Black Codes of the South in Reconstruction Era

1. Black Codes of the South in Reconstruction Era

2. Black Codes After the Civil War, white Southerners moved quickly to eliminate black people's newfound freedom. They wanted to return blacks, in effect, to their prewar status as slaves. In order to do this "legally," they passed new laws that appeared, on the surface, to be neutral and fair to all races. In actuality however, these laws were actually designed specifically to repress black people.

3. South Carolina Black Codes • Black Codes that were passed around this time stated: • "No person of color shall migrate into and reside in this state, unless, within twenty days after his arrival within the same, he shall enter into a bond with two freeholders as sureties" • "Servants shall not be absent from the premises without the permission of the master" • Servants must assist their masters "in the defense of his own person, family, premises, or property" • No person of color could become an artisan, mechanic, or shopkeeper unless he obtained a license from the judge of the district court – a license that could cost $100 or more.

4. Black codes=Jim Crow Laws At first these laws were called Black Codes, but because of their deceptive nature, they eventually came to be known as the laws of Jim Crow. Jim Crow was the name of character in a minstrel show. Minstrel shows were popular during that time, and they featured white actors in "black face," or black make-up. Because of this, the name Jim Crow represented the fact that Black Codes were based on racial disguise.

5. Sheet music cover illustration with caricatures of ragged African-American musicians and dancers.

6. 1866: One of a number of highly racist posters issued as part of a smear campaign against PA Repubican gubernatorial nominee John White Geary by supporters of Democratic candidate Hiester Clymer. Indicative of Clymer's white-supremacy platform, the posters attack postwar Republican efforts to pass a constitutional amendment enfranchising blacks.

7. Another in a series of racist posters attacking Radical Republican exponents of black suffrage, issued during the 1866 PA gubernatorial race.

8. November 1867: "The First Vote"--African American men, in dress indicative of their professions, in a queue waiting for their turn to vote.

9. A well-dressed African-American man, perhaps "parroting" the dress of the white middle class, converses with an actual--and chained--parrot

10. Philadelphia, 1889: Removing an African American from a Philadelphia Railway car--after the implementation of Jim Crow, the integration imposed by Reconstruction was stripped away by new laws.

11. Sign in Virginia, posted in the 1920s. Note that the term "Lynch law" began during the American Revolution and that it described punishment for somewhat political offenses even then.

12. 1899: Accounts of nine lynchings as recorded in two major Georgia newspapers as a commentary on southern white racism, together with results of a private investigation of the incidents to ascertain the facts. Wells-Barnett hoped to use this information in an appeal to stop such lawlessness.

13. Number of White And Colored Persons Lynched in United States, 1889-1918 Total White % white Negro % Negro

15. New York City, 1936: From their headquarters at 69 5th Avenue, the NAACP flew a flag to report lynchings until 1938, when the threat of losing its lease forced the association to discontinue the practice.

16. Booker T. Washington between 1890-1900.

17. Watertown, N.Y, 1870: Ku Klux Klan, Watertown Division 289. Ten men posed seated and standing, wearing hats with "KKK" in large letters, and with a skull and bones arranged on the floor in front of them.

18. Mississippi 1870s: Artist unknown. Caption: "Mississippi Ku-Klux in the disguises in which they were captured."

19. Beaumont, Texas, June 1924: "The Awakening"--A James H. Hull production for Beaumont Klan No. 7--KKK. Scene from a theatrical production showing actors as wounded soldiers and actresses as Red Cross nurses.

20. The Rex Theater for Colored People, Leland, Mississippi, 1939: Although many motion picture houses admitted both black and white patrons, they did so by segregating the audience. In such movie houses the blacks were seated upstairs in the balcony. A few theaters, like the Rex, completely separated the races, however, playing to all black audiences. The Rex was probably a black-owned theater.

21. Republic Theatre, New York City, 1947: NAACP members picketing to protest a screening of the 1915 movie "Birth of a Nation."

22. "Every Saturday morning there was a matinee at these movies, and we would pay 15 cents ... but we were separated; we went upstairs, the white kids went downstairs."

23. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, July 1939: "Colored" water fountains were fixtures throughout the South during the Jim Crow era.

24. Detroit 1944: Pallbearers with casket walking in front of sign reading "here lies Jim Crow" during the NAACP Detroit branch "Parade for Victory."

25. Example of Jim Crow Laws

26. Nurses • No person or corporation shall require any white female nurse to nurse in wards or rooms in hospitals, either public or private, in which negro men are placed. Alabama

27. Buses All passenger stations in this state operated by any motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket windows for the white and colored races. Alabama

28. Railroad The conductor of each passenger train is authorized and required to assign each passenger to the car or the division of the car, when it is divided by a partition, designated for the race to which such passenger belongs. Alabama

29. Restaurant It shall be unlawful to conduct a restaurant or other place for the serving of food in the city, at which white and colored people are served in the same room, unless such white and colored persons are effectually separated by a solid partition extending from the floor upward to a distance of seven feet or higher, and unless a separate entrance from the street is provided for each compartment. Alabama

30. Billiard Halls It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other at any game of pool or billiards. Alabama

31. Toilet Facilities Every employer of white or negro males shall provide for such white or negro males reasonably accessible and separate toilet facilities. Alabama

32. Intermarriage The marriage of a person of Caucasian blood with a Negro, Mongolian, Malay, or Hindu shall be null and void. Arizona

33. Intermarriage All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the fourth generation inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited. Florida

34. Cohabitation Any negro man and white woman, or any white man and negro woman, who are not married to each other, who shall habitually live in and occupy in the nighttime the same room shall each be punished by imprisonment not exceeding twelve (12) months, or by fine not exceeding five hundred ($500.00) dollars. Florida

35. Schools The schools for white children and the schools for negro children shall be conducted separately. Florida

36. Juvenile Delinquents There shall be separate buildings, not nearer than one fourth mile to each other, one for white boys and one for negro boys. White boys and negro boys shall not, in any manner, be associated together or worked together. Florida

37. Mental Hospitals The Board of Control shall see that proper and distinct apartments are arranged for said patients, so that in no case shall Negroes and white persons be together. Georgia

38. Intermarriage It shall be unlawful for a white person to marry anyone except a white person. Any marriage in violation of this section shall be void. Georgia

39. Barbers No colored barber shall serve as a barber [to] white women or girls. Georgia

40. Burial The officer in charge shall not bury, or allow to be buried, any colored persons upon ground set apart or used for the burial of white persons. Georgia

41. Restaurant All persons licensed to conduct a restaurant, shall serve either white people exclusively or colored people exclusively and shall not sell to the two races within the same room or serve the two races anywhere under the same license. Georgia

42. Amateur Baseball It shall be unlawful for any amateur white baseball team to play baseball on any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of a playground devoted to the Negro race, and it shall be unlawful for any amateur colored baseball team to play baseball in any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of any playground devoted to the white race. Georgia

43. Parks It shall be unlawful for colored people to frequent any park owned or maintained by the city for the benefit, use and enjoyment of white persons...and unlawful for any white person to frequent any park owned or maintained by the city for the use and benefit of colored persons. Georgia

44. Wine and Beer All persons licensed to conduct the business of selling beer or wine...shall serve either white people exclusively or colored people exclusively and shall not sell to the two races within the same room at any time. Georgia

45. Reform Schools The children of white and colored races committed to the houses of reform shall be kept entirely separate from each other. Kentucky

46. Circuses All circuses, shows, and tent exhibitions, to which the attendance of...more than one race is invited or expected to attend shall provide for the convenience of its patrons not less than two ticket offices with individual ticket sellers, and not less than two entrances to the said performance, with individual ticket takers and receivers, and in the case of outside or tent performances, the said ticket offices shall not be less than twenty-five (25) feet apart. Louisiana

47. Housing Any person...who shall rent any part of any such building to a negro person or a negro family when such building is already in whole or in part in occupancy by a white person or white family, or vice versa when the building is in occupancy by a negro person or negro family, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five ($25.00) nor more than one hundred ($100.00) dollars or be imprisoned not less than 10, or more than 60 days, or both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. Louisiana

48. The Blind The board of trustees shall...maintain a separate building...on separate ground for the admission, care, instruction, and support of all blind persons of the colored or black race. Louisiana

49. Intermarriage All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent, to the third generation, inclusive, or between a white person and a member of the Malay race; or between the negro a nd a member of the Malay race; or between a person of Negro descent, to the third generation, inclusive, and a member of the Malay race, are forever prohibited, and shall be void. Maryland

50. Trains All railroad companies and corporations, and all persons running or operating cars or coaches by steam on any railroad line or track in the State of Maryland, for the transportation of passengers, are hereby required to provide separate cars or coaches for the travel and transportation of the white and colored passengers. Maryland