SEPARATE BUT EQUAL (USED TO DEFEND THIS LAWS)
Explain how Jim Crow stripped African Americans of the freedoms they gained during Radical
Reconstruction. By 1920, what conditions did African Americans in the South face? Discuss
the at least 3 different ways African Americans responded to the new social order of Jim Crow?
Jim Crow typically refers to the repressive laws and customs that were used to restrict the
African Americans rights. The Jim Crow era was mainly around 1877-1950, however it was
most prominent in the 1930s. After the civil war Radical Republicans had passed three
amendments so as to ensure African Americans had equal rights with the whites. The passed
amendments were as follows: Abolished slave trade, made former slaves citizens and provided
equal protection of law of all citizens, and provided voting rights for African American males.
On the other side the Democrats opposed the Radical Republicans and in 1876 Democrats won
and in 1877 there was the end of the reconstruction. Besides, at this point the Jim Crow era
began in 1877.
The Jim Crow was accompanied with set laws that denied the African Americans freedom that
they had gained during the radical reconstruction. The laws include:
1. The slaughter house case- weakened the civil rights amendments’ and acts passed
during reconstruction because it left it up to the states to enforce those laws.
2. Plessy v. Ferguson-Legalized the separation of African Americans and whites stating
that if the accommodations were equal they could be separate. This led to;
establishment of separate school system for African Americans, blacks not intermarrying, blacks could not share same restaurants with whites, blacks could not sit
together in buses and trains. There was legal segregation, laws affected all in the
North Americans but were harsher at the south. It was harsher in the south
because in the civil war the Southerns fought for slavery and the north fought
against it.
There was biasness in the crime system: black people were arrested for crimes
and charged harsher than the white people. In most cases, the punishment for
this offenses was non-existence or not appropriate for the crime. For example,
blacks could be charged with felonies for actions as petty as falling asleep on
a public bench.
3. Southern Governments, in addition to black codes, began passing laws that would limit
the abilities of African Americans to vote through literacy tests (required persons to
take a reading test), poll taxes (someone to pay before voting), and the grandfather
clause (if your grandfather had the right to vote before 1865 you could have the right
to vote limiting the votes to whites).
By 1920, in the south, African Americans faced some slave like conditions which made their
lives more difficult. The conditions are as stated below:
1. Head taxes on blacks. If a black man failed to pay his head tax he could be forced to
work for free.
2. A black person could also suffer Compulsory unpaid labour if he failed to sign an
annual labour contract.
The employers could compete for black workers because this codes aimed to render free
persons into cheap and captive labour.
African Americans on the other hand responded to the new social order of Jim Crow as a way
to fight back to attain their freedom. They responded in a number of ways, so as to have victory
over segregation, which are as discussed below:
1. Economic uplift- African Americans continued to grow in the economic sector. For
example, Richard Wright became president of the bank. Black business men believed
that their economic prosperity would prove their value as Americans. Black companies
catered to the white community during the 1880’s, but when Jim Crow intensified, they
served only the black community. Men and women like George Merrick, C.C.
Spaulding, Minnie Cox, and Alonzo Herndon established successful life insurance
companies. Frank Church became a real estate magnate, Maggie Walker a banker.
Others built popular funeral homes, barbershops, saloons, livery stables, and
construction companies. Few occupations or white-collar jobs were open to black
women. Some worked in churches and women’s clubs. The only occupation that was
available to them was teaching. By the turn of the century, there were more female
teachers than men.
2. Racial solidarity- Most middle class blacks subscribed to the doctrine of racial progress
— especially when it came to the poor working class. Black women devoted their
efforts to improving the life of disadvantaged people. Although racial uplift offered the
required support, it also served to divide the black community between middle class
and working class. Despite many challenges, the black middle class played a significant
role in offering leadership to the black community. It produced a variety a variety of
leaders for the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s, including Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.