Jim Crow laws.From the 1880s to the 1960s, several Southern states Southern States U.S. Confederacy government of 11 Southern states that left the Union in 1860. [Am. Hist.: EB, III: 73] Dixie popular name for Southern states in U.S. and for song. [Am. Hist. enacted unfair laws that limited the legal rights of black Americans, These legal acts were known as Jim Crow laws Jim Crow laws, in U.S. history, statutes enacted by Southern states and municipalities, beginning in the 1880s, that legalized segregation between blacks and whites. The name is believed to be derived from a character in a popular minstrel song. , named after a minstrel character (musical performer who portrayed blacks negatively). Read the samples of Jim Crow laws below, then answer the questions. Write your responses on a separate sheet of paper. * "No person of color Noun 1. person of color - (formal) any non-European non-white person person of colour individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul - a human being; "there was too much for one person to do" shall migrate into and reside in this state, unless, within twenty days after his arrival ... he shall enter into an [agreement] with two [property owners] as [sponsors]." * "[No person of color] shall pursue the practice, art, trade, or business of an artisan, mechanic, or shopkeeper, or any other trade or employment ... until he shall have obtained a license from the judge of the district court, which license shall be good for one year only." (A license could cost $100 or more.) * "No person of color shall be permitted to preach ... to congregations of colored not of the white race; - commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro blood, pure or mixed. See also: Color people without special permission from the mayor or president of the board of police." * "It shall be unlawful for a Negro [black] and white person to play together or in company with each other at any game of pool or billiards billiards, any one of a number of games played with a tapered, leather-tipped stick called a cue and various numbers of balls on a rectangular, cloth-covered slate table with raised and cushioned edges. ." * "Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school." * "Books shall not be interchangeable between the white and colored schools, but shall continue to be used by the race first using them." * "The officer in charge shall not bury, or allow to be buried, any colored persons Noun 1. colored person - a United States term for Blacks that is now considered offensive colored archaicism, archaism - the use of an archaic expression upon ground set apart or used for the burial of white persons." * "It shall be unlawful for any amateur white baseball team to play baseball on any vacant lot or baseball field within two blocks of a playground devoted to the Negro race." * "The board of trustees board of trustees Politics The posse of thugs who oversee an institution's administration. See Board of directors. shall ... maintain a separate building ... on separate ground for the admission, care, instruction, and support of all blind persons of the colored or black race." QUESTIONS 1. How did a series of unfair rules become known as Jim Crow laws? 2. How were black Americans restricted from traveling freely? 3. How did these laws limit employment opportunities for ex-slaves? 4. How did Jim Crow laws limit religious freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution? 5. Why do you suppose it was illegal for white and black Americans to compete at pool? 6. If a white school was getting rid of old books, could a black school adopt them for its students' use? 7. Could black and white amateur baseball teams play separate games on neighboring neigh·bor n. 1. One who lives near or next to another. 2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another. 3. A fellow human. 4. Used as a form of familiar address. v. diamonds? 8. What do you think the total effect of the Jim Crow laws was meant to be? 9. Describe ways in which establishing separate black and white schools was unfair. 10. Is there still racial inequality racial inequality Racial disparity Social medicine, public health A disparity in opportunity for socioeconomic advancement or access to goods and services based solely on race. See Women and health. in the U.S. today? Why or why not? 1. The name Jim Crow Jim Crow Negro stereotype popularized by 19th-century minstrel shows. [Am. Hist.: Van Doren, 138] See : Bigotry came from a character from a minstrel show minstrel show, stage entertainment by white performers made up as blacks. Thomas Dartmouth Rice, who gave (c.1828) the first solo performance in blackface and introduced the song-and-dance act Jim Crow, is called the "father of American minstrelsy. that portrayed blacks negatively. 2. Black Americans could not move into a state unless two property owners sponsored them. 3. Net being able to travel freely in effect prevented blacks from seeking better employment opportunities elsewhere. They also had to become licensed to work at certain jobs and pay a costly fee for that license. 4. Black Americans could not preach to congregations unless they had special permission from a judge or the police. 5. The law was intended to restrict blacks and whites from socializing with each other. 6. No. After being used by one race, books could not be used by another. (It worked both ways-a white school couldn't use a black school's books, either.) 7. No. The fields of play had to be at least two blocks apart. 8. The laws were meant to enforce a separation of the races. Limits on their education, housing, and job opportunities also kept blacks in a socially inferior position. 9. Separate schools meant that authorities did not have to guarantee an adequate education for blacks, or have to maintain black schools at the same level. Segregated schools also reinforced feelings of inferiority among black children. 10. Answers will vary. |
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