Jim+Crow+Life

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. You can do this in Word by copying this document onto a new document, completing it using the resources below, and cutting and pasting it into a new page on your notebook. Make sure your responses are in first person!

The fourteenth amendment gave blacks our rights as US citizens.They were granted citizenship if we had been enslaved and were also given liberties they had not had before they were freed from their slave owners. Due process-that we can not have our citizenship taken away unless we go to court through the law. Equal protection of the laws-that no state can make an exception or make other laws that contradict the fourteenth amendment.
 * 1) 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] **

One day Plessy sat in the white section of the railroad. Even though he had a whiter complexion it was highly betrayed for a dark man to sit in the whit section. The Separate Car act a civil rights organization wanted to test the law with Plessy. He was later taken to jail for not moving and sitting in the white section.
 * 2) 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] **

Thomas Rice heard a black man singing a song about Jim Crow. Rice decided to perform this song as Jim Crow because he was an actor himself. He used black makeup on stage to represent Jim Crow. "Jim Crow" was a grinning fool in his play and people began to use this as an insult against blacks. This was not a very bad insult to us blacks but it was still discrimination. But as more laws were passed about segregation, the laws that oppressed blacks started to be called Jim Crow laws. So no, Jim Crow did not write these segregation laws.
 * 3) 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] **

= [|Jim Crow Laws LINK 1]  / [|Jim Crow Laws LINK 2] / [|Jim Crow Laws LINK 3] / [|Jim Crow Laws Link 4]  = In Alabama the hospitals were segregated. It is frowned upon to talk with other skin tone children in other neighborhoods. Even restaurants are very segregated, there are white tables and black tables. = =
 * 4) What are some specific examples of the Jim Crow laws from southern states? How did the laws affect you? Which one do you feel is the worst? **

Signs everywhere saying no blacks allowed and colored only. the places where colored people were allowed were usually owned by colored people. There were colored water fountains and colored bathrooms. the places where blacks lived and worked in were much more dirty and decrepit than the white places.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">5) What did Jim Crow America look like in the 1900s? What are some images that can help explain the realities of the time? <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #6e1a7e; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; padding-right: 10px;">[|Jim Crow Images LINK 1] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">/ <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #001ee6; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; padding-right: 10px;">[|Jim Crow Images LINK 2] **

Nine colored boys got into a fight with other white boys on a train. They threw the white boys off of the train and were arrested. There were also two white women dressed as men on the train as well. The nine boys were falsely accused of raping these women and a court trial arose. All were found guilty and all but one, who was the age of 12, was sentenced to death. This makes me feel awful because boys could die for something they didn't do just because they were blacks. all of the colored people have to watch out for the white that want to hurt and harm us.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">6) What happened in the Scottsboro Case? How did it make you feel as an African American in the South? <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: #001ee6; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; padding-right: 10px;"> [|Scottsboro LINK] **

Life was very hard during Jim Crow America. Everything was segregated and much harder to do or accomplish. I would have to go through many other requirements before I could acquire what I wanted.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13pt;">7) Why should anyone care about your life during Jim Crow America? <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding-right: 10px;">[|Why should I care? Link] **