Jim+Crow+Life

In the Scottsboro case 9 black boys were falsely accused of raping 2 white women. All but one were sentenced to death. This enraged me, along with many others. The supreme court overturned the convictions and many of the boys were retried. Most of the convictions were overturned for many reasons, including not allowing any African Americans in the jury. In the end about half of the boys were pardoned. This made me very angry although it did make me feel better that people did intervene and not all of them were convicted in the end.  People need to know about my life in the Jim Crow south to understand the importance of the civil rights movement. We needed to resist because life was so hard in the south. It also shows the progress that America has made since the time of Jim Crow.
 * 1) 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? **
 * The 14th amendment granted citizenship to all African Americans that had been enslaved. Due process means that they could not be convicted of anything and their property could not be taken away with a fair hearing. They were also supposed to be protected equally by laws.**
 * 2) 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? **
 * I remember that a colored man by the name of Homer Plessy purposely sat in the "white" car on the train even though he was "colored". Doing so was illegal under the separate car act but his lawyer argued that the law was a violation of the 13th and 14th amendment. Plessy lost the case and only one judge disagreed. The judges said segregation was ok as long as it was equal. The phrase separate but equal became popular even though many of the facilities for African Americans were actually not equal.**
 * 3) The laws developed in the South became known as Jim Crow laws. Who was this Jim Crow fellow? Did he write the laws? **
 * There was a song called Jim Crow that a struggling actor has seen an African American man signing. The actor appeared on stage as a stereotypical African American named Jim Crow. The act became popular and "Jim Crow" became a phrase that people called African Americans. It started as a racial slur and but became a word to describe the laws that oppressed African Americans.**
 * 4) What are some specific examples of the Jim Crow laws from southern states (quote a few from different states)? How did the laws affect you? Which one do you feel is the worst? **
 * We were not allowed to play with white people and we had separate schools. Signs sprung up everywhere saying "white" and "colored". It was illegal to eat in the same area of a restaurant or do anything really in the same area as a white person. Intermarriage was also illegal. The worst part was having to go to a different school that wasn't nearly as good.**
 * 5) What did Jim Crow America look like in the 1900s? What are some images that can help explain the realities of the time? **
 * 6) What happened in the Scottsboro Case? How did it make you feel as an African American in the South? **
 * 7) Why should anyone care about your life during Jim Crow America? **