This lecture is devoted to the Jim Crow Era. It relates the different civil rights cases that marked the beginnings of the era, and sheds light on black disenfranchisement in the Southern states as well as segration in both public and private spheres

1. Segregation and Racism in America

2. From Black Codes to Jim Crow Laws
The Black codes were outlawed by the 14th
amendment (1868) and by the Reconstruction Act of
1867.
Black Codes were a violation of the 14th amendment.
However,
White southerners determined to keep races separate
and unequal through forced segregation
• Called for separation of races in daily life; created
new set of laws called the Jim Crow laws that
lasted nearly 100 years

3. “Jim Crow”
Period of history where
segregation of blacks and
whites was the law.
Jim Crow a character that
mocked African Americans.
Also called minstrel or
blackface
Highly stereotypical and
exaggerated black figure
that was subject to white
humor.

4. FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT (1868)
• Citizenship Clause
• Prohibits state from depriving persons of life, liberty, or
property.
• Equal Protection Clause-requires each state to provide
equal protection to people within its jurisdiction.
FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT (1870)
Gave Black American adult males the right to vote.
Where did it all begin?

5. 1866 to 1875, Congress passed several civil rights acts
to implement the 13th and 14th amendments.
The Civil Rights Act of 1875 imposed criminal
penalties against private businesses guilty of racial
discrimination.
1877: withdrawal of federal troops brought an end to
Reconstruction period
-> Southern states began to pass laws creating
separate societies for white and black Americans.
Civil Rights Acts

6. Civil Rights Cases
(1883)
 Despite Civil Rights
Act of 1875 , most
privately owned
businesses
continued to deny
service to African
Americans.

7. The cases
 5 cases involving application of the federal
law were collected and presented to the
Supreme Court in 1882-1883.
 African-American citizens protested their
exclusion from a hotel dining room in
Kansas; from the opera in New York City;
from the better seats of a San Francisco
theater; and from a car set aside for ladies
on a train.

8. Civil Rights Cases
 Court Decision
 The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was declared
unconstitutional because the 14th amendment’s
equal protection clause applied to the
discriminatory acts taken by states, not by
individuals in the private sector.
 Importance
 Many privately owned businesses could now
refuse service to African Americans

9. Plessy v. Ferguson
(1896)
 Louisiana passed a law requiring
railroads to provide “equal but separate
accommodations”
 Homer Plessy a man of mixed race
deliberately sat in the white section
and identified himself as black.
 He was arrested and the case went to
the United States Supreme Court.
 Plessy's lawyer argued that the
Separate Car Act violated the
Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment

10. Plessy v. Ferguson
 Decision
Court stated that Louisiana Act of 1890
(separate but equal accommodations) did not
violate the Constitution. And that it was the
most reasonable approach considering the social
relations at the time.
 The court ruled that the object of the [14th ]
Amendment was to enforce the absolute
equality but not to “abolish distinctions based
upon color. .” and that separation of race did
not imply inferiority of colored race.

11. Plessy v. Ferguson
 Led the way for states to create “separate
but equal” facilities, allowing for legal
segregation based on race. “Jim Crow”
ruled the South.
 This decision will take half a century to be
overtuRned by Brown v. Board of Education
in 1954 when the Court ruled “separate but
equal” was unconstitutional.

12. Jim Crow Laws
First, voting rights
were curtailed
throughout the
states.
Then, a series of laws
denying African
Americans access to
certain places were
created

13. “Separate but equal . . .”
• Schools
• Churches
• Restaurants
• Movies
• Hotels
• Libraries
• Housing
• ...

14. • The laws passed throughout the nation (most
notably in the South) aimed at separating the races.
• Separate facilities provided were always inferior,
sometimes absolutely horrific.
Jim Crow Laws

15. Education

16. WHAT ABOUTVOTING RIGHTS?

17. New black codes included unfair voting
laws; adding the Literacy test, Poll taxes
and the Grandfather clause;
The Literacy test
Many blacks had no education; could not
pass tests
Worked against both poor whites and blacks
at first.
Gradually evolved into a mechanism applied
only to blacks
Black Disfranchisement

18. Alabama LiteracyTest (1940s)
Does enumeration affect the income tax levied on citizens in
various states?
A United States Senator elected at the general election in
November takes office the following year on what date?
How many states were required to approve the original
Constitution in order for it to be in effect?
Who passes laws dealing with piracy?
On the impeachment of the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, who tries the case?
After the presidential electors have voted, to whom do they
send the count of their votes?
If the two houses of Congress cannot agree on adjournment,
who sets the time?
Of the original 13 states, the one with the largest
representation in the first Congress was ______.

19. Grandfather Clause
A person could only vote if his grandfather had been eligible
to vote.
A person was exempted from other voting requirements if his
grandfather had been eligible to vote.
PollTaxes
State voting fees: Seven states had poll taxes up to
the 1960’s.
Tax ranged from $1 to $3.50 per year. But this was
usually a cumulative tax;
Taxes payable in person every year between the ages
of 21 and 45.

20. Lynching & Race Riots
Frequently during this period, African Americans were were
frequently accused of crimes, and killed in a lynching instead
of a trial.
Most common forms
of racial violence in
late 1800s .
Nearly 900 blacks
lynched from 1882 to
1892.
lynching= murders of
individuals without a trial

21. Take the Test…:
1. Take off work to go register, potentially get fired. (Bosses
who did not fire were harassed)
2. Fill out an application form, oaths you had to take were
four pages long.You had to swear that your answers to
every single question were true under penalty of
perjury…the information you entered on the form would
be passed on to the KKK.
3. Pass the literacy test.
4. If you pass and make it past these levels, you will be
hunted down by the KKK and often lynched.
Will you be granted the right to vote?

23. This is Bill.
Bill attends all lectures.
Bill can answer all quiz
questions
Bill is smart
Be like Bill 

24. A. THE 1ST AMENDMENT
B. THE 13TH AMENDMENT
C. THE 14TH AMENDMENT
D. THE 15TH AMENDMENT
Q1
BLACK CODESWERE OUTLAWED BY

25. A. 10YEARS
B. 12YEARS
C. 50YEARS
D. 100YEARS
Q3
JIM CROW LAWS LASTEDED

26. A. BLACK HEAD
B. MINSTREL
C. NEGRO
D. FREEDMAN
Q2
JIM CROWWAS ALSO CALLED

27. A. IMPOSED CRIMINAL PENALTIES AGAINST
PRIVATE BUSINESSES GUILTY OF RACISM
B. ORDEREDTHE WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL
TROOPS
C. PROTECTED PERSONAL FREEDOM OF
CHOICE
D. PROHIBITED SEPARATION OF PUBLIC
FACILITIES
Q4
THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1875

28. A. AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE NOT ENTITLED TO
FULL CITIZENSHIP
B. THE 14TH AMENDMENT DID NOT APPLY TO
STATES
C. THE 14TH AMENDMENT DID NOT APPLY TO THE
PRIVATE SECTOR
D. THE 14TH AMENDMENT DID NOT APPLY TO
SOUTHERN STATES
Q5
THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1875WAS
DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL BECAUSE

29. A. WHITE RACE
B. BLACK RACE
C. MIXED RACE
D. THE STORY DOESN’T TELL
Q6
HOMER PLESSY WAS OF

30. A. HE WENTTO A THEATER FOR WHITE
PEOPLE
B. HE WANTEDTO GOTO A WHITE
SEGREAGATED SCHOOL
C. HE SAT IN A RESTAURANT CATERING
ONLYWHITE PEOPLE
D. HE SAT IN A WHITE SECTION OF A
TRAIN
Q7
WHICH OFTHE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS
ABOUT PLESSY IS RIGHT

31. A. THE CIVIL RIGHTS CASESWERE PRESENTEDTO
THE SUPREME COURT BY AFRICAN AMERICANS
VICTIMS OF SEGREGATION
B. THE SUPREME COURT RULED IN FAVOR OF
PLESSY IN PLESSYV FERGUSON
C. IN PLESSYV FERGUSONTHE COURT RULED
THATTHE 14TH AMENDMENT DID NOT
PROHIBIT SEPERATION
D. THE SUPREME COURT RULED IN FAVOR OF
BROWN IN BROWNV BOARD OF EDUCATION
Q8
WHICH OFTHE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS
IS WRONG

32. A. WAS AN ORAL EXAM
B. WAS CONDUCTED BYTHE
FREEDMEN’S BUREAU
C. INCLUDED QUESTIONS ABOUTTHE
AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM
D. ASSESSED THE ENGLISH SPELLING
OF AFRICAN AMERICANS
Q9
THE LITERACYTEST

33. A. THE VOTING FEE
B. THE VOTING TAX
C. THE POLL FEE
D. THE POLL TAX
Q10
THE FEESTO BE PAID BYVOTERS
WERE CALLED