PRIN - Discrimination (Lesson)

Discrimination

How would you react to legal segregation today?

Photograph of a segregated drinking fountain.

Photograph by Russell Lee - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Division, Public Domain

Jim Crow Laws

At the end of the Reconstruction Era in the South, southern states had established legislation which legalized segregation and discrimination in the South. Collectively, these discriminatory acts were known as Jim Crow Laws. These laws were aimed at preventing southern African-American citizens from exercising their rights and freedoms given to them under the Reconstruction Amendments including the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment. These laws included voting restrictions such as literacy tests and poll taxes at the state level since each state had the option to set its own voting requirements and regulations. They expanded to include living segregation acts such as separate restroom facilities, drinking fountains, schools and entrances to public areas. Many Americans were outraged by these practices; however, federal legislation was ultimately passed to protect these laws.

Political Cartoon sketch of segregated train cars Photograph - “At the bus station in Durham, North Carolina” by Jack Delano 

Plessy vs Ferguson

The Supreme Court case which upheld the Jim Crow Laws and segregationist attitudes of the period was Plessy v. Ferguson. The famous “separate but equal” clause originated with this Supreme Court ruling. This statement provided that public facilities could be separated, segregated, based on race so long as an equivalent facility was available. Thus, the “Colored” and “Whites Only” signage of the period was considered just and legal. Not only did racial segregation in the South increase, so too did the violence, fear and restrictions on African-Americans in the South. Groups like the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) fought court rulings and protested government actions, while supporting the rights and opportunities of minorities, specifically in the South. Almost sixty years later, Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned in the equally famously ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas, or simply Brown v. Board of Education.

Review

Read the scenarios in the activity below. Determine whether the scenario was True or False during the period of Jim Crow Segregation.