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Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy v. ferguson was when plessy said that he had the right to sit in the white only section. he said this because he was only 1/8 african american but though he still cant sit there. He also said that he had more whit ancestors than black ancestors. - olivia strader The seperate car act violated the 13th admendment and 14th admendment. - hailey branch

Plessy v. Ferguson took place in 1896 and the Supreme Court returned to the issue of segregation. The Jim crow laws were tested in 1896 by Plessy when convicted in Louisiana for riding in a white only railway car and his case went to the supreme court. William B. Brown established the legality of segregation as long as facilities were kept "separate but equal". Only one of the justices, John Harlan disagreed whith this decision -elena hartley

Justice Harlan said that the constitution should be color- blind. Meaning that you should not judge a person by his skin color.-samantha keng

On June 7, 1892, Plessy boarded a car of the East Louisiana Railroad , Plessy was one-eighth black and seven-eighths white, under Louisiana state law he was classified as an African-American. Plessy legitimized the move towards segregation in the South. Plessy was a thirty-year old shoemaker from New Orleans, Louisiana. The following is a passage by Judge Henry Brown:That the Separate Car Act does not conflict with the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery...is too clear for argument...A statute which implies merely a legal distinction between the white and colored races -- a distinction which is founded in the color of the two races, and which must always exist so long as white men are distinguished from the other race by color -- has no tendency to destroy the legal equality of the two races...The object of the Fourteenth Amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either.Homer Adolph Plessy lived an otherwise unremarkable life—he became an insurance agent and died in 1925 in his early sixties.- By Thomas Sheen

Plessy said that he didn't have to move because he had white blood and white ancestory in him! The court ruled that Plessy had broke the Lousisana State Segregation law. They said that aslong as the facilities were seperate but equal it wasn't unconstitutional.Plessy unfortunatley lost the court case but became one of the many aAfrican Americans that went down in history for trying to stop segregation.-Rachael Western

Examples of Laws

Some examples of laws are Blacks and whites go to different school. Next is the separate bus act which said that whites got the nicer first class type of seats on trains and they got to go to the front of the bus while the AAs were in the back of the bus and if a white person needed to get on the bus and the bus was full then the AA had to give up their seat.- Olivia Strader

In a hospital, a black nurse could not nurse a white patient. African Americans could not sit in the same resturant room as whites. -elena hartley

1.prohibited marriage or relations between whites and blacks or mulattoes the result is giving specific fines and imprisonment of up to three years

2. Segregation in segregated rail travel, streetcars, buses, all public carriers, race tracks, gaming establishments, polling places, washrooms in mines, tuberculosis hospitals, public schools and teachers' colleges.

3.Books shall not be interchangeable between the white and colored schools, but shall continue to be used by the race first using them

4. No custody or legal quardion whit or black can care for a child black or white- Thomas Sheen

Jim Crow Time Line

Jim Crow Laws became common in the 1880s. African Americans challenged Jim Crow laws in the court. In 1883 the US Supreme court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional. The Court also ruled that the 14th amendment applied only to the action of state governments. This ruling allowed private individuals and businesses to practice segregation. -elena hartley

Jim Crow Laws were very unjust and did not treat the African American's at all! EVERYTHING was segregated during Jim crow! schools, buses, waiting rooms, water fountains, bathrooms, transportation, and if you were a black, you couldn't even marry someone white! how would you feel if you were effected by jim crow?????-elizabeth sheldon

Early Civil Rights Leaders - Role Models

Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington - Booker T Washington said that you schould go along with you educational rights and educate yourself instead of fighting them.- Hailey Branch

Booker was born in Hales Ford, VA on Aprilo 5, 1856. He wasa born into slavery. He was the founder of Tuskgee institue of technology. He wrote a book called UP FROM SLAVERY. He dedicated himself to the idea that dedication would rise his people to equailty in America. booker only had one year of formal education!-Rachael Western

Ida b. Wells Barrmet -

Ida B. was a girl whos parents died when she was 16 and she wrote a newspaper when she was older named " Free Speech" the newspaper argued with Jim Crow and Lynching.Alonzo Herdon-John Wesley Dobbs-

He became famouse by starting a white an black barbar shop. It became very succesful in 1922. He did it because it told the Whites that African Americans can be succesful buissnessmen and he was the only colord man to serve white people in his buissness.- hailey branch and olivia stader

His nickname was "sweet auburn" . He was a railway mail clerck. He lead a march through Atlanta so African Americans can vote. he had a stroke on August 21 in 9 days later he passed away.- hailey branch and olivia strader

Ida b. Wells- in 1889 began writing for the memphis Free Speech. She soon became the editor of the paper. She used the paper to write about racial equailty. She was born into slavery on July 16, 1862 in holly springs, mississippi. At age 14 she dressed older and convinced others that she was really 18 and taught at a rural school. At age 16 her parents died of yellow fever and she became an orphan.-Rachael Western

__JOHN WESLEY DOBBS-__(CARSON COOK) John Wesley Dobbs was a man of great character. John Wesley Dobbs was born on March 6, 1862 in Marietta, Georgia. He lived in poverty on a farm near Kennesaw. Two years after he was born his parents split and his mother moved to Savannah. He was formally educated until the end of 5th grade, because his family’s financial difficulties. While not being educated he was offered a job by a white woman to clean and polish shoes. John took the job. In 1897 at age 15, he moved to Atlanta where he was educated at the Atlanta Baptist College. Unfortunately he was pulled away from school again but this time it was because of his mother’s health. He never did get a college degree.

In 1909 Dobbs married Irene Ophelia Thompson and they had six children together. John was very involved in Civil Rights and fought hard for even the smaller things like getting street lamps on Auburn Avenue, the center of Atlanta’s black community. He had the desire to succeed. This trait got him very far in life. He was determined to get more African Americans to vote in Georgia. He confounded the Atlanta Nero’s Voters League with attorney A.T. Walden. He also was able to fight and get eight african american workers a job at Hartsfield Jackson Airport

What made John Wesley Dobbs famous was the fact that he was the most influential African American in Atlanta during the first half of the twentieth century. He worked hard to achieve racial equality in segregated Atlanta. He also led a group of Atlanta Negro on a march through Atlanta for equal rights. He advised his children and other African Americans to not attend segregated events and reminded his children often of their equality. He taught his children and others around him to believe in yourself and to never give up. John Wesley Dobbs worked very hard to instill in his children a sense of self-worth and a desire to succeed, and he also tried to instill in Atlanta’s African American community those same values he worked to pass onto his children.

One of his many accomplishments was he lead a leadership position with the Masons. John Wesley Dobbs was definitely a hero because he helped a lot of people through racial equality and suffrage, and he was always there for people if they needed him. He cared for others and did selfless things to benefit others.

His life was remarkable in the way that he arose from being a mail clerk to becoming a major leader in the fight against racial discrimination. He sadly suffered a stroke on Aug. 21, which made him die 9 days later on August 30, 1961.

He was determined and kind, inspired and caring, and he never gave up. He taught his daughters and others around him to never give up and believe that you can succeed. He was sort of the MLK of his day!!!

~CARSON COOK~

Alonzo Herdon-

Booker T. Washington-

ALONZO HERNDON

Alonzo Herndon was born in June 1858 on the Social Circle in Georgia. He was a slave freed by the Emancopation in 1865. In 1878 he ran away with 11 dollars and one year of schooling. He became famous when he started the Crystal Palace in downtown Atlanta. It was an extremely nice barbershop. It severved blacks and whites. As his business had he started up the first African American. In 1905 he purchased a failing mutual aid association in which he incorporated the Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association. By 1922 his business had over 400,000 dollars in assets. Consider him a succesful businessman but not a hero. He helped African Americans by giving them insurance, which they had never had before. He had to overcome slavery, poverty, illiteracy and little education. He was the only colored man to serve white people in his business. He was the first African American millionaire. He died in 1927.

Brown V.S Board of Education

On May 17, 1954, several school segregation cases came together under the title of Brown v Board of Education. Seven year old, Linda Brown, an African American from Topeka, Kansas. Brown lived by a white school, but she had to travel across town to a school for blacks. Linda's father and the NAACP sued to allow Linda to attend the school closer to her home. The Supreme court issued an unanimous ruling on Brown v Board of Education, on May 17, 1954. the next year, the Court ordered puplic schools to desegregate, or integrate.-elena hartley

Argued December 9, 1952

Reargued December 8, 1953

Decided May 17, 1954

The NAACP was also involved, among the Topeka NAACP leaders were the chairman McKinley Burnett and Charles Scott.

The Segregation of students in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The "Brown" is a 7 year old girl. She was an african american from Topeka, Kansas named Linda Brown. Linda lived near a white only school but had to travel across twon to a school for blacks. Linda's father and NAACP sued to allow Linda to attend the white only school. The court then rulled that sgregation in schools was illegal.- Rachael Western

Emmit Till Case

Emmit Till (from Chicago) was visiting his great-uncle in Money, Mississippi. On the night of August 24, 1955, Till and some other boys visited a store owned by a white couple named Carolyn and Roy Bryant. Witnesses reported that Till spoke to Carolyn and whistled to her. Then, on August 28, 1955, two men kidnapped Till from his great-uncle's house. His body was found three days later in the Tallahantchie river. He had been badly beaten and shot in the head. A metal fan had been fastened to his neck with barbered wire. The murderers were Roy Bryant and J.W Milam. They killed Till because of the way he talked to Carolyn Bryant on the 24th. It hurt the African American immediatly because African Americans might have been afraid of white men after Till was killed but, it sparked the Civil Rights Movement so it helped them in a long run. Tills mother wanted to have an open caset funeral for him so she could show American what the white men had done to Emmit Till. -elena hartley

Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Assassination, arrest, and speeches.

He was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. One of Mlk's arrest was on May 4, 1960, another arrest was on August 28, 1963 in washington. On the lincoln memorial he spoke his I have a dream speech. he was awarded the noble peace prize in 1964. He was giving a speech in Memphis Tennesee. At 6:01he was shot on the balcony of his motel room. by a man named James earl ray.- elena hartley. His house was bombed on January 1956. -also elena hartley.