Jim Crow

Jim Crow facilities. Who was Jim Crow?

With the blessing of the Supreme Court, the floodgates opened in the years following the Plessy decision, almost every former Confederate state enacted "separate but equal" laws that merely gave the force of law to what had become a fact of life; slavery under a new name.

But who was Jim Crow? It's thought that he was a slave from Cincinnati, Ohio; others say he was from Charleston, South Carolina. Another faction holds that Jim Crow derived from old man Crow, the slaveholder. A final group says that the Crow came from the simile, black as a crow. Whatever the case, by 1838, the term was wedged into the language as a synonym for Negro. Thus, "Jim Crow laws" meant Negro laws.

Plessey vs. Ferguson

On June 7, 1892, a 30-year-old colored shoemaker named Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in the "White" car of the East Louisiana Railroad. Plessy was only one-eighths black and seven-eighths white, but under Louisiana law, he was considered black and therefore required to sit in the "Colored" car. Plessy went to court and argued, in Homer Adolph Plessy v. The State of Louisiana, that the Separate Car Act violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. Plessy was found guilty of refusing to leave the white car. He appealed to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, which upheld Ferguson's decision. In 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States heard Plessy's case and found him guilty once again.

The lone dissenter, Justice John Harlan, showed incredible foresight when he wrote

"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...In my opinion, the judgment this day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott case...The present decision, it may well be apprehended, will not only stimulate aggressions, more or less brutal and irritating, upon the admitted rights of colored citizens, but will encourage the belief that it is possible, by means of state enactments, to defeat the beneficent purposes which the people of the United States had in view when they adopted the recent amendments of the Constitution."

Over time, the words of Justice Harlan rang true. 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. Not until 1954, in the equally important Brown v. Board of Education decision, would the "separate but equal" doctrine be struck down.

This is the world in which Langston Hughes lived. Many people who knew him think it's the reason he hated his father. On the same day Langston was born, his father was very angry because a new law said that no black person could be a lawyer. Langston's father had studied very hard during his school days to be a lawyer. He left the United States and headed for Mexico.

Public schools in Lawrence were not segregated after third grade, but African American students were often separated from white students in the classroom. In seventh grade at Central School. John Taylor, Hughes' childhood friend, recalled that one white teacher seated all of the African American children in one row in the back of the classroom. Young Langston placed a sign reading "Jim Crow Row" on his desk. The principal was summoned and he and Hughes had an altercation. As a result, he was expelled from school. Dr. Frederick Harvey, a prominent black physician, intervened on Hughes' behalf and he returned to school.

Now, watch the last part of the video. Was the treatment of blacks unfair? Do you think they were the only people being treated unfairly at that time. In a small group, read and discuss the following poems:

Daybreak in Alabama

Dream Variations

Dinner Guest: Me

Still Here

I, Too

Is there a connection between these poems and Jim Crow? Be ready to discuss the poems during Socratic Seminar tomorrow. (Review the Rules for Socratic Seminar.)

Jim Crow Today

This is a group assignment. Record your responses and be prepared to discuss them with the class.

Does Jim Crow live in our world today? How would you define the words racist, discrimination, bigot, and prejudice? Check your definitions in the dictionary. Now you are ready to watch a video online.

One day in 1968, a teacher in an all-white Iowa community divided her class into two groups and gave them a daring lesson in discrimination.

A Class Divided

We will discuss your responses tomorrow in Socratic Seminar.

Wanted Poster

Create a 'wanted poster' for Jim Crow!

Biographical Poem

James Mercer Langston Hughes left a wealth of works. He has continued to touch people long after his death. To summarize what you have learned about Langston Hughes, write an Auto-bio or I Am poem for him. You are writing as though you are Langston.




Living with Jim Crow Dreaming in America, Part V