jimcrowlifeassignment

Here the Jim Crow Life Assignment:

~The 14th amendment gave us all, the ones who were enslaved, a citizenship. They did this thing called due process of law, where they could not take ours', or anyone's for that matter, lives, liberty or property without a good reason and government permission. That does not mean that the white people still didn't lynch us or terrorize our families! Anyways. equal protection of the laws basically meant that not giving certain rights to us just because we are black and they think that they are better than us. Equal protection means that those laws apply to us too!
 * 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?**

~Plessy was a good Louisiana man who sat in the white rail car. He could pass as white because he was a "Creole", but noooo those mean people pushed him out of there just because he was a black man. The case went to the Supreme court and almost all of them thought that just because we sat in different areas, it did not mean we were thought lesser of nor did it have any effect on what the government thought of them. How wrong this was! White people thought they were different just because they had a different bubbler or such than us!
 * 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?**

**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 was a highly stereotyped character in a show made to basically to ruin the image of the black man, it seemed! It made us seem life dancing and singing idiots! Already early in to the 1830's the term "Jim Crow" was another racial slur that was used against us. The character himself did not write the laws, but he was merely a name given to those "Black Codes" possibly to just make us feel even worse.

~It was the little things that really got to me. They had No playing cards with Negroes, no riding trains with Negroes, no marrying anyone of 1/8th Negro, Chinese or Japanese blood. That was another thing! It wasn't just us, it was other races as well! It felt like if you weren't white, you weren't welcome. We were citizens under the 14th Amendment, but it felt like we were a step or two under the "higher race". We couldn't do anything such as laugh or even call them by their first names! Children were not allowed to go to the same school, and the parents poisoned the white children's brains that we were bad! Life was too difficult.
 * What are some specific examples of the Jim Crow laws from southern states? How did the laws affect you?**

~We were not allowed to sit next to each other during a movie, entertainment or such. It was thought as "unlawful"!
 * What did Jim Crow America look like in the 1900s? What are some images that can help explain the realities of the time?**


 * What happened in the Scottsboro Case? How did it make you feel as an African American in the South?
 * ~Some young boys were falsely accused of rape of two women who were dressed as men. The women were assaulted by white men, but they all agreed to blame it on the blacks because, of course, we are the lesser race! It went to the Supreme Court, and all of them except the youngest were sent to jail. The youngest was sentenced to death. Almost all escaped this horrible punishment due to the kindness of the Northeners, but one was sent back to jail and died there. This made me angry! If my life was ruined by a knowingly false accusation, I would sure as heck be upset! Speaking for all the whole Black population, it made us feel powerless, like we had no control over our lives!****

**What do some of your friends and family say about life in Jim Crow America?** ~