SECTION 3
THE WORLD OF
JIM CROW
TEXT SUMMARY
After Reconstruction, African Americans
saw their rights begin to disappear.
Southern states passed laws requiring
blacks to own property and pay a poll
tax, a special fee, in order to vote.
Sometimes they required literacy tests.
Most African Americans could not pay
these taxes or pass these tests. Many states
passed Jim Crow laws, or laws designed
to prevent African Americans from exercising their equal rights. Jim Crow laws
required segregation, or separation of
people by race, in public places.
The Supreme Court upheld the Jim
Crow laws in the landmark case Plessy v.
Ferguson, establishing the “separate but
equal” doctrine. This doctrine stated that
segregation was legal as long as facilities
for blacks were equal to those of whites.
However, few facilities were equal.
Another effect of racism was violence
against African Americans, which includ-
ed lynching, the unlawful killing of a
person at the hands of a mob. Between
1882 and 1892 an estimated 1,200 African
Americans were lynched.
In response, a group of African
T H E BIG I D E A
Americans and whites founded
New laws limited
the National Association for
the rights of African
the Advancement of Colored
Americans after
People (NAACP) in 1909.
Reconstruction, but
While the NAACP fought
many African
through the courts, church
Americans achieved
groups organized settlement
success in spite of
houses, and the National Urban
these obstacles.
League improved job opportunities and housing.
African Americans also began to publish literature, history, and sociological
studies. Black-owned businesses began
appearing and Booker T. Washington
founded the National Negro Business
League in 1900.
GRAPHIC SUMMARY: Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow Laws
First appeared in
Massachusetts
in the 1830s
Became firmly
established
in southern
states after
Reconstruction
Required the
separation
of blacks
and whites in
schools, parks,
public buildings,
and public
transportation
Declared legal
by Supreme
Court in Plessy
v. Ferguson
decision
Battled against
by the National
Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People
Jim Crow laws were a part of everyday life in the South after Reconstruction.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What was the goal of Jim Crow
laws?
© Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall.
2. Diagram Skills Where did the
first Jim Crow laws appear?
Guide to the Essentials
CHAPTER 9
45
SECTION 2
LEADERS AND
STRATEGIES
TEXT SUMMARY
Several important civil rights groups laid
the foundation for the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Since 1909 the NAACP,
an interracial group with both African
American and white members, had been
working through the courts to
challenge laws that prevented
T H E BIG I D E A
African Americans from achievThe civil rights
ing full equality. The National
movement of the
Urban League helped African
1960s was made up
Americans moving into northern
of a variety of
cities find homes and jobs.
groups, united by
Another interracial group, the
their desire to
Congress of Racial Equality
achieve equal rights
(CORE), was founded by pacifor all Americans.
fists during World War II and was
dedicated to peaceful protests. In
1957 Martin Luther King, Jr., and others
founded a new group, the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC). Headed by southern church leaders like King, SCLC focused the civil rights
movement on the South. King and the
SCLC advocated nonviolent protest,
peaceful resistance against racism, as the
most effective tool for change. To fight for
justice, King advocated civil disobedience
to unjust laws through nonviolence. He
taught that protesters should not use violence, even when attacked.
Another group was created by the movement’s youth. The Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was
formed to give young African Americans a
stronger voice in the civil rights movement. Under the leadership of activists like
Robert Moses, SNCC called for more immediate change and was less patient with the
gradual change advocated by groups like
the NAACP and SCLC.
GRAPHIC SUMMARY: Civil Rights Organizations
SNCC
CORE
• Used peaceful confrontations, such
as sit-ins, to bring about change.
• Gave young activists an important
role in civil rights movement.
National Urban League
NAACP
The struggle for civil
rights was led by
activists of all ages
and backgrounds.
• Worked through the courts to
secure legal equality for all
Americans.
• Assisted people moving to major
American cities.
SCLC
• Organized nonviolent protests
against racism and segregation.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
102
CHAPTER 21
1. Describe Martin Luther King’s
strategy for promoting change.
2. Diagram Skills What role did
SNCC play in the civil rights
movement?
Guide to the Essentials
© Pearson Education Inc publishing as Prentice Hall