The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow Post Civil War White Supremacy

What is Jim Crow? Click on picture for a short video excerpt He is a character created in 1836 by a white man to entertain other whites in touring shows by doing a gross depiction of a singing and dancing black man.

Post War Racial Tensions and Fears The South was a physical and economic disaster- ¼ of their men were dead Over 100,000 had some sort of permanent disability 40% of their livestock was gone Their money was worthless Their railroads, riverboats and other transportation routes were largely destroyed Many of the wealthy had lost enormous amounts of money and property On top of all of this, a group of people they had been controlling through violence and cruelty was now free. They were angry and scared out of their minds.

Black Codes, 1865- Have to reestablish power. South Carolina and Mississippi passed laws known as Black Codes to regulate black behavior and impose social and economic control. Mississippi’s vagrant law, excerpted here, required all freedmen to carry papers proving they had means of employment. If they had no proof, they could be arrested, fined, or even re- enslaved and leased out to their former master.

Vagrancy Law Section 2. Be it further enacted, that all freedmen, free Negroes, and mulattoes in this state over the age of eighteen years found on the second Monday in January 1866, or thereafter, with no lawful employment or business, or found unlawfully assembling themselves togethereither in the day or nighttime, and all white persons so assembling with freedmen, free Negroes, or mulattoes, or usually associating with freedmen, free Negroes, or mulattoes on terms of equality, or living in adultery or fornication with a freedwoman, free Negro, or mulatto, shall be deemed vagrants; and, on conviction thereof, shall be fined in the sum of not exceeding, in the case of a freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, 150, and a white man, $200, and imprisoned at the discretion of the court, the free Negro not exceeding ten days, and the white man not exceeding six months…. Section 7. Be it further enacted, that if any freedman, free Negro, or mulatto shall fail or refuse to pay any tax levied according to the provisions of the 6th Section of this act, it shall be prima facie evidence of vagrancy, and it shall be the duty of the sheriff to arrest such freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, or such person refusing or neglecting to pay such tax, and proceed at once to hire, for the shortest time, such delinquent taxpayer to anyone who will pay the said tax, with accruing costs, giving preference to the employer, if there be one. Section 8. Be it further enacted, that any person feeling himself or herself aggrieved by the judgment of any justice of the peace, mayor, or alderman in cases arising under this act may, within five days, appeal to the next term of the county court of the proper county, upon giving bond and security in a sum not less than $25 nor more than $150, conditioned to appear and prosecute said appeal, and abide by the judgment of the county court, and said appeal shall be tried de novo in the county court, and the decision of said court shall be final.

Nathan Bedford Forest He was a wealthy cotton planter, slave trader, Cattle trader, and real estate broker. As a general he led the Fort Pillow massacre of 380African American troops who surrendered, some in unnecessarily brutal and graphic ways. He joined the fledgling men’s group, the Ku Klux Klan, and was named its “Grand Wizard”, or national leader. A social club for confederate veterans that wanted to reassert control. Destroyed by Enforcement Acts

The Emergence of Black Political Leaders Go to the book and we will read 148-153. Answer questions 1-12 on a sheet of paper with a partner and turn them in.

Other Organizations When the KKK fell apart, other groups rose. In Louisiana, the White League 1876-1878 And the Knights of the White Camelia After reconstructed ended, they just became part of the Louisiana National Guard. In Mississippi and North Carolina, the red Shirts Similar end, in 1900 when the Democrats took the government back they were absorbed into local militias.