Issue 2The Obstacles To Black Americans Gaining

Civil Rights In The USA Up To 1941:

Factor 1: Legal Impediments and the ‘Separate But Equal’ Decision of the Supreme Court Factor 2: Lack of Political InfluenceFactor 3: The Activities of the Ku Klux KlanFactor 4: Divisions in the Black CommunityFactor 5: Popular Prejudice In The North

AIMS OF AIMS OF ESSAY:ESSAY:

To Be Able To Discuss What

Prevented African-

American's Achieving Equal

Rights To Whites

Aims Paragraph 1:

Have The Background Knowledge & Argument To Write Your First Paragraph For Essay Two On The Obstacles stopping AA Achieving Their Civil Rights

• To Understand The Legal Impediments (Laws) That Stopped Black Americans From Gaining Civil Rights (Jim Crow Laws)

• To Understand The Impact Of The ‘Separate But Equal’ Decision In 1896

PLAN FOR PARAGRAPH Legal Impediments

1. Start with an Opening Argument e.g. state there is a link between the isolated factor & the question

2. Put in Knowledge – discuss what the term & background to ‘Separate but Equal’

3. Put in Analysis – explain why this was a problem

4. Knowledge – discuss how States stopped Blacks voting

5. Analysis – explain why this was a problem

6. Knowledge – discuss other Jim Crow laws

7. Analysis – explain why this was done and what was created from it

8. Evaluation – make an evaluation, how important was this factor?Read Through Paragraph 1 On Handout

Jim Crow LawsThe southern states were

determined to keep control over the black population.

Each state has its own state government which can pass its

own laws affecting life within the state.

Most Jim Crow laws were passed between 1870 and 1900.

These laws made sure black and white people were kept separate

(segregated) and that black people were denied their legal rights

Separate But Equal?• Many people in the USA said that the Jim Crow laws

meant that black and white people would have ‘Separate But Equal’ facilities.

• Most black people disagreed with this claim.• They agreed that the laws kept the races separate

HOWEVER claimed facilities were seldom equal!

• Black children had to go to separate schools and received an inferior education

• Separate churches• Separate cinemas, theatres, cafes, restaurants,

shops, waiting rooms, toilets, cemeteries, hospitals, parks, swimming pools etc

• Public transport was segregated• In some states, black people were prohibited

from holding public office and could not stand for election

• Also restrictions in careers: law, medicine and education

Nurses No white female nurse to nurse in wards in which negro men are placed. Alabama

Textbooks Books shall not be used between the white and coloured schools, but shall continue to be used by the race first using them. North Carolina

Restaurants It shall be unlawful to run a restaurant, at which white and coloured people are served in the same room, unless they are separated by a solid partition and unless a separate entrance from the street is provided. Alabama

Intermarriage All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the fourth generation, are hereby forever prohibited. Florida

Prisons White convicts shall have separate apartments for both eating and sleeping from the negro convicts. Mississippi 6

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What Was The Impact Of The Jim Crow Laws?

• They created a segregated society• Black people were relegated to ‘second-class’

citizens - public facilities provided for black people were of a much inferior quality

• Ensured that black citizens were denied the same treatment as white citizens

• Many found it difficult to find jobs and buy or rent property

• Many black people lived in sub-standard housing with few prospects or opportunities

Think, Pair & Share…

Jim Crow laws were an incredibly important legal impediment that ensured Black Americans were denied their Fourteenth Amendment rights, but how could they be legal?

‘No state shall make any law

which shall reduce the rights of citizens of the

USA’

The Answer To That Question Lies In A Supreme Court Ruling In

1892 & 6

1892: Homer PlessyIn 1892 Homer Plessy objected to having to move from his seat in a ‘White Only’ carriage in Louisiana

Plessy was arrested and eventually the case went to the Supreme Court

Plessy argued that the Jim Crow laws broke federal law and was against the Constitution of the USA

He lost the case and the judge ruled in favour of states’ rights

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Born in New Orleans, Plessy was a carpenter

and shoemaker who looked white.

One of his great-grandparents was

black which made him ‘Negro’ in the state of

Louisiana.

The Supreme Court Decision

The Federal Government did little to stop the Jim Crow laws

Following the Plessy case in 1896 the Supreme Court even made the Jim Crow belief ‘separate but equal’ fully legal

This decision affected race relations in the USA for the next 60 years!

After 1896 more Jim Crow laws spread across the South

In almost every case, blacks had to make do with inferior facilities

SUM UP: Factor One

The Supreme Court decision of 1896 was one of the main obstacles facing black Americans

It allowed states to pass other legal impediments to deny blacks their civil rights &

legalise inequalities between whites & blacks

They took away their right to vote; Right to a good education;

Right to employment.

Therefore denying them their right to be treated as a American citizen

Group 1: Ensure You Can Explain The Answers To These

QuestionsQ1. What were the Jim Crow Laws? Background & aims.

Q2. Examples of Jim Crow Laws

Q3. What Was The Impact Of The Jim Crow Laws?

Q4. What was the 14th Amendment

Q5. What was the Homer Plessy Case about?

Q6. What happened in 1896 that went on to affected race relations in the USA for the next 60 years?

LEGAL IMPEDIMENTS OPENING ARGUMENT

The Supreme Court decision of 1896 was one of the main obstacles facing

black Americans as it allowed states to pass other legal impediments to

deny blacks their rights

PLAN FOR PARAGRAPH Legal Impediments

1. Start with an Opening Argument e.g. state there is a link between the isolated factor & the question

2. Put in Knowledge – discuss what the term & background to ‘Separate but Equal’

3. Put in Analysis – explain why this was a problem

4. Knowledge – discuss how States stopped Blacks voting

5. Analysis – explain why this was a problem

6. Knowledge – discuss other Jim Crow laws

7. Analysis – explain why this was done and what was created from it

8. Evaluation – make an evaluation, how important was this factor?Read Through Paragraph 1 On Handout

LEGAL IMPEDIMENTS

KNOWLEDGE 1

• The Supreme Court decision stated that the races could be kept apart as long as equal facilities were provided for both

• ‘Separate but Equal’

ARGUMENT 1

• Major problem as it allowed for the inequality gap to be furthered – WHY?

• as it made the separation of blacks and whites fully legal

LEGAL IMPEDIMENTS

KNOWLEDGE 2

• The Jim Crow Laws that followed furthered the separation with laws to provide different seating on trains; schools; wards in hospital; drinking fountains and even cemeteries

 

ARGUMENT 2

• They were designed to keep blacks under control and maintain white power.

• This led to increased belief in white superiority

LEGAL IMPEDIMENTS

EVALUATION:

The JC Laws were thus an incredibly significant factor in denying Blacks their civil rights as they took away their right to a good education and employment therefore denying them their right to be treated as a American

citizen

LEGAL IMPEDIMENTS

KNOWLEDGE 2

• Many Southern States denied Blacks the right to vote by introducing literacy tests & poll taxes

ARGUMENT 2

•Without the ability to vote blacks could not fights to improve their situation through the legal process