- This page is designed for the class to collaborate on notes.

 

• Bus Boycott

The Bus Boycott was when Rosa Parks was sitting in the black section of the bus on December 1st 1955 and the White section was all full so then the driver TOLD Rosa Parks to move and give up her seat... Rosa refused and the driver called the police whom arrived shortly and arrested Rosa... Then blacks and a few whites started walking, carpooling, riding there bicycles, and using other transportation other than buses for 381 days. Bus percentage dropped by 70%. Then Rosa won her case and the bus boycott ended. The bus boycott also made Martin Luther King Jr. more famous because he made many wonderful speechs protesting against the arrest of Rosa... People started to depend on Martin Luther King Jr. which made him more famous. If it wasn't for Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King and other important role models think were the world would be today... Anna White

 

 

Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy Vs. Ferguson was the case when they decided taught segregation was fair if they called it separate but equal facilities. Plessy was 1/8 african american and the person at the ticket counter gave him the white car. He challenged the law when he was asked to move and was taken to court. He argued that this was unfair because they were not allowed to separate people. They said that they were as long as they separate facilities were equal. This happened in 1896.-Katie Dragone!

 

Addison McClaugherty-It went to the U.S. Supreme Court, the court said Segregation was allowed if "separate-but-equal" facilities were provided. Plessy was arrested on the train car and accused of breaking the state law that required separate cars for blacks and whites. His lawyers argued that the law violated his right to equal treatment under the Fourteenth Amendment, then thats when he appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. John Marshall Harlan disagreed with the Court's decision going on to say the Constitution was color-blind, and in respect of the Civil Rights, all citizens are equal before the law. Then Segregation became widespread all across the country.

 

 

Examples of Laws

 

African American female nurses were not permitted to treat male Whites.

Opposite races were not allowed to get married.

There were separate drinking fountains for African Americans and Whites.

There were separate train cars for African Americans and Whites.

There were separate entrances to entertainment places (fairs, circus, etc.)

There were separate schools for African American and White children.-Caroline Kenny

 

Separate eating and sleeping accommodations were required for white and black prisoners, and white working.

You were classified as a black if you had at least one quarter African American blood.

Teachers weren't allowed to teach students of a different race then their own.

There were separate mental hospitals for blacks.

There was a Repealed poll tax. (for voting)

A black barber was not allowed to cut a white kids hair who was under fourteen years of age.

There were separate restrooms, waiting rooms, shops, ticket sales, parks, hospitals, beaches, swimming pools, restaurants, etc. (all public places)

In states such as Alabama, ALL people of any black descent were considered "colored."

It was considered unlawful for a white to play any hobby together, such as, chess, cards, dominoes, billiards, track, softball, football, golf, basketball, baseball, checkers, or pool.

Blacks had the rights to testify on the same terms as whites. (in some states such as Mississippi)

White and black employees were not allowed to use the same restrooms.

Whites were not allowed to marry blacks, Asians, Indians, or any person with one-eighth or more "Mongolian" blood.

It was considered unlawful for cotton textile manufacturers to allow different races to work together in the same room, use same exits, bathrooms, etc.

It was considered a crime to give a colored person custody of a white child.

The school bus drivers had to be the same race as all the children they drove.

-Claire Martin

 

 

• Education Constitution
All taxes paid by blacks to go to maintaining African schools. Duty of the legislature to "encourage colored schools."

 

• Railroads Statute
"All railroad companies shall attach one passenger car for the special accommodation of freedmen"

 

• Barred segregation on public carriers Statute
Public carriers prohibited from making any distinctions in the carrying of passengers. Penalty: Misdemeanor punishable by a fine from $100 to $500, or imprisonment from 30 to 90 days, or both.

 

• Voting rights Constitution
Required electors to pay poll tax.

 

• Streetcars Statute
Required all streetcars to comply with the separate coach law passed in 1889. Penalty: Streetcar companies could be fined from $100 to $1,000 for failing to enact law. A passenger wrongfully riding in an improper coach was guilty of a misdemeanor, and faced fines from $5 to $25.

 

• Barred railroad segregation Statute
Railroads required to furnish equal accommodations to all, without regard to race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Penalty: Violators could be sued, and the injured party could collect as much as $10,000.

 

• Miscegenation Statute
Unlawful for officials to issue marriage licenses to persons of African descent and the other a white person. Penalty: A misdemeanor that carried a fine between $200 and $500, or confinement in jail for three months, or both. Ministers who married such persons also guilty of a misdemeanor, and fined between $500 and $1,000, or confide in jail for six months, or both.-Braden Young

 

 

 

Early Civil Rights Leaders - Role Models

 

Booker T. Washington

Washington grew up in slavery. After he had his freedom he lived in the south. Everyday he witnessed Jim Crow and the violence in the south. He believed that African Americans should start at the bottom and do hard labor job and then slowly work there way up. He said they should learn to work with Jim Crow. He was afraid that if they tried to star on top there would be horrible violence. He was the principle of the Tuskegee institute that taught them much need skill to secede Washington’s goal.-Braden

 

Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington knew how hard it was to "start from the top", he thought that this would just result in violence, and more trouble. He thought that in order to make a better life, and to git rid of Jim Crow, you must first educate yourself. He founded the Tuskegge Institute, where he became the principle. This school taught African Americans basic education, such as labor, science, and the arts. Although, many critics critized this because they didn't want African Americans to be educated, he was able to maintain this school. Other African Americans didn't like it as well, because they thought it was just the same as slavery. Booker T. Washington wasn't handed his education, he had to build it himself, in which he succeded. He was a brilliant, and noble man, who we still remember today. -Claire Martin

 

 

W.E.B. DuBois

He was born on February 23, 1868. He died on August 27, 1963.Dubois grew up in the North. He was well educated. He had a degree from Harvard University. Dubois grew up in the north therefore he never witnessed the violence of Jim Crow. So he had a very different idea of how the African Americans should work with Jim Crow. He said that African Americans should fight it and he thought that African Americans should start at the top. He said why can’t African Americans be lawyers and doctors and those type of jobs we should we do hard labor and work for the white men because that’s what we just got out of. During slavery we were working for the white men. If we do hard labor jobs we are right back from were we started? Dubois was the founder of the N.A.A.C.P National Association of the Advancement of Colored People. Which help African American get equal right, mostly with unfair court cases. -Braden Young

 

Dubois fought just like Ida B. Wells. Dubois went to Finch college for 2 years then transfered to Harvard where he earned a doctrate. Dubois also got a job for the New York Globe when he was 15. -Caroline Kenny

 

 

 

 

John Wesley Dobbs

Dobbs was born in Marietta, Georgia on December 3, 1882. In 1891 he moved to Savannah, Georgia and that was when he first started his formal education. In 5th grade his education almost ended because of his families financial difficulties , but a white woman intervened and offered John Wesley Dobbs a job that didn't interfere with his education. At the age of 15 he moved to Atlanta, Georgia where he continued his education at Atlanta Baptist College, but he dropped out mother's ill-health and never earned a college degree. John Wesley Dobbs was one of the most influential African Americans of his time. In 1936 he founded the Atlanta Civic and Political League. With attorney A.T. Walden he co founded the Atlanta Negro Voters League in 1946. He thought that African American suffrage was the key to racial advancement. His life was admirable because he helped install streetlights on Auburn Avenue and helped hire 8 African American police officers. He had a goal of registering 10,000 African Americans voters in Atlanta and preached the importance of voter registration in Masonic Halls, in African American churches , and on street corners. -Mac Wiesner

 

Ida B. Wells

Claire Martin-

Ida B. Wells was a woman who fought for others' freedom. She was fearless, and is still remembered today, for the things she did to help build up our country, into the way it is today. Ida was born a slave on July 16, 1862 in the town of Holly Springs Mississippi. Ida was the oldest of eight children. Her father, James Wells was a carpenter, and was on the board of trustees at Rust College, where Ida recieved a basic education. He was a very well educated, and commited man who was interested in Politics, and providing education for slaves as well as his own eight children. Her mother, Elizabeth Wells, was a cook, as well as a very religious woman. She insisted that her children read the Bible every Sunday, and only the Bible on Sundays, and she made sure her children attended Church and sunday school every Sunday. Ida was a very good, and dedicated reader because of her mother's rule. When Ida was approx. 16 years old, both her parents, and some of her siblings died due to a horrible case of Yellow Fever. Ida was faced with a tremendous amount of responsiblity; her parents had only left behind a small amount of money, and she had to take care of her siblings. Ida convinced local school officials that she was 18 years of age, by putting her hair up and wearing a long dress. She was able to work as a teacher at a local school. A few years later, she placed the older kids as apprentices, and took the younger ones with her to Memphis, Tennesse, where she moved in with her aunt. She was able to get another teaching position, by attending Fisk College, and getting more education there. In 1884, when Ida was thrown out of the First Class section, she wouldn't move. She had bought a First Class Ticket, and wasn't going to sit in the African American section. The conductor picked her up and put her into the black section. Many whites clapped with the conductor did this. She later took this case to the Tennesse Sumpreme Court, and won. This gave Ida B. Wells the determination, ambition, and courage that she needed, to fight for all types of equality. In 1887, she was offered part owner, and a reporter position, for the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight, and she accepted with overfilling excitment. The newspaper name was later shortened to Free Speech, and Ida became the only owner. Ida was not afraid to speak out about racial inequality for African Americans. She wrote many editorials about the unfair supplies of African Americans, in the school systems. She wrote about the school she working at, and how it was unfair for whites to have better school systems than blacks. Due to this, she lost her job as a teacher in 1891. In 1892, three of Ida's friends, who were successful black, bussinessmen were lynched by a mob of jealous whites. She became furious, and started to write about lynching. Her newspaper did a report on this mob, and when it came out, she was out of town. An angry white mob, broke into the newspaper office, and broke up her presses. They threatened to murder her, if she came back to Tennesse. Ida wrote under the pen name "lola" for the New York Age, and other weekly newspapers. She wrote about how horrible the lynching of African Americans was, and other horrible crimes. She went on speeking tours in England in the northeastern states. She encourged others to do the same, and to speak out againist lyncing, and other crimes. She published famous pamphelts, such as: A Red Record, Mob Rule in New Orleans, and On Lynchings, Southern Horrors. In 1985, she moved to Chicago, where she married Fredrick Barnett, with whom she had children. But giving birth to four children, as well as taking care of her husband's two children, didn't stop her. She helped in establishing the first kindergarden in Chicago. She continued to write for journals, as well as the one her husband and her owned. She participated in many organizations, that spoke out againist the unfair treatment of African Americans, such as the NAACP (The National Association for The Advancement of Colored People), and the Afro-American Council. She also founded many organizations, such as the Ida B. Wells Womens' Club. She took her demands and concerns seriously, and took two all the way to the White House, in 1898, and also in 1913. She founded the first African-American womens' sufferage orgainzation. Ida critized Booker T. Washington, and his idea of not, "rocking the boat", and "living within Jim Crow." She didn't just speak out againist lynching and womens' unfair treatment, though, she also spoke out about the unfairness of the bus rules for African Americans, and their discrimination in general. There are far too many events, organizations, marches, etc. that she founded, was apart of, and established to name them all. Ida would have been truly honored if she were able to see the future, in which she built up. But, unfortuantly this incredible and brilliant heroe of our country, passed away on March, 25th, 1931, due to Kidney Disease, at 69 years of age. Ida has shaped our lives in every way. She spoke out for people who couldn't. She has and always will remain apart of each and every one of our lives'.

-Claire Martin

 

 

 

These paragraphs are from blog questions. That I thought were really good.**

-Braden

 

 

-Robert Houghton

The white population portrayed African-Americans as savages and inferior because they were different and the white people wanted to keep the African-Americans thinking that they were different and inferior in order to stay superior to them. This influenced the public perception of African-Americans because signs were put up describing African-Americans as weird and inferior beings.

 

 

-Hunter

The reason that the blacks were considered savages was because they looked different and talked differently than the whites. Because they were different they were treated differently and were abused as slaves. Because they were called savages people looked at them and treated them as though they were savages. They were not considered equal and had unequal rights. They had segregation all around them as well as Jim Crow it really wasn’t fair. They were separate but equal, but really not equal. They had known where near the same live as white men. They had less rights than the poorest of the whites all because they were different.

 

 

-Anisa

If I was Homer Plessy I would not have given up my seat. If i was in that position i would have stood up for what I believed in and sat where I felt I needed to. Since he was only one-eight black he had more white blood, so it would only make since for him to sit in the white section. I think it was unfair that the supreme court to rule “separate but equal”, since it obviously was not equal. If I was in his place I would have stood up 4 what I believed in, even 1if it cost me.

 

-Julia

I think that it effected to whole U.S. because the laws threatened the colored men everywhere…. not just the south. So men would start getting the idea that maybe it was fair. As in the Plessey vs. Ferguson court case they used the term “separate but equal,” I think that more people thought about that and started following the bad example of the south. Therefore, the whole U.S. was falling apart because of the Jim Crow Laws.

 

I think the Jim Crow Laws affected the whole country, because they divided our nation. Since, the North’s Jim Crow Laws weren’t as strong as the South’s it created a lot of tension. This tension caused many different issues, such as violence. The Jim Crow Laws also affected all of the United States, because it made it harder for our country to achieve what the Founding Fathers had always wanted us to achieve, “All men are created equal.” The Jim Crow Laws have caused many heroic people to die, because they were fighting for their rights, and the Jim Crow Laws have made our country have to work its hardest, to create a free and EQUAL nation -Claire Martin