On January 1st, 1862, Abraham Lincoln created the Emancipation Proclamation, releasing all African Americans from slavery, this lead to the 14th amendment being validated July 8th, 1868. This amendment had addressed citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws. It was proposed in response to the issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. This amendment and proclamation was also very controversial in the South. The Southerners felt that African Americans had been in their possession for so long (slaves) that this creation of new laws was unfair. They had felt that the creation of the 14th amendment had destroyed their way of life. The feeling of ‘unfairness’ had ultimately created the Black Codes restricting the …show more content…
Around 1828, Thomas "Daddy" Rice developed a routine in which he blacked his face, dressed in old clothes, and sang and danced in imitation of an old and decrepit black man. Rice published the words to the song, "Jump, Jim Crow," in 1830. Beginning in the 1880s, the term "Jim Crow" saw wide usage as a reference to practices, laws or institutions that arise from or sanction, the physical separation of black people from white people. A Montgomery, Alabama, ordinance compelled black residents to take seats apart from whites on municipal buses. At the time, the "separate but equal" standard applied, but the actual separation practiced was hardly equal. Jim Crow laws in various states required the segregation of races in such common areas as restaurants and …show more content…
Ferguson was a combination of rulings passed by the U.S. and state Supreme Courts after Reconstruction. Many of these decisions allowed and even required that Jim Crow segregation laws continued in the Southern states. Plessy v. Ferguson was an 1896 decision by the US Supreme Court that confirmed the principle of "Separate but Equal" and minority segregation. This case began in Louisiana in 1892. Homer Plessy agreed to be arrested to test the 1890 law establishing whites only train cars. Although it was believed that he had been one-eighth black and seven-eighths white, he was still legally required to sit in the "colored" car of the train. The judge at the trial was John Howard Ferguson, a lawyer from Massachusetts who had previously declared the Separate Car Act "unconstitutional” on trains that traveled through several states. After the decision had been made they returned to whites being superiority over blacks and that the 13th Amendment had taken that away from them after the Civil War. Plessy vs. Ferguson was the final step in erasing the policies put in place during Reconstruction. In Plessy's case, however, he decided that the state could choose to regulate railroad companies that operated only within Louisiana. He found Plessy guilty of refusing to leave the white car. Plessy appealed to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, which upheld Ferguson's
In 1896, the Supreme Court was introduced with a case that not only tested both levels of government, state and federal, but also helped further establish a precedent that it was built off of. This court case is commonly known as the case that confirmed the doctrine “separate but equal”. This doctrine is a crucial part of our Constitution and more importantly, our history. This court case involved the analysis of amendments, laws, and divisions of power. Plessy v. Ferguson was a significant court case in U.S history because it was shaped by federalism and precedent, which were two key components that were further established and clarified as a result of the Supreme Court’s final decision.
Whites never gave total freedom to African Americans. Blacks were forced to endure curfews, passes, and living on rented land, which put them in a similar situation as slaves. In 1866, the KKK started a wave of violence and abuse against negroes in the south, destroying their properties, assaulting and killing them in different ways, just because angry white people do not want the blacks to stand up and join in political or any kind of issues or freedom. The Fourteenth Amendment did surely constitute the biggest development of government force following the approval of the Constitution.
...dom and right to vote established by the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, blacks were still oppressed by strong black codes and Jim Crow laws. The federal government created strong legislation for blacks to be helped and educated, but it was ineffective due to strong opposition. Although blacks cried out to agencies, such as the Freemen's Bureau, declaring that they were "in a more unpleasant condition than our former" (Document E), their cries were often overshadowed by violence.
The book, the Strange Career of Jim Crow is a wonderful piece of history. C. Vann Woodard crafts a book that explains the history of Jim Crow and segregation in simple terms. It is a book that presents more than just the facts and figures, it presents a clear and a very accurate portrayal of the rise and fall of Jim Crow and segregation. The book has become one of the most influential of its time earning the praise of great figures in Twentieth Century American History. It is a book that holds up to its weighty praise of being “the historical Bible of the civil rights movement.” The book is present in a light that is free from petty bias and that is shaped by a clear point of view that considers all facts equally. It is a book that will remain one of the best explanations of this time period.
The court case of Plessy vs. Ferguson created nationwide controversy in the United States due to the fact that its outcome would ultimately affect every citizen of our country. On Tuesday, June 7th, 1892, Mr. Homer Plessy purchased a first class ticket on the East Louisiana Railroad for a trip from New Orleans to Covington. He then entered a passenger car and took a vacant seat in a coach where white passengers were also sitting. There was another coach assigned to people who weren’t of the white race, but this railroad was a common carrier and was not authorized to discriminate passengers based off of their race. (“Plessy vs. Ferguson, syllabus”).Mr. Plessy was a “Creole of Color”, a person who traces their heritage back to some of the Caribbean, French, and Spanish who settled into Louisiana before it was part of the US (“The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow”). Even though Plessy was only one eighth African American, and could pass for a full white man, still he was threatened to be penalized and ejected from the train if he did not vacate to the non-white coach (“Plessy vs. Ferguson, syllabus). In ...
In 1865 4 million people were freed and let out on their own for the first time ever. They weren’t really sure what to do at this time but they had to find a way because they were now by themselves in a world that didn’t accept them. There were 3 Amendments made to the US Constitution that freed these slaves and put the African Americans in the country in such a bad situation. These Amendments and the actions by the president and his appointed boards were unsuccessful due to the racist laws and resistance against the American Reconstruction. Some of these laws include the Jim Crow Laws and some of these racist people congregated in a group called the Klu Klux Klan. These actions went against the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments voiding them as a whole.
In 1863 to 1877 Reconstruction brought an end to slavery, it paved the way for the former slaves to become citizens. The African Americans wanted complete freedom. However, that right became a setback and were seen as second class citizens. Before the end of the Reconstruction, a legislation was passed called the Jim Crow law. The law enforced the segregation of people of African descent. The legislation was a system to ensure the exclusion of racial groups in the Southern States. For example, separate transportation law, school division, different waiting rooms both at the bus terminals and hospitals, separate accommodations, marriage law and voting rights. The Jim Crow law was supposed to help in racial segregation in the South. Instead,
On December 6, 1865, the thirteenth amendment to the United States constitution was ratified (Archives). This amendment effectively abolished slavery with the exception of a punishment for a crime (Archives). This was a great victory for blacks, who had been the preferred target for slaves. For many, however, the passage of the amendment failed to change the attitudes of white Americans. Blacks were clearly not welcome in many cities across the nation, with laws allowing blacks to work within a city’s limits, but requiring them to leave before sundown.
During the time of reconstruction, the 13th amendment abolished slavery. As the Nation was attempting to pick up their broken pieces and mend the brokenness of the states, former slaves were getting the opportunity to start their new, free lives. This however, created tension between the Northerners and the Southerners once again. The Southerners hated the fact that their slaves were being freed and did not belong to them anymore. The plantations were suffering without the slaves laboring and the owners were running out of solutions. This created tension between the Southern planation owners and the now freed African Americans. There were many laws throughout the North and the South that were made purposely to discriminate the African Americans.
Plessy vs Ferguson was a case in which it stated a precedent. In 1892, an African American named Homer Plessy did not give up his seat to a white man("HISTORY OF BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION"). He then got arrested and taken to jail. Plessy than went to the Supreme Court to argue that his Fourteenth Amendment was violated. However, the Supreme Court ruled against Plessy and set the precedent that “separate but equal” is really equal("HISTORY OF BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION") .
President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed slaves in the Confederate states. But it did not guarantee anyone an education, a job, or a place to live. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution made slavery illegal. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments were passed later, and they were supposed to give blacks all their civil rights, especially the right to vote.
Though the issue of slavery was solved, racism continues and Southerners that stayed after the war passed Black Codes which subverted the ideas of freedom including the actions of state legislatures (Hakim 19). Black Codes were a set of laws that discriminated blacks and limited their freedom (Jordan 388). Such restrictions included: “No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish...No public meetings or congregations of negroes shall be allowed within said parish after sunset…” (Louisiana Black Codes 1865). A solution to this was the 14th Amendment. It meant now all people born in America were citizens and it “Prohibited states from revoking one’s life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” This meant all states had to...
During the Reconstruction era, politicians from northern states were moving south to take advantage of political opportunity in the south (McPhee) and court the freedman’s vote. This practice gave blacks increased influence over the political and financial landscape of southern districts, In essence disenfranchising the white southern elite. Disturbed by their dwindling authority, white southern business owners, landlords, teachers, religious leaders and lawmakers initiated and enforced Jim Crow legislation and etiquette (Shmoop). In an effort to circumvent the newly won freedom gained by slaves (Country Studies), Jim Crow were laws that created a legal, race-based caste system that operated primarily in the southern and border state...
Jim Crow laws affected the United States by creating a society where white individuals and than those of color were kept separate. As America hit a turning point in history and the Civil War was fought, slavery was abolished and white supremacists created Jim Crow laws in an attempt to keep African Americans as close as possible to their previous status as slaves. These laws aimed to control every aspect of life and to create a separated society dominated by whites. America was “Jim Crowed” for almost a full century and the laws weren’t successfully opposed until 1954 during the Brown v. Board of Education case, and even then, it took several years for society to accept integration.
Because of the 13th and 14th Amendments freeing slaves and granting equal protection under the law grants Jon the same rights to ride the train as any other citizen. Santa Clara County v. Southern Public Railroad, Even though the case was not about the 14th Amendment, Justice Morrison Remick Waite made it so by arguing that corporations must comply with the 14th Amendment. Santa Clara County v. Southern Public Railroad, 118 U.S. 394 (1886). Plessy v. Ferguson, Homer Plessy sat in a whites-only train car, he was asked to move to the car reserved for blacks, because state law mandated segregation. The court held that segregation is not necessarily unlawful discrimination as long as the races are treated equally. The impact of Plessy was to relegate blacks to second-class citizenship. Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). However, this is not equal