Rise of Jim Crow

What was Jim Crow?Essentially, Jim Crow laws were laws that legally enforced segregation. While the makers of the laws said that people would be equal, a deeply embedded prejudice existed in whites at the time that created a social aura of prejudice.

● Black Codeso Were southern policies implemented 1865 and 1866 that

hindered rights given to blacks by the 14th amendment such as voting, land owning, and being free in general. “Poll Taxes”

o While eventually the black codes were abolished during Reconstruction, lasting Southern ideals and perceptions of blacks as a second class race carried on into later laws, and predominantly seen as in Plessy vs. Ferguson

o Were a way for both the southern people and the southern government to regain control over blacks live they did in the civil war.

Southern Oppression-Political

● Jim Crow lawso Were laws that came into place after reconstruction that

toted the philosophy of “Separate but Equal.” Made it legal to deny blacks service. Despite promising equality, Places and services reserved

for blacks tended to be much poorer quality than those designated for whites

o Still separated blacks and whites and promoted a divided mindset towards people.

o Showed the divided viewpoints of average Americans and politicians at the time, where they were understanding that blacks are actually people but still holding onto old prejudices.

Southern Oppression-Political

● Jim Crow laws continuedo One major point of Jim Crow was to separate the white and

black lower class, which prevented them from voting any politician to help them .

Southern Oppression-Political

Southern Oppression-Economical● Sharecropping

o Sharecropping is a major part in the “black Codes,” this farming/renting method which could be abused to leave the farmer in debt.

o Forced on poor, unemployed blacks to put them into “slavery”

● Getting jobso In the south, blacks were still viewed as inferior to whites,

making it almost impossible to get decent, well paying jobs (which were almost exclusively reserved for whites.)

o The laws put in place that oppressed blacks created a further divide between the rich (white) and the lower class (black.)

http://www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan/videos/the-kkk

Southern Oppression-Social● KKK

o Is a group that was founded for promoting the idea of white, christian supremacy (sometimes forcefully) during the civil war, reconstruction, and beyond.

o Was essentially the idea of white superiority personified; actively oppressed black individuals and those who supported them through blackmail, violence, and supported segregation and Jim Crow laws.

o Kept back the American Civil Rights movement by voting and using fear to keep blacks as second class citizens.

o To KKK was a recurring tumor to the civil rights movement.

Southern Oppression-Social● Jim Crow Laws

o While their implementation showed the mindsets of those in government in the south at the time, the real consequences were shown and felt by black citizens at the time.

o The physical segregation of blacks gave them a generally poorer quality of life than their white counterparts. Water fountains, busses, bathrooms, and even schools

were segregated by race Physical segregation also perpetuated a mindset among

both blacks and whites that placed whites in a position of superiority, where they believed the lesser, “working class” blacks were below them.

Southern Oppression-Social● Physical Segregation Continued

o Blacks and whites had separate everything Water fountains Seats in busses and trains Different schools Often different shops

● Dentists, doctors, food stores

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Graduation, the hush-hush magic time of frills and gifts and congratulations and diplomas, was finished for me before my name was called. The accomplishment was nothing. The meticulous maps, drawn in three colors of ink, learning and spelling decasyllabic words, memorizing the whole of The Rape of Lucrece—it was for nothing. Donleavy had exposed us. We were maids and farmers, handymen and washerwomen, and anything higher that we aspired to was farcical and presumptuous.

Then I wished that Gabriel Prosser and Nat Turner had killed all whitefolks in their beds and that Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and that Harriet Tubman had been killed by that blow on her head and Christopher Columbus had drowned in the Santa María.

It was awful to be Negro and have no control over my life. It was brutal to be young and already trained to sit quietly and listen to charges brought against my color with no chance of defense. We should all be dead. I thought I should like to see us all dead, one on top of the other. A pyramid of flesh with the whitefolks on the bottom, as the broad base, then the Indians with their silly tomahawks and teepees and wigwams and treaties, the Negroes with their mops and recipes and cotton sacks and spirituals sticking out of their mouths. The Dutch children should all stumble in their wooden shoes and break their necks. The French should choke to death on the Louisiana Purchase (1803) while silkworms ate all the Chinese with their stupid pigtails. As a species, we were an abomination. All of us.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Context- A speech was just given at the main character’s graduation by a white man, who said that he was proud of blacks and was eager to see them “try to be sport stars like Jessie Owens.”

This excerpt shows the prejudice coming from both sides as a result of white segregation and viewpoints, and more importantly shows the degradation of self worth in blacks and the results of the mental beatings inflicted by oppressive people and laws.

Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)Homer Plessy (who was ⅛ black) rode in the “white” section of a train and refused to move (In 1892). In their state (Louisiana,) they had “Separate but Equal” laws, and he was arrested. Plessy challenged the law, saying it was unconstitutional and contradicted the 13th amendment. He lost.This court decision normalized the concept of “Separate but Equal” and solidified the legal argument for segregation. Thanks to this solidifying, the government (and their growing control on civil rights) adjusted funding for public schools mainly towards whites. Again, it promoted ideas of black inferiority

We aint havin none of that

Podcast~10:55-9:18

http://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/plessy-v-ferguson/

Booke

r T.

Wash

ingto

n V

iew

sW

.E.B

. Du

bois V

iew

s Believed becoming a

“First Class” citizen required slow acceptance and gradually climbing towards the goal of higher citizenship.

Thought that blacks could tolerate factors like segregation and political representation

Had the philosophy that blacksshould “elevate” themselvesabove normal people to show civility.

No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Now should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities?”

Wanted complete and total equality

for whites and blacks

Thought a more radical form of activism was needed to agitate the public.

Believed in the “talented tenth,”

a well educated group of blacks that

would lead the civil rights movement

"the Negro is a sort of

seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second sight in this American world, -a world with yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others."

Both were leaders of the

civil rights movement

Both were aiming for new black rights and

equality

http://youtube.com/v/NnVt9RvN548

Dubois and Washington differencesDubois was raised in the free Massachusetts and never experienced having to work his way up from slavery. Due to this, his views on education were that every black person should get a traditional liberal education. His ideas were more straightforward, and was likely because he didn't have as much fear and respect for whites as a former slave.

Booker T. Washington was born in Virginia and raised in slavery, with the emancipation of slaves, he learned working skills. Due to him working his way up, he appreciated and believed in the values of working your way up.

Citations"AfricanâAmericans after Reconstruction." �� AfricanâAmericans after Reconstruction�� . Cliff Notes, 18 Nov. 2012. Web. 5

Mar. 2015. <http://www.cliffsnotes.com/more-subjects/history/us-history-ii/american-society-and-culture-18651900/africanamericans-after-reconstruction>.

"America's Black Holocaust Museum." Americas Black Holocaust Museum The Five Pillars of Jim Crow Comments. 14 Apr. 2005. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. <http://abhmuseum.org/2012/10/the-five-pillars-of-jim-crow/>.

Beckham, Kyle. "Competing Paths of Struggle: African American Resistance to white Oppression, 1863-1896." 09.02.01:. Yale. Web. 25 Feb. 2015. <http://teachers.yale.edu/curriculum/viewer/initiative_09.02.01_u>.

"The Black Codes." The Black Codes. 19 July 2011. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://history-world.org/black_codes.htm>."Black Education - Washington and DuBois." Black Education - Washington and DuBois. Kenyon, 28 June 2009. Web. 5 Mar. 2015.

<http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Amerstud/blackhistoryatkenyon/Individual Pages/Washington and DuBois.htm>.Fremon, David K. The Jim Crow Laws and Racism in American History. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2000. Print."Jim Crow Laws." Jim Crow Laws. 11 Apr. 2008. Web. 5 Mar. 2015."Ku Klux Klan in the Reconstruction Era." New Georgia Encyclopedia. Georgia Encyclopedia, 12 Aug. 2010. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/ku-klux-klan-reconstruction-era>."Maya Angelou – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Chapter 23." Genius. 17 Oct. 2011. Web. 11 Mar. 2015. <http://genius.com/Maya-angelou-i-

know-why-the-caged-bird-sings-chapter-23-annotated>.PBS. PBS, 4 Nov. 2011. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/race/etc/road.html>.

W.E.B. Du Bois - Rivalry with Booker T. Washington. Bio., 2013. Film.