Jim+Crow+Life

=**LIFE IN JIM CROW AMERICA** =

 -The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to those who had once been enslaved, and protected their civil liberties. Anyone who was born in the United States and the prohibiting states was ensured citizenship; thus they could not be deprivied of their life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Due process of law, made sure that the court system was fair regarding legal matters to make sure that unequal treatment or prejudce did not occur. Furthermore in the 14th Ammendment, no on can be denied within their jurisdiction equal protection of the law. This makes it possible where every citizen is guaranteed equal sanctions within the court and legal frame.
 * //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?//**

-This case was when a thirty year old black man (Homer Pessy) who intentionally sat within the white section of a train car; thus being arrested for violating the Separate Car Act. The case went all the way to the US Supreme Court where Pessy's lawyer argued that Separate Car Act was a violation of the 13th and 14th Amendment. The issue of the Louisiana segregation statute was deemed constitutional. "The Plessy decision set the precedent that 'separate' facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional as long as they were 'equal.' The impact of the case lead to it being considered appropriate to make separation due to rave or to enforce social standings.
 * //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 term used to describe laws or acts which depressed African Americans. The term was associated with segregation laws, rules, and customs which arose after Reconstruction ended in 1877 and continued until the mid-1960s. The character Jim Crow was originally created and performed to reflect the Black stereotype this included characteristics of unintelligent, lazy, unattractive, etc.

-Examples of Jim Crow Laws include:
 * //What are some specific examples of the Jim Crow laws from southern states? How did the laws affect you?//**

//“It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers.” “Marriages are void when one party is a white person and the other is possessed of one-eighth or more negro, Japanese, or Chinese blood.” “Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school.” “All railroads carrying passengers in the state (other than street railroads) shall provide equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races, by providing two or more passenger cars for each passenger train, or by dividing the cars by a partition, so as to secure separate accommodations.” These laws impact my community and me greatly. My children receive less of an education than the folk of my town because they have to attend a segregated school. Additionally, my sister fell in love with a white man but their marriage is considered illegal because of her skin color. These mandates continue to create a color barrier crush the Blacks of America making us inferior.//
 * —Birmingham, Alabama, 1930**
 * —Nebraska, 1911**
 * —Missouri, 1929**
 * —Tennessee, 1891**

//**What did Jim Crow America look like in the 1900s? What are some images that can help explain the realities of the time?**// -Us Blacks continue to be treated as a lesser human than whites. I find this treatment to be highly against the morals of the 13th and 14th Amendments, but nothing is being done. Despite many supporters of Black Equality, white superiority remains dominate. Blacks seem to be separated from whites in an abundant amount of ways. Facilities such as public drinking fountains, benches, parks, restaurants, theaters, schools, all seem to be distinguished by race.

-I remember this case well; a shameful and revolting one it truly was. In 1931, a group of nine black male youths were faced with charges of sexual assult towards two women aboard a train car. All boys except for the youngest received the death penalty. The innocent boys were tried and killed because of an altercation amoungst them and a group of white hobos aboard the train who were thrown off. As a result of the white hobos being thrown off the train instead of the blacks, the white hobos threatened two women which some of them had had sexual realtions with to testify that they had been rapped by the black hobos. In efforts to protect their inappropriate actions with some of the white hobos, the women testified and sent the black boys to their deaths. This case greatly upset me, these young men had not received adequite opprotunity to defend themselves, and were charged for a crime which they had not been proven to have done. What an outrage!
 * What happened in the Scottsboro Case? How did it make you feel as an African American in the South?**

//**What do some of your friends and family say about life in Jim Crow America?** // My friends and family all suffer from living in Jim Crow America. Our stories of hardship and unfair treatment are countless and tear up our pride and faith that this country is really as good as it claims to be. It creates a Constituion but does not follow the meaning of it; bending its rules and disrespecting Blacks many who have fought and died for this country of the "free."