CIVIL RIGHTS Background Informaiton

13th Amendment "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Formally abolishes slavery

14th amendment 1868 Granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” Forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

15th amendment 1870 Granted African American men the right to vote Declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

Plessy v ferguson 1896 “separate but equal”

Facts of the Case : The state of Louisiana enacted a law that required separate railway cars for blacks and whites. In 1892, Homer Adolph Plessy--who was seven-eighths Caucasian-- took a seat in a "whites only" car of a Louisiana train. He refused to move to the car reserved for blacks and was arrested. Question : Is Louisiana's law mandating racial segregation on its trains an unconstitutional infringement on both the privileges and immunities and the equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment? Decision : 7 votes for Ferguson, 1 vote(s) against Legal provision : No, the state law is within constitutional boundaries. The majority, in an opinion authored by Justice Henry Billings Brown, upheld state-imposed racial segregation. The justices based their decision on the separate-but-equal doctrine, that separate facilities for blacks and whites satisfied the Fourteenth Amendment so long as they were equal. (The phrase, "separate but equal" was not part of the opinion.) Justice Brown conceded that the 14th amendment intended to establish absolute equality for the races before the law. But Brown noted that "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 unsatisfactory to either." In short, segregation does not in itself constitute unlawful discrimination. Plessy v ferguson

jim crow laws First appeared in late 1800’s/early 1900’s "Jump Jim Crow", a song-and-dance caricature of blacks performed by white actor Thomas D. Rice in blackface, which first surfaced in 1832 and was used to satirize Andrew Jackson's populist policies.Jump Jim CrowcaricatureThomas D. Riceblackface Andrew Jackson “Jim Crow” was used as an expression meaning "Negro" First appeared in late 1800’s/early 1900’s "Jump Jim Crow", a song-and-dance caricature of blacks performed by white actor Thomas D. Rice in blackface, which first surfaced in 1832 and was used to satirize Andrew Jackson's populist policies.Jump Jim CrowcaricatureThomas D. Riceblackface Andrew Jackson “Jim Crow” was used as an expression meaning "Negro"

Examples of jim crow laws It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers.” —Birmingham, Alabama, 1930 “No colored barber shall serve as a barber to white women or girls.” —Atlanta, Georgia, 1926 “The Corporate Commission is hereby vested with power to require telephone companies in the State of Oklahoma to maintain separate booths for white and colored patrons when there is a demand for such separate booths.” —Oklahoma, 1915

“ Any white woman who shall suffer or permit herself to be got with child by a negro or mulatto...shall be sentenced to the penitentiary for not less than eighteen months.” —Maryland, 1924 “Marriages are void when one party is a white person and the other is possessed of one-eighth or more negro, Japanese, or Chinese blood.” —Nebraska, 1911 “Any person...presenting for public acceptance or general information, arguments or suggestions in favor of social equality or of intermarriage between whites and negroes, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.” —Mississippi, 1920

“It shall be unlawful for any white prisoner to be handcuffed or otherwise chained or tied to a negro prisoner.” —Arkansas, 1903 “Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school.” —Missouri, 1929 “The Corporate Commission is hereby vested with power to require telephone companies in the State of Oklahoma to maintain separate booths for white and colored patrons when there is a demand for such separate booths.” —Oklahoma, 1915