Jim+Crow+Life

The 14th amendment guarantee us, African Americans black rights. This amendment granted citizenship to us who were once enslaved. I am very grateful for this amendment, because it was designed to grant us citizenship and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. The "Due Process" is a legal requirement that the state must respect all of the legal rights that are owed to a person. It balances the power of law and land and protects the individual person. The "equal protection of the laws" is the right of all persons to have the same access to the law and courts, to be treated equally by the law and courts, both in procedures and in the substance of the law.
 * 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] **

I hope my equal rights arent going to be disturbed, because of what happened with Plessy V**.** Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in the "White" car of the East Louisiana Railroad. I have seen him before... he could easily pass by as a white person, but under the law he is black. He was considered black despite his light complexion and so he was required to sit in the "Colored" car. He could pass as a white person because his ancestors come from the French, Spanish, and Caribbean settlers. This case is getting wild! When they passed the "separate car act" a black civil rights organization decides to challenge the law in the courts. Plessy is a brave man, because he deliberatly sits in the "white" section and identifies himself as white. Of course, he was arrested. But, the case goes all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Plessy's lawyer argues that the Separate Car Act violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments. In the end the decision was that the seperation of blacks and white were constitutional, but as long as we are all "equal".
 * 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], [|Plessy VIDEO] (usmstudent, wildcats) **

Jim Crow was a black character that was created by a white man. He was supposed to symbolize us ex-slaves. He was played by a white man, by the name of Rice, who was the first white man to pretend he one of us. He wore "black" makeup on stage while performing. Jim Crow was portrayed as a fool, which made us feel like fools. He was a very popular and entertaining performance for the white man to watch, but a disgrace for us. At first, the name Jim Crow was used in a derogatory manner to describe us. Rice and his imitators presented us as lazy, stupid, inherently less human, and unworthy of integration. Later, the name Jim Crow became a term used for the laws created to oppress us.
 * 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]**=
 * 4) What are some specific examples of the Jim Crow laws from southern states (quote a few from different states)? How did the laws affect you? Which one do you feel is the worst? **

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One of the things I had to deal with were the Jim Crow laws that mandated racial segregation. I couldn't play games, marry, go to school with, or share a railroad car with a white person. There were different burials, barbers, busses, libraries armies, nurses, prisons, and alcohol. I would hear ministers preach that whites were the chosen race and blacks were meant to be servants. The Jim Crow system was created upon the belief that whites were superior to blacks in intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior. These laws were awful to follow, but even worse to break. Most people I know who broke them were lynched by an angry mob. That's what I feel was the worst part of it.=====


 * 5) 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] / Search [|Google Images] for Jim Crow **

One of the worst court cases I ever saw was the Scottsboro one. There was a fight between some black and white hobos and the whites were thrown off the train. The nine black boys were arrested at the next stop, and about to be charged with assault when two white girls dressed in boy's clothing were found on the train. Even though there was no evidence connecting these groups, the black boys were charged with raping the white girls. The trial was held in Alabama and an all white jury sentenced all of them except the twelve year old to death. That was a dark time in history. Makes you extremely wary of what you do and say, even what you can't control. I heard they recently pardoned those boys though. More than eighty years too late.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">6) What happened in the Scottsboro Case? How did it make you feel as an African American in the South? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #001ee6; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;"> [|Scottsboro LINK] ([|Will the Scottsboro Boys ever get a pardon?]) **

People shouldn't care about my experiences in particular, but they should look at the unfairness and horrible consequences for being born black then and kinda now too. People (and when I say this, I'm directing it at the white folk) should see the resistance, people fighting for their freedom from a system stacked against them. They need to understand how people went through this and were reminded every day of their lives that they were different than what was considered normal and inferior because of that even though we're just as much humans as anyone else. It wasn't a minor annoyance, it was a day to day feeling of constant oppression.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px;">7) Why should anyone care about your life during Jim Crow America? [|Why should I care? Link] **