The Economy, Jim Crow Laws, and the
Citizens
By: Pablo Diaz, Shivani Sharma, & Felix Torres
Economic & Social Discrimination
Economic
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Black teachers/students received less educationally-based economic aid than whites by a substantial
margin
Plessy V Ferguson upheld state racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine of "separate
but equal", however this was far from reality
Very few blacks received the same economic opportunity as whites (salaries, job status, etc.)
Social
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Social discrimination occurred in a variety of forms:
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Blacks were under-educated compared to the whites
■ School conditions, quality of education
■ The blacks that were admitted into an all-white school had a difficult time merely entering
the facility
Many different court cases favored the whites (Plessy, Emmett Till)
Public accommodations were noticeably separate in quality
Blacks could not ride in the front of the bus, and many times they could not ride at all
If a colored person somehow met the extremely vigourous conditions to vote, most of the time they
would be turned down by police at the polls
The Entrance of Non-Violent Direct Action
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In order to end segregation, the blacks had to display the situation in the biggest
fashion possible
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“Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a
community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It
seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.” -Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
Sit-ins
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On February 1, 1960, four black college students sat down at a “whites only” lunch
counter in Greensboro, North Carolina
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Within weeks the “sit-in” tactic had spread to more than two hundred cities
throughout the South
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By refusing to move, the students directly challenged racial segregation
Nashville campaign resulted in more than 150 arrests and national media attention
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwdNwxGfbEc&t=71s
SNCC & CORE
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Ella Baker, a civil rights activist, led the sit-in students at
Shaw University to create the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
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set out to attack white supremacy in the South
through nonviolent direct action
The student activists also wanted to develop political
leaders among the poor, black southerners at the bottom of
Jim Crow society
The organization was made up primarily of young people
(unlike the NAACP), many of them women
The CONGRESS ON RACIAL EQUALITY (CORE) was a
northern group of students led by James Farmer, which also
endorsed direct action and was similar in structure
Effects on Individuals
Economic Effects on the Individual
● Racial discrimination affected the Southern economy
○ Primarily agrarian economy
● Black store owners and entrepreneurs were at a severe
disadvantage
○ Unable to sell to white citizens
○ Unable to have stores in certain areas
○ Extremely difficult to keep their business alive
Social Effects on the Individual
● Despite 13th and 14th amendments, black citizens were still
not taken seriously in society
● Black citizens treated almost as outcasts
○ Not fully accepted into white society
○ Racial discrimination helped prevent full integration
○ Southern states refused to take black people seriously
● Social life was made far more difficult for black people
Jim Crow
Jim Crow
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Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system which operated
primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states, between
1877 and the mid-1960s.
Many Christian ministers and theologians taught that whites were the
Chosen people, blacks were cursed to be servants, and God supported
racial segregation.
Underlying Beliefs
● Whites were superior to blacks in all important ways, including but not
limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior
● Sexual relations between blacks and whites would produce an inferior
race which would destroy America
● Treating blacks as equals would encourage interracial sexual unions
● Any activity which suggested social equality encouraged interracial
sexual relations
● If necessary, violence must be used to keep blacks at the bottom of the
racial hierarchy
Jim Crow Etiquette
Social Etiquette:
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A black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a white male because it implied
being socially equal. Obviously, a black male could not offer his hand or any other part of
his body to a white woman, because he risked being accused of rape.
Blacks were not allowed to show public affection toward one another in public, especially
kissing, because it offended whites.
Never assert or even intimate that a white person is lying.
Never comment upon the appearance of a white female.
Jim Crow etiquette operated in conjunction with Jim Crow laws (black codes). When most people
think of Jim Crow they think of laws (not the Jim Crow etiquette) which excluded blacks from
public transport and facilities, juries, jobs, and neighborhoods
Jim Crow Laws
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In 1890, Louisiana passed the "Separate Car Law," which purported to aid passenger
comfort by creating "equal but separate" cars for blacks and whites.
Blacks were denied the right to vote by grandfather clauses, poll taxes, white
primaries, and literacy tests
Jim Crow states passed laws which severely regulated social interactions between the
races. Jim Crow signs were placed above water fountains, door entrances and exits, and
in front of public facilities. There were separate hospitals for blacks and whites,
separate prisons, separate public and private schools, separate churches, separate
cemeteries, separate public restrooms, and separate public accommodations.
The Violence in Violation
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The Jim Crow laws and system of etiquette were engulfed by violence. Blacks who
violated Jim Crow norms, risked their homes, their jobs, even their lives. The most
extreme forms of Jim Crow violence were lynchings.
Most of the victims of Lynch Law were hanged or shot, but some were burned at the
stake, castrated, beaten with clubs, or dismembered
Lynchers were seldomly arrested, and if arrested, rarely convicted.
George Fredrickson (1971), a historian, stated it this way: "Lynching represented...a way
of using fear and terror to check 'dangerous' tendencies in a black community considered to
be ineffectively regimented or supervised. As such it constituted a confession that the
regular institutions of a segregated society provided an inadequate measure of day-to-day
control"
Many blacks resisted the indignities of Jim Crow, and, far too often, they paid for their
bravery with their lives.
Effects on Individuals
Jim Crow for the Individual
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Effects of Jim Crow mindset took place as soon as the end of slavery
Segregation of the military and other federal government workplaces
○ a policy that was brought about in 1913 by President Woodrow Wilson
"Jim Crow" laws made segregation an absolute legal requirement
○ In some places in the U.S., the spirit of racism was enough to keep racial
segregation a reality
■ Even something as simple as traffic was affected by some "Jim Crow"
laws, as there were areas in the U.S. where white drivers were always
considered to have the right of way while driving, no matter what the
circumstance.
Jim Crow for the Individual (Continued)
● Black children were at a severe disadvantage in education
○ Lack of materials, experienced teachers, funds etc.
■ White legislators claimed they were “equal”
● Public services for black citizens worse compared to those for
white citizens
○ Parks, movie theatres, schools, transit, restaurants
■ Movie theatres were outdated