Jim Crow Laws

By: Ryan Barrett Vanessa Sanchez Daisey Adin Corina Pham

Questions No. 6 and No. 8 were left out due to lack of available information with consent of Mrs. Reska.

1. Where did the term Jome Crow come from? List 3 ways the origin of this term is offensive.
The term Jim Crow comes from a slave song that a man named Mr. Rice heard while traveling and wanted to use the character in his plays. It is offensive because: - the term originated from minstrel shows, a traditional type show that often mocked the supposed idiocy and stupidity of African-Americans - the name Jim Crow itself referenced skin color,saying that blacks were less than human. - the character Jim Crow was portrayed as a slow, lazy, and dim-witted black man, creating a stereotype that white people followed.

2. How did the term Jim Crow become synonymous with the segregation laws in the South?
Jim Crow laws became synonymous with the south for two reasons. The first was that Andrew Jackson used the term with his populist policies. The second was that the play that started the term Jim Crow was a widely seen play all around the South.

3. What ended Reconstruction in the South, and what effect did it have on southern blacks?
Reconstruction ended in the South when federal troops were forced to leave because of an agreement between the north and the south. This allowed for more severe segregation and racism to occur towards black people.

4. Legally, African-Americans had the right to vote. How was their right to suffrage compromised? List 3 ways whites made it nearly impossible for blacks to vote. African-Americans right to vote was compromised by voter intimidation by the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Three ways that it was compromised were through the lynching of blacks people, KKK members standing by the voting booth, and threats made by KKK members to black people.

5. How did the Plessy v. Ferguson case (1896) uphold Jim Crow laws? What effects did that have on southern blacks?
The Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896 upheld Jim Crow laws in the way it forced a man partly of African descent to seat himself in the Colored car of a railroad. When Homer Plessy sat himself in the White car, he was jailed for doing so, showing how strict segregation was during these times. This affected southern blacks by the way it so blatantly told them that they were different from their white counterparts, enforcing the already strong segregation going on in their lives.

7. Who was W.E.B. DuBois? Where did he live? What did he believe was the best way for southern African-Americans to survive in the South?
W.E.B. Dubois was an African-American civil rights activist. He lived in Atlanta for most of his life. While working there he came to believe that Communism was the best way for AfricanAmericans to survive in the south.

9. How did many southern blacks escape the South? Where did they go? What was this movement called?
Many southern blacks escaped the South by traveling on the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a system that helped rescue blacks from slavery. After the slaves were set free they would travel north to Canada.