Jim Crow Laws
1. Where did the term "Jim Crow" come from? How is the origin of this term offensive? List 3 ways.
Jim Crow was a character played by a white entertainer named Thomas Dartmouth Rice. It was offensive because he did a song and dance act modeled after a slave. He would darken his face and act like a buffoon. He spoke with an exaggerated and distorted imitation of African American vernacular English.
2. How did the term "Jim Crow" become synonymous with the segregation laws in the South?
The Jim Crow laws segregated blacks and whites from each other.
3. What ended Reconstruction in the South, and what effect did that have on southern blacks?
The troops were pulled out and state jurisdiction was restored and the race problem was left to southern whites.
4. Legally, African-Americans had the right to vote. How was their right to suffrage compromised? Please list 3 ways whites made it nearly impossible for blacks to vote.
They created literacy tests, poll taxes and white primary.
5. How did the Plessy v. Ferguson case (1896) uphold Jim Crow laws? What effect did this case have on the lives (transportation, education, social implications, etc) of southern blacks?
Blacks tried to avoid whites as much as possible.
6. Who was Booker T. Washington? Where did he live? What did he believe was the best way for southern African-Americans to survive in the South?
Booker T. Washington was an African American civil rights leader. He is considered the most influential black educator of the late 19th century and early 20th century. He lived in Tuskegee, Alabama, Virginia, and West Virginia. He believed that African Americans should insist upon all their Constitutional rights as American citizens.
7. Who was W.E.B. DuBois? Where did he live? What did he believe was the best way for southern African-Americans to survive in the South?
W.E.B. DuBois was an African American civil rights activist.he lived in Atlanta, Georgia; and New York City. He wanted to form a group of educated black leaders "The Talented Tenth" to lead African Americans in securing equal rights.
8. Why do you think Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois had differing opinions on how to survive in the South? Please give 3 facts to support your opinion.
I think they had different opinions because of the places they grew up in. Booker T. Washington grew up as a slave, so he knew demanding equality was pointless because it wouldn't work. DuBois grew up free in the north and was blinded by the resluts of demanding what was right.
9. How did many southern blacks escape the South? Where did they go? What was this movement called?
A lot of them escaped by the Underground Railroad. They would leave the south and go north. They called it The Great Migration.