1. UNIT 6 NOTES 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS Modern US History – May 17, 2011

2. Plessy v. FergusonPlessy v. Ferguson (click on me for a movie link!)  Plessy v. Ferguson was the Supreme Court case in 1896 that said that separate but equal was legal  This legally supported the Jim Crow system in the South  Segregation that affects laws (the right to vote, segregation in schools, etc.) is called de jure segregation  Segregation that occurs from the way people act (whether or not you get hired for a job or accepted to college) is called de facto segregation

3. Life under Jim Crow  Jim Crow is the name given to life in the South under de jure segregation between 1876 (the end of Reconstruction) and 1965  Wilhelmina Baldwin talks about Jim Crow Laws Wilhelmina Baldwin talks about Jim Crow Laws  What problems does Ms. Baldwin describe under Jim Crow?  Charles Gratton talks about growing up as a child under Jim Crow Charles Gratton talks about growing up as a child under Jim Crow  What types of segregation does Mr. Gratton talk about?

4. Inability to Vote  One of the major problems under the Jim Crow system was how it stopped African Americans from voting. There were a variety of methods used:  Poll taxes – where you had to pay to vote  Literacy test – usually administered only to African Americans  Grandfather Clause – you could vote only if your grandfather had voted  If Blacks could vote, their votes were often thrown out and not counted  How would each of these prevent African Americans from voting? Who else might be prevented from voting?

5. Give it a Shot!  Take the literacy test and see whether or not you would be allowed to vote. You have to get 100% on the test to vote!literacy test

6. Winds of Change  Both the Harlem Renaissance and the Double V campaign during WWII caused African Americans to fight for their Constitutional Rights.  In 1954, the legal team of the NAACP won the Supreme Court Case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and declared that segregation in public education was illegalNAACP Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas