Jim+Crow+Life

“Due process” means that the law protects our right to life, liberty, and property unless we’ve had a fair trial proving us guilty. “Equal protection of the laws” means that our civil liberties and citizenship would be protected the same as white folks.
 * 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]

In 1892, Homer Plessy was arrested for sitting in the white section of a Louisiana rail car. He could easily have passed for a white, due to his light complexion, but deliberately identified himself as a colored. This directly violated Louisiana’s Separate Car Act. One of our civil rights organization decided to challenge the constitutionality of this act, debating that it violated the 13th and 14th amendments, and it went all the way to the Supreme Court. All but one of the justices, John Harlan, upheld the constitutionality of the act. Justice Henry Brown said, “A statue that merely implies a legal distinction between the white and colored races has no tendency to destroy the legal equality of the two races.” In other words, separate facilities are okay, but they must be equal. This set the precedent of “separate but equal,” which still exists today. Unfortunately, colored facilities aren’t ever equal and in fact are vastly inferior.
 * 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]

Jim Crow was a song written by a struggling actor, Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice. In 1828, he developed a short skit that stereotyped blacks as lazy and stupid. It was highly successful and the show traveled all over the country. Due to the success of the play, Jim Crow was used as a racial epithet by 1838, but it was nearly as bad as other words. By 1900, Jim Crow was mainly used to describe laws and customs oppressing us, just as it is used now.
 * 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]


 * 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]

Jim Crow laws affect all aspects of our life. We can’t marry white folks, play games with white folks, go to school with white folks, ride on trains with white folks, shake hands with white folks, live in the same neighborhoods with white folks, or eat with white folks. We can’t show affection in public, blacks are introduced to whites, and white motorists always get the right of way. Whites consider themselves the superior race and therefore we must act like that’s true.


 * 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]



Nowadays, Jim Crow looks mostly like lots of signs telling us where we can and can’t go. Where we’ll be served or not. It also consists of lots of unwritten rules that despite their illogicality, are well known and must be followed at all costs.

Nine black teenagers were traveling on a train in Alabama when they got into a fight with white hoboes on the train. The white hoboes were thrown off the train and told the stationmaster. He stopped the train and the nine black youths were arrested and charged with the rape of two women who had had sexual relations with some of the white hoboes. Fearful of what would happen to them if people knew about their sexual relations, the two women agreed to testify against the nine teenagers. An all white jury convicted all nine and all but the youngest were sentenced to death. The Communist Party of the USA intervened and brought the case to the Supreme Court, which overturned the case in 1932 because the boys weren’t provided adequate lawyers by the state. Alabama retried Hayward Patterson, who eventually was sentenced to 75 years in prison. He escaped in 1948 and fled to Michigan. All the rest were eventually paroled by the state. This whole case disgusted me because the state of Alabama was charging these boys with a crime they hadn’t even committed.
 * What happened in the Scottsboro Case? How did it make you feel as an African American in the South? ** [|Scottsboro LINK]l
 * What do some of your friends and family say about life in Jim Crow America? (listen to one or two) ** [|Audio History LINK 1]

We have learned to deal with most of Jim Crow. For example, separate drinking fountains and train cars aren’t that terrible. Sometimes though, it makes us feel like I’m something less than white folk, which is obviously their objective. So, I try not to let it bother me. My brother says that the worst part is living in constant fear that we’ll do something wrong and get in trouble with the law. I agree. My granddaddy once said, “Jim Crow is nothing near as bad as slavery.”