CONNECTIONS
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In front of you are
three sheets of paper
On each sheet of
paper, write down:
What is one
TAKEAWAY from
yesterday?
What is one new
QUESTION?
And what are you still
HOPING to takeaway?
CONNECTIONS: SNOWBALL FIGHT!
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Now crumple up your
pieces of paper into
“snowballs”
Then stand up on
opposite sides, and
when I say “go” we
will start the
“snowball fight”
When the “snowball
fight” ends, pick up
the nearest pieces of
paper
Share!
TODAY’S AGENDA
• Connections
• Identifying the Fit: Marriage and Reproduction & the case
of Buck v. Bell
• Measuring the Fit: Education and Standardized Testing
• Lunch
• The Consequences of Plessy: Segregation and Jim Crow
• Guest Speaker – Chad Williams: World War I, African
American Soldiers, and Civil Rights
• Dinner Break for Graduate Credit Participants
• Gordon Parks exhibit at Museum of Fine Arts
• Reminder to get grad credit forms submitted ASAP!
SLAVERY WITHOUT CHAINS: SEGREGATION AND
JIM CROW
Essential Questions:
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How have people resisted or challenged these
ideas about race and racism?
Guiding Questions:
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How did an ideology of “we and they” affect
people’s lives during the era of Jim Crow?
JOURNAL
• Should the U.S. Constitution be “colorblind”? If it
does see “color” can people still be treated
equally by the government?
• Turn and talk
Who am I? How does
identity influence how I
see others? And vice
versa?
How have
people resisted
or challenged
these ideas
about race and
racism?
How do we choose to
remember difficult
and complex
histories?
Who is in our
universe of
obligation?
How has the
notion of a ‘we
and they’ exist
in America?
How have
ideas of race
defined
America’
history?
TWO AMERICAS
“By the early 1900s, America was two nations —
one white, one black, separate and unequal.”
Segregation was “a wall, a system, a way of
separating people from people.” That wall did
not go up in a single day; it was built “brick by
brick, bill by bill, fear by fear.”
 Lerone Bennett
SEGREGATION TIMELINE
1828
“Jim Crow”
character
created
1859
Charles Darwin’s
Origin of Species
+ inspires
“social
1865
Darwinism” Civil War Ends
Reconstruction
Begins
1868
14th Amendment
Born/naturalized in
U.S. = citizens
equal protection
under law granted
1869
Francis Galton
proposes eugenics
measures
1896
Plessy v. Ferguson
Separate but Equal
AFRICAN SLAVERY
1865
1839
13th Amendment
Samuel Morton’s
Slavery banned
Crania Americana
Reinforces polygenesis, all
races created separately
w/unique traits
Black Codes
aka Jim Crow
Laws created to
segregate
facilities
1870
15th Amendment
Right to vote
guaranteed regardless
of race
Jim Crow laws
are legally
codified in the
U.S.
ORIGINS OF JIM CROW
Jim Crow was
originally a dance
To “jump Jim Crow”
meant to pass
back and forth
across a line
The metaphor of the
“boundary”
Source:
Dailey, Jane. The Age of Jim Crow. 2008
PLESSY V. FERGUSON (1896)
Homer Plessy
• 30 years old
• 1/8 black
• Member of the
“Citizens’ Committee
of African-Americans
and Creoles”
• A citizen of the
United States and a
resident of the state
of Louisiana.
PLESSY V. FERGUSON (1896)
Plessy volunteered to violate the “separate but equal” passenger
railcar law on the books in Louisiana in order for it to be taken to
court.
On June 7, 1892, he purchased a first-class ticket on the East
Louisiana Railway. He entered a “Whites Only” passenger car and
took a seat. The conductor demanded that he move to a
“colored” car.
When Plessy refused to move, he was arrested. He was brought to
trial and found guilty of violating a state law requiring segregation
on trains.
Plessy appealed the decision of the judge who claimed that as long
as the railroad offered “separate but equal” seating, Plessy’s
rights were protected. Plessy argued that the law was
unconstitutional — that is, it went against the 14th Amendment.
14TH AMENDMENT
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.
PLESSY V. FERGUSON (1896)
• Watch the film
clip on Plessy
(from The Rise
and Fall of Jim
Crow):
• http://mrvalenz
uela.com/?p=67
52
PLESSY V. FERGUSON (1896)
In expressing the
majority opinion,
Associate Justice
Henry B. Brown
asserted, “If one
race be inferior to
the other socially,
the Constitution of
the United States
cannot put them on
the same plane.”
“SEPARATE BUT EQUAL”
• The Plessy decision set the precedent that
"separate" facilities for blacks and whites were
constitutional as long as they were "equal." The
"separate but equal" doctrine was quickly
extended to cover many areas of public life, such
as restaurants, theaters, restrooms, and public
schools.
• This phrase doesn’t actually appear in the Court’s
decision!
Source:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_plessy.html
JUSTICE JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN’S DISSENT
"The white race deems itself to be the dominant race in this
country. And so it is, in prestige, in achievements, in education, in
wealth, and in power. So, I doubt not, it will continue to be for all
time, if it remains true to its great heritage, and holds fast to the
principles of constitutional liberty. But in view of the Constitution,
in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant,
ruling class of citizens.
There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither
knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil
rights, all citizens are equal before the law."
CONNECTIONS / CONTEXT
• In a separate railcar case brought to the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the Court argued
that “integrated rail carriages would promote
‘promiscuous sitting,’ which could only lead to
‘illicit intercourse’ and facilitate intermarriage.’”
• Before 1900, the most common to type of legal
segregation was in the form of passenger railcars
(this is not to say there weren’t other forms of
segregation)
Source:
Dailey, Jane. The Age of Jim Crow. 2008
GALLERY WALK
1. Gallery Walk,
individually
2. Examine
images, laws,
and statistics
(15 min)
3. S.I.T Strategy w/
4 post-it notes
NAME
What Surprised
you about this
____ and why?
NAME
What was
Interesting about
this ____ and why?
NAME
What Troubled
you about this
____ and why?
NAME
Which
poster
best
represents how ideas
about race became part
of America’s social and
political fabric? Why?
CONNECTIONS/CONTEXT
George Poage
1904 St. Louis World’s Fair/
Olympic Games
First African-American to
medal in the Games by
winning the bronze in both
the 220-yard and 440-yard
hurdles.
Entered and exited through
“separate but equal” facility
entrances
Source:
http://www.uwbadgers.com/genrel/020512aab.html
TAKEAWAYS FROM THE ERA OF JIM CROW
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Jim Crow was SYSTEMIC! It drew its strength from
exclusion: from voting booths, juries, neighborhoods,
unions, higher education, professions, and so on
And was backed up by the police power of the state
Jim Crow was a post-emancipation victory for white
supremacy, and a direct response to rising black
political equality during Reconstruction
They also exemplify the ways in which political
progress for African-Americans was cast as “sexual
danger”
This conflation of sexual and political rights would be
the greatest challenge facing Jim Crow opponents
Source:
Dailey, Jane. The Age of Jim Crow. 2008
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
• Dailey, Jane. The Age of Jim Crow. 2008.
• Plessy v. Ferguson resources (and other landmark
U.S. Supreme Court cases): www.streetlaw.org
• The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow (PBS):
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/index.html
PUT YOUR TEACHER HAT ON!
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What might you use
from this session to
help your students
understand “Jim
Crow”?
What are some
takeaways for your
own teaching?
What could be
some challenges in
teaching this?