Jim Crow Era: Racial Segregation in America

1. April 6, 2015 Service hours due by April 20 WARM UP: Write down anything you can remember about Reconstruction in America

2. The Jim Crow Era http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/

3. WHO IS JIM CROW? The origin of the phrase "Jim Crow" has often been attributed to the words from the song, ”Jump Jim Crow” as it appeared in sheet music written by Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice a white actor who performed a song-and-dance caricature of African Americans performed in blackface. Jim Crow

4. Louisiana, 1888, Homer Plessy, (7/8 white) purchased a first class ticket on the train and tried to take his seat in the white section and was ordered to the “colored” section. • He refused to comply and was jailed • Plessy argued that his civil rights, guaranteed under the 14th amendment to the United States Constitution had been violated • Court legally endorsed the practice of racial segregation and established a new idea in America-the concept of “separate but equal,” • States could legally segregate the races in public accommodations, as long as an effort was made to provide “equal” facilities for both races Plessy v Ferguson----1896 “Separate But Equal” In most instances, the Black facilities were grossly inferior -- generally, older, less-well-kept. In other cases, there were no Black facilities -- no Colored public restroom, no public beach, no place to sit or eat.

5. What was the Jim Crow Era? • laws and customs which oppressed Blacks. • a series of rigid anti-Black laws • a way of life, which relegated African Americans to the status of second class citizens • legitimization of anti-Black racism.

6. Jim Crow Rules of behavior • A Black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a White male because it implied being socially equal. Obviously, a Black male could not offer his hand to a White woman, because he risked being accused of rape. • Blacks and Whites were not supposed to eat together. If they did eat together, Whites were to be served first, and some sort of partition was to be placed between them. • Blacks were introduced to Whites, never Whites to Blacks. • Whites did not use courtesy titles of respect when referring to Blacks, for example, Mr., Mrs., Miss., Sir, or Ma'am. Instead, Blacks were called by their first names or called Auntie or Uncle. Blacks had to use courtesy titles when referring to Whites, and were not allowed to call them by their first names.

7. Rules for behavior contd. Driving: • White motorists had the right-of-way at all intersections. • If a Black person rode in a car driven by a White person, the Black person sat in the back seat, or the back of a truck • There were even rules for how whites and blacks could have a conversation: • Never assert or even intimate that a White person is lying. • Never suggest that a White person is from an inferior class. • Never lay claim to, or overly demonstrate, superior knowledge or intelligence. • Never curse a White person. • Never laugh derisively at a White person. • Never comment upon the appearance of a White female

8. It gets even worse: • Georgia: • No colored persons may be buried upon ground set apart or used for the burial of white persons • Alabama: • Blacks and Whites shall not play checkers or dominoes together • No White female nurse shall nurse in wards or rooms in hospitals, either public or private, in which negro men are placed • Oklahoma: • Any instructor who shall teach in any school, college or institution where members of the white and colored race are pupils for instruction shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined… • Theaters: • Many theaters admitted both black and white patrons by segregating the audience. In such movie houses the blacks were seated upstairs in the balcony. A few theaters, completely separated the races, however, playing to all black audiences.

9. What was going on in North Carolina? 1875- Prohibited all marriages between a white person and a Negro or a person of Negro descent. In 1921 this was considered a felony. 1903- No child with”Negro blood in its veins, however remote the strain, shall attend school for the white race, and no such child shall be considered a white child.” 1931- The state librarian shall maintain a separate place for the use of the colored people. 1947- Public accommodations called for racial restrictions for the burial of the dead at cemeteries. 1952- National Guard [Statute]
No black troops to be permitted where white troops available; colored troops to be under control of white officers. 1957- Education [Statute]
No child forced to attend school with children of a different race.

10. Denied the right to vote by: • grandfather clauses • (laws that restricted the right to vote to people whose ancestors had voted before the Civil War) • poll taxes • (fees charged to vote) • white primaries • (only Democrats could vote, only Whites could be Democrats) • literacy tests • ("Name all the Vice Presidents and Supreme Court Justices throughout America's history").

11. So what if a Black person didn’t know his/her “place”? What would happen?

12. The Jim Crow system was based on the belief Whites were superior to Blacks in all important ways. If necessary, violence must be used to keep Blacks at the bottom of the racial hierarchy.

13. Violence was instrumental for Jim Crow. The most extreme forms of Jim Crow violence were LYNCHINGS. • Blacks who violated Jim Crow norms risked their homes, their jobs, even their lives. • Blacks had little legal recourse against these assaults because the Jim Crow criminal justice system was all-White: police, prosecutors, judges, juries, and prison officials. • Between 1882 and 1968, there were 4,730 known lynchings, including 3,440 Black men and women. • Most of the victims of Lynch-Law were hanged or shot, but some were burned at the stake, beaten with clubs, or dismembered.

14. Why was someone Lynched? Most Blacks were lynched for demanding civil rights, violating Jim Crow etiquette or laws, or in the aftermath of race riots. The victim was an example of what happened to a Black man who tried to vote, or who looked at a White woman, or who tried to get a White man's job.

15. Things to think about: As a white person what were the expectations for your behavior during the Jim Crow Era? As a black male what were the things you had to remember about your behavior during this time? Are the ideas and attitudes from the Jim Crow Era around today? Should we talk about this in our past, or try to keep it quiet. Detroit 1944: Pallbearers with casket walking in front of sign reading "here lies Jim Crow" during the NAACP Detroit branch "Parade for Victory."