

•Literacy Test - Had to read to vote

•Grandfather Clause - Could get around 1st 2 if your grandfather could vote

African Americans Lost Political PowerPolitical Power

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Quickwrite:Quickwrite:

Which do you think was a more significant loss, political or economic power? Explain.

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Jim Crow LawsJim Crow Laws

•Segregation

•began as customs (de facto), but ended up as laws (de jure)

•Named after “Jim Crow” song & dance

What is it?

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What parts of society were segregated?

•Schools, cemeteries, courts, hospitals, mental institutions, orphanages, prisons, & Bibles to swear on in trials

Segregated Drinking Fountains

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Plessy vs. Ferguson:

•What? Homer Plessey tried to sit in a whites-only train car

•How did the Supreme Court Rule? Segregation is ok as long as the facilities are equal

•““Separate But Separate But Equal” Equal”

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Problem:Problem:

Separate But Equal is Never Equal

•Example: Whites would never fund black schools equally

•Goes against 14th Amendment

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Quickwrite:Quickwrite:

Do you think the Plessy V. Ferguson ruling led to an increase in the amount of Jim Crow laws in the South? Why? Why not?

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Jim Crow Violence:Jim Crow Violence:

How else did Southern Whites enforce Jim Crow?

•Ku Klux Klan - secret terrorist society that beat, raped, and murdered African Americans

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How else did Southern Whites enforce Jim Crow?

•Lynching - a mob puts someone to death without a trial •Between 1880-1968

nearly 5000 blacks were lynched

•Why?

•“incorrect behavior”

•economic competition between blacks and whites

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Jim Crow & Segregation:Jim Crow & Segregation:How did African Americans resist?

•Spoke out against discrimination

•Organized boycotts of segregated facilities

•Tried to improve segregated facilities

Segregated School

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When did it end?

•WWII jumpstarted the Civil Rights movement in the US•1954 Brown V. Board of Education declared segregation in schools illegal

Man removes segregation sign 1956

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Quickwrite:Quickwrite:

Is there ever a time when separate treatment IS equal treatment? Consider:

2 students enter a school. One is confined to a wheelchair.

12th graders must pass Algebra in order to graduate. One student has a disability in math.

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Quickwrite:Quickwrite:

Name some situations today where you believe a certain group of people is NOT being treated equally. It could be a certain ethnic group, one of the genders, an age group, a career area, a religious affiliation, an interest group, etc… After you have listed several, state your ideas on how to make things more equal for the groups you mentioned.