Civil Rights before 1945 – slavery, civil war, emancipation, segregation

Question 1. Watch the clip below and write notes about the key features of the US civil rights movement.

In Reality.....

•Until the 1960s, African Americans faced discrimination in every aspect of their lives. Jim Crow Laws enforced segregation

•Authorities forced African Americans to use separate entrances to buildings, created separate areas for them in theatres and on buses, and denied them access to schools and housing.

•They had to endure inadequate and substandard facilities and were often subjected to mob violence, lynchings and derogatory terms.

•The Civil Rights movement were a series of protests in the 1950-1960s against these racist policies and attitudes that denied African Americans the same rights as other Americans.

Historical Background

Following the Civil War in 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation symbolically established a national intent to eradicate slavery in the United States. Decades of state and federal legislation around civil rights followed. In January of 1865, the 13th amendment to the Constitution officially abolished slavery in this country, while the 14th amendment, passed in 1866, set forth three principles:

•All persons born or naturalized in the U.S. were citizens for the nation and no state could make or enforce any law that would abridge their rights of citizenship.

•No state could deny any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

•No state could deny any person equal protection of the laws

Question 2. WHAT FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS ARE ENCODED INTO THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION IN THE 13TH AND 14TH AMENDMENTS?

Question 3. Summarise the Timeline below into your books.

Best Civil Rights Timeline.docx

Question 4. Write down key information

Key events prior to 1945.

Key Civil Rights Milestones- American Civil war.

The American Civil War took place from April 12, 1861, to May 9, 1865. It was fought between the Union (the northern states) and the Confederacy (the southern states that had seceded from the Union). The primary issue leading to the war was the expansion of slavery and states' rights, particularly the right of Southern states to maintain the institution of slavery

Emancipation Proclamation (1863):
- Issued by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation declared freedom for all enslaved people in Confederate states. While it did not immediately free all slaves, it changed the character of the war by making the abolition of slavery a central goal. It paved the way for the eventual liberation of millions of enslaved African Americans.
Thirteenth Amendment (1865):
- After the Civil War, the U.S. passed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, formally abolishing slavery in the country. This was a key legal step in ending the institution that had been at the heart of the conflict.

Question 5.What was Lincoln's vision for the future of the US?

Question 6. Was he a man ahead of his time? Was America ready for this radicle vision at that point?

Question 7. Outline the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment.

Summarise> Reaction to the abolition of Slavery> Jim Crow Laws were introduced.

Jim Crow laws were introduced in the late 19th century, following the end of Reconstruction in 1877. Southern states began passing these laws in the 1880s and 1890s to enforce racial segregation and maintain white supremacy after the abolition of slavery.

Jim Crow laws were a series of racist laws and social customs that enforced racial segregation and inequality in the Southern United States from the late 19th century until the mid-20th century. Named after a blackface minstrel character, these laws institutionalized discrimination against African Americans and other non-white groups, particularly in public facilities, education, transportation, housing, and employment.

Summarise> Key features of Jim Crow laws included:

Segregation in Public Places: African Americans were forced to use separate and often inferior facilities, such as schools, restaurants, theaters, restrooms, and drinking fountains. Public transportation was also segregated, with black passengers required to sit in designated areas.
Voter Suppression: Many Southern states used poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses to disenfranchise African American voters, preventing them from exercising their right to vote despite the protections of the 15th Amendment.
Employment and Housing Discrimination: African Americans were restricted in their ability to find good jobs and were often paid significantly less than white workers. In housing, segregation laws and racially restrictive covenants kept African Americans from moving into certain neighborhoods.
Marriage and Family: Miscegenation laws banned interracial marriages, with harsh penalties for those who violated these bans.
Racial Violence: Jim Crow laws were often upheld by violence, including lynchings, police brutality, and mob actions, which were used to intimidate and control African Americans.

These laws were supported by the 1896 Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld the doctrine of "separate but equal," allowing for legal segregation. The Jim Crow system began to unravel with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, culminating in the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which declared school segregation unconstitutional, and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which dismantled many aspects of institutionalized racial discrimination.

Question 8. How did the Jim Crow Laws defy the 13th Amendment?

Question 9. What does show about resistance to change in the USA?

Question 10. Which States in particular, were defiant and racist?

Source. Examples of Jim Crow Laws.

1904: Education
It was unlawful to maintain or operate any college, school, or institution where persons of the white and African American races were both allowed to attend. This law did not prohibit private schools or colleges from maintaining a segregated school in a different location for each race no less than 25 miles (40 km). The penalty for not following this law resulted in any violators receiving a $1,000 fine. The United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the statute in Berea College v. Kentucky.

1908: Public Accommodation
It was unlawful for whites and blacks to purchase and consume alcohol on the same location. Penalty for this act was a misdemeanor punishable by a fine from $50 to $500 or an imprisonment in the parish prison or jail up to two years.

1908: Miscegenation
Cohabitation of a white person and an African American without legal marriage is a felony. Penalty for committing such an act resulted in imprisonment from one month to one year, with or without hard labor.

1909: Health Care
An institution for the education of colored deaf mutes was to be established. But segregation in this school was to still be enforced.

1912: Residential
Building permits for building Negro houses in white communities, or any portion of a community inhabited principally by white people, and vice versa prohibited. Penalty: violators fined from $50 to $2,000, "and the municipality shall have the right to cause said building to be removed and destroyed."

1944: Miscegenation
Any marriage between a white person and an African American or racially mixed citizen was prohibited. Penalty to follow this law was a fine of $500 to $5,000. If the people continued to be interracially married the result would be imprisonment in prison from three to twelve months.

Question 11. What are the primary intentions behind these Jim Crow Laws? Explain using examples from the list above.

Question 12. Are there any points of comparison between Jim Crow Laws and the Nazi Racial policy and Nuremberg Laws? Explain.

Question 13. Using the sources below, explain the experience of colored people during the struggle for equal rights during the 20th century.

Write a paragraph.

Question 14.

Write down any information you didn't already know.

Question 14. Create a list of the Civil Rights restrictions endured by Coloured people in the States prior to 1945.

Question 15. What do you think would have been the best way to address the inequality and segregation? Was it possible to avoid violence in your opinion?

Question 16. What were the main obstacles to change?

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