Life+in+Jim+Crow+America

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 13th amendment abolished slavery. Shortly after the 13th the 14th amendment was made. This provided citizenship for any African American born in the United States. Could not deny people of life, liberty, land, and all other rights.. You cannot deny anyone with their rights because of equal protection of laws.

**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] Homer Plessy was put in jail for sitting in the white part of the train. The defendant pleaded that he the separation of cars was not to destroy the equality of the two races. It was said to be constitutional because the 14th amendment made sure that there would be no difference in equality, but this did not stop people from still having them being set apart.

**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] The name Jim Crow is used to describe segregation laws. A whit actor, Thomas Dartmouth Rice, called himself Jim Crow on stage in which he acted like a stereotypical African American. He was the first white actor to use black face makeup. It started to be a bad racial term. He himself did not make up any laws but the laws were called Jim Crow Laws.

I was not allowed to play any card game with a white folk. I could not even marry a white women because I was one eight African American. I and whites could not sit in the same train car. They were equal but separated. When I drove with my white buddy James I did not even worry about calling shot gun because I could not sit in the front. I also was not able to light a women's cigaret or shake hand. If I ate dinner with whites then they would get served first and we would be separated in some way. There were a lot of ways they separated.
 * 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]

The places were supposed to be equal but they were not in the best condition. They were kind of cheated out of the Amendments by the Jim Crow laws which were constitutional.
 * 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]

This really angered me nine black boys were arrested for supposedly raping a white women. All of the boys besides for the 12 year old were sentenced to death. The case was overturned later on in their lives. That was horrible and not right, there was an all white jury and they had no evidence.
 * What happened in the Scottsboro Case? How did it make you feel as an African American in the South?** [|Scottsboro LINK]

**What do some of your friends and family say about life in Jim Crow America? (listen to one or two)**[|Audio History LINK 1] They were also very angry with these laws. They thought it was not right and was not constitutional that they could make up laws to prevent blacks from doing things that whites could.