jimcrowlife

**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?** [|14th LINK]

It granted citizenship to former enslaved African Americans. It also was supposed to protect us with the laws, race non withstanding. "Due process" basically means that it has to go through something, or work its way through something. In this case it has to go through court or the "law." I believe that "equal protection of the law" means that blacks and whites are supposed to be safe under the government. Not just white folk.

**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?** [|Plessy LINK]

Homer Plessy went to court for sitting in the white section of a train. Even though we looked white, they still said he had to sit in the "black" section. When he and his lawyer got to Supreme, they claimed the act that made sitting there illegal was violating the 13th and 14th amendments. The Supreme said that the law in Louisiana was constitutional. This case basically made the rules for segregated everything. There could be black and white facilities as long as they were equal. We all knew that would never happen...

**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 LINK]

Jim Crow wasn't really a person, he was just a name we gave the laws and rules that had to do with segregation. Jim Crow came from a song and the person that sang the song was named Jim Crow. He was basically a stereotype of an uneducated, African American person living at that time. He didn't write nothing, but he was a thing that we said when we were referring to the laws.


 * What are some specific examples of the Jim Crow laws from southern states? How did the laws affect you?** [|Jim Crow Laws LINK 1] / [|Jim Crow Laws LINK 2] / [|Jim Crow Laws LINK 3]

We had to live in a segregated environment, where the threat of getting beat up bad was constant. We couldn't play with any of our white folk friends. We couldn't send our children to the same schools as white folk. We had to sit in different compartments on trains and buses.


 * What did Jim Crow America look like in the 1900s? What are some images that can help explain the realities of the time?** __Jim Crow Images LINK 1 __/ [|Jim Crow Images LINK 2]

This was a case where nine black boys were falsely accused of raping two white girls. They were put in an all white jury, where all of them except the youngest, who was only 12 years old, were sentenced to death. I was scared to death and wanted to move to the north where it was safer than down here in the south. Just one wrong look at a white man or woman and I could be sentenced to death. They were scary times.
 * What happened in the Scottsboro Case? How did it make you feel as an African American in the South?** [|Scottsboro LINK]

**What do some of your friends and family say about life in Jim Crow America? (listen to one or two)** [|Audio History LINK 1]