Following the Civil War (1861 – 1865) and the passage of the 13th Amendment

in 1865 abolishing slavery, the Constitutional question remained:

“Are African Americans citizens of the state within which they reside, and the United States?”

This question was answered with a forceful “YES” with

the passage of the 14th Amendment,

ratified July 28, 1868, and sometimes referred to today as the “Magnificent 14th”.

Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the

United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2: Representatives shall be apportioned among

the several States according to their respective numbers counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State being twenty-one years of age and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3: No person shall be a Senator or

Representative in Congress, or Elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability.

Section 4: The validity of the public debt of the

United States, authorizing by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall he held illegal and void.

Section 5: The Congress shall have power

to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

It is Section 1 of the

14th Amendment that is

our focus

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

However, from the 1870’s into the 1960’s, a majority of American states enforced segregation through the “Black Codes”, but often better known as “Jim Crow” laws (named for a black-face character in minstrel shows).

The term Jim Crow is believed to have originated around 1830 when a white minstrel show performer, Thomas "Daddy" Rice, blackened his face and danced a ridiculous jig while singing the lyrics to the song, "Jump Jim Crow."

Chorus

Weel about and turn about and do jis so,

Eb'ry time I weel about and jump Jim Crow.

(written and performed by whites, the words are intended to show black pronunciation.)

From Delaware to California, from North Dakota to Texas, many states (and cities, too) imposed legal punishments on people for consorting with members of another race. The most common types of laws forbade intermarriage, while others ordered business owners and public institutions to keep their black and white clientele separated.

Mr. Justice Brown delivered the opinion of the Court....

The object of the [Fourteenth] amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based on color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either. Laws permitting, and even requiring, that separation in places where they are liable to be brought into contact do not necessarily imply the inferiority of either race to the other, and have been generally, if not universally, recognized as within the competency of the state legislatures in the exercise of their police power.

Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences, and the attempt to do so can only result in accentuating the difficulties of the present situation. If the civil and political rights of both races be equal, one cannot be inferior to the other civilly or politically. If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plain....

The judgment of the court below is, therefore, Affirmed.

A Black male could not offer his hand to a White male – and definitely not to a female

Blacks and Whites could not eat together A Black male could not light a cigarette of

a White female No PDAs Blacks introduced to Whites but not

reverse

Whites did not use courtesy titles of respect when referring to Blacks

A Black person who rode in a car driven by a white person – rode in the back

White motorists had right of way

Never assert or intimate that a White person is lying

Never impute dishonorable intentions to a White person

Never suggest that a White person is from an inferior class

Never lay claim to, or demonstrate, superior knowledge

Never curse or laugh at a White person Never comment on the appearance of a

White female

Education1866: All taxes paid by blacks to go to

maintaining African schools. Duty of the legislature to encourage colored schools.

1925: Required racially segregated schools.

1958: No child can be compelled to attend schools that are racially mixed. No desegregation unless approved by election. Governor may close schools where troops used on federal authority.

Education

1897: A separate district will be established for colored children wherever there are at least eight black children. Unlawful for any white child to attend a school for black children (or vice versa).

1921: Misdemeanor for a teacher to teach white and colored children in the same school. Penalty: Cancellation of teaching certificate without renewal for one year.

Education1865: Provides education for all children as long

as white children are sent to separate schools from black children.

1887: A school for Negro children to be established in districts where there are more than fifteen children of required age. In districts with less than fifteen children, they may attend school in another district with a separate school for Negro children.

1889: Unlawful for any black child to attend any white public school, or for any white child to attend a school for black children.

Education

1870: Prohibited white and colored children from being taught in the same school.

1882: White and colored children shall be taught in separate schools. “The determination as to who is a colored person lies with the board of education.”

Education

1870: Taxes paid by colored people shall be set aside for maintaining schools for colored children.

1872: Schools to be established for colored children. No colored school shall be established in a district unless the colored population warrants.

1924: Required racially segregated schools.

Education

1870: Prohibited white and colored children from being taught in the same school.

1882: White and colored children shall be taught in separate schools. “The determination as to who is a colored person lies with the board of education.”

1958: Upon enrollment of members of both races, schools must close; control transferred to governor.

North vs. South or

de jure vs. de facto

In the South, people tended to live together in their communities. To keep the races separated in their interactions within that community, the South wrote laws – de jure – that segregated the races.

de jure segregation – by law

In the North, people tended to live, work, and interact in their “own” communities. The races were separated from much interaction with each by these “natural” boundaries – de facto – making it unnecessary to separate the races by law – de jure.

de facto segregation – in fact

Why did northern states tend to feel “superior” when the Supreme Court began to demand an end to segregation by law – de jure segregation?

Which type of segregation is harder to write laws against?

What ended de jure segregation of public education?

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka 1954 Chief Justice Earl Warren A landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, it

overturned earlier rulings going back to Plessey v. Ferguson in 1896, by declaring that state laws which established separate public schools for black and white students denied black children equal educational opportunities.

The Court's unanimous (9-0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." As a result, de jure segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Miscegenation 1915:The penalty for intermarriage is

imprisonment in the penitentiary from two to five years.

1925: Miscegenation declared a felony. Nullified interracial marriages if parties went to another jurisdiction where such marriages were legal.

1951: Unlawful for person of Caucasian blood to marry person of African blood. Penalty: Two to five years imprisonment.

Miscegenation

1908: Unlawful for a person of African descent to marry any person not of African descent. Penalty: Felony punishable by a fine of up to $500 and imprisonment from one to five years in the penitentiary.

1921: Prohibited marriage between Indians [Native Americans] and Negroes.

Miscegenation1866: Prohibited all marriages between

whites and Negroes.1879: Persons with one-eighth or more

Negro blood were prohibited from marrying white persons. “The jury could determine the amount of Negro blood from appearance.”

1909: Marriages between white persons and Negroes, or white persons and Asians prohibited.

Miscegenation1873: White persons who married

Negroes would be jailed for at least one year, and fined a minimum of $100. Those who performed such ceremonies faced fines of $200, of which one-half would go to the informer.

Miscegenation1930: Originally entitled “A bill to preserve

the integrity of the white race,” the law tightened miscegenation provisions. The definition of “whiteness” was narrowed to state “no trace whatever” of non-white blood allowed. Nullified interracial marriage if parties went to another jurisdiction where such marriages were legal. Prohibited marriage between whites and Asians and other non-white non-Negroes. Penalty: Felony for both parties if found guilty. Punishable by confinement in the penitentiary for between one and five years.

Loving v. Virginia: In 1958, a couple was convicted under Virginia's miscegenation law. They were "exiled" from Virginia for 25 years, although they could have received a 5 year prison term.

The judge in his ruling stated:

“Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend the races to mix.”

The couple appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned the Virginia miscegenation law and those of 15 other states in 1967.

Chief Justice Earl Warren said that Virginia's "white supremacy" marriage law and like laws violated the 14th Amendment.

Voting Rights1876: Required electors to pay

poll tax.1922: “. . . in no event shall a

Negro be eligible to participate in a Democratic party primary election held in the State of Texas...” Overturned in 1927 by U.S. Supreme Court in Nixon v. Herndon.

1951: Required electors to pay poll tax.

Voting Rights1907: Indigent persons housed in a

poorhouse at public expense excluded from voting. Exception made for Federal, Confederate, and Spanish American veterans.

1907: Required electors to read and write any section of the state Constitution. Exempted those who were enfranchised on January 1, 1866, and lineal descendants of such persons. Declared unconstitutional in 1915; however, provision for literacy was upheld.

Voting Rights

1950: Required electors to pay poll tax.

What is a poll tax?

A poll tax was a tax that had to be paid by an individual in order exercise their right to vote.

It emerged in some US states, many Southern, after the right to vote was extended to all African American males by the 15th Amendment.

These laws often included a grandfather clause that allowed any adult male whose father or grandfather had voted in a specific year prior to the abolition of slavery to vote without paying the tax.

These laws achieved the desired effect of disenfranchising African and Native Americans, as well as poor whites who immigrated after the year specified.

What ended the practice of using poll taxes?

24th Amendment to the Constitution (1964)

The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

Public accommodations1889: Railroad companies required to maintain

separate coaches for white and colored passengers, equal in comfort. Penalty: Passengers refusing to sit where assigned were guilty of a misdemeanor, and could be fined between $5-$20.

1907: Required all streetcars to comply with the separate coach law passed in 1889.

1909: Depot buildings required to provide separate waiting areas for the use of white and Negro passengers.

1914: Negro porters shall not sleep in sleeping car berths nor use bedding intended for white passengers.

Public accommodations

1919: Ordered that Negroes were to use separate branches of county free libraries.

1925: Separate branches for Negroes to be administered by a Negro custodian in all county libraries.

1943: Ordered separate seating on all buses.

1950: Separate facilities required for white and black citizens in state parks

Public accommodations

1908: All railroad and streetcar companies to provide separate coaches for white and black passengers, equal in all points of comfort and convenience.” Penalty: Railway companies that violate the law fined $100 to $1,000. Passengers who fail to comply can be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by a fine from $5 to $25. Conductors could be fined $50 to $500 for failing to enforce the law.

Public accommodations

1915: Required telephone companies to maintain separate booths for white and colored patrons.

1921: Required maintenance of separate accommodations for colored persons in public libraries in cities with a Negro population of 1,000 or more.

Public accommodations1900: Railroads required to offer separate

cars for white and colored passengers. Conductors given the authority to judge the race of each passenger if a passenger refuses to disclose his race.

1900: Call for the separation of white and colored passengers on steamboats while sitting, eating and sleeping.

1901: Alexandria streetcars required to have separate compartments for white and black passengers.

1912: An act, noting that “the preservation of the public morals, public health and public order, in the cities and towns of this commonwealth is endangered by the residence of white and colored people in close proximity to one another,” authorized cities that adopted the provision to be divided into districts known as “Segregation districts.” City councils ordered to prepare a map showing the boundaries of all such districts, detailing the number of white persons and colored persons residing within such segregation districts. One year from the passage of the ordinances adopting the provision of this act, unlawful for any colored person, not then residing in a district so defined and designated as a white district, to move into and occupy as a residence any building or portion thereof in such white district. Also unlawful for a white person to move into a colored district.

Public accommodations

1930: Required segregation in every theater, movie theater, opera house or other place of public entertainment which accepts both white and colored audiences.

1960: “. . . no athletic team of any school shall engage in any athletic contest of any nature within the state of Virginia with another team on which persons of any other race are members.”

Illegal seizure and execution of a suspected troublemaker or criminal

Often the victims were just someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time

•Public and sadistic murders

•1882-1968 – 4,730

•3,440 Black men and women

•Intimidation – keep freedmen “in their place”

Lynchings

What is generally considered to have

caused the “death” of Jim Crow?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Landmark legislation that outlawed segregation

in US public schools and public places. It also started the Equal Employment

Opportunity Commission, a federal agency tasked with ending employment discrimination in the United States. It can bring suit on behalf of alleged victims of discrimination against private employers.

Once the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was implemented, its effects were far reaching and had tremendous long-term impacts on the whole country. It prohibited discrimination in public facilities, in government, and in employment, invalidating the Jim Crow laws in the South. It became illegal to compel segregation of the races in schools, housing, or hiring.

Bishop Henry M. Turner – African Methodist Episcopal Church – Black pride – emigrate to Africa

WEB DuBois – Niagara Falls meeting – 1905 – denounced all political, civil, and economic discrimination – vowed never to accept inferiority – formed a nucleus group who joined with concerned whites for a national conference on the “Negro question”

Formed in 1909 by an interracial group

By 1914 – there were 50 branches Worked through the courts 1st victory: Supreme Court

declared grandfather clauses unconstitutional