Jim Crow Laws

1. Jim Crow Laws By: Taylor, Angel, Lauren, and Karen

2. Origin… • It developed from a dark skinned character in a song and dance act. • It is considered offensive because the character acted like a buffoon and spoke with an exaggerated and distorted imitation of African American vernacular English. • The character also sang “Jump Jim Crow”, which was a “negro dittie”. • Name… • The character’s name became almost shorthand for the laws, customs, and etiquette that segregated and demeaned blacks from the 1870s to the 1960s. • The Compromise of 1877… • It ended reconstruction and removed troops from the South. • Generally, it put an end to slavery.

3. Blacks and Voting… • They faced much hatred and restrictions when it came to having a say in politics and voting. • Their right of suffrage was compromised because they were threatened, beaten or killed when they would try to go and vote. • Some common restrictions faced by the African Americans included having to participate in a literary and property test, and the grandfather clause. They would say that everyone had to pass a literacy test, to vote, but at the time many people were illiterate and many black people didn’t own property. The grandfather clause stated that if their grandfathers were able to vote, they could. • Obviously, this barred most black people, as they had only just been given the right to vote. • Effects of the Plessy v. Ferguson case… • It said that separate but equal was still fair, meaning that they could have separate schools, bathrooms, drinking fountains, and so on. • This didn’t actually give “equal” treatment, as most of the time African Americans were given worse resources such as less educated teachers in schools. • They also could be jailed for disobeying the laws, the case ended with Homer Plessy being arrested for sitting in the white only rail car and refusing to move.

4. Booker T. Washington… • Booker T. Washington was an educator, advisor to Theodore Roosevelt and one of the leaders in the movement for African American rights. • He was born in Virginia, but also lived in Alabama. • He said that it was necessary that African Americans insist on their rights as an American citizen when people tried to deny their privileges.

5. W.E.B DuBois… • He was a black social scientist, historian and civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author and editor. • He lived in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. • DuBois believed in the “talented tenth” of the black population who, through their intellectual accomplishment, would rise up to lead the black masses. • Differences… • They had different opinions because they grew up in very different environments. Washington grew up as a slave and it was pointless to demand any equality thinking it would never work. DuBois grew up as a free man in the north and was blinded by the results of the demanding what was right.

6. Escaping the South… • Slaves were able to escape the south through the Underground Railroad system. • They escaped by traveling to the north, some into Canada, where it was much safer. • It was commonly known as The Great Migration.