Civil Rights

Movement
Beginning With Jim Crow Era (1880s-1960s)

Prior to Jim Crow

Slavery is legal prior to 1860s
Civil War 1860-1865 (war between North and South all
about slavery)
Reconstruction 1865-1877
Jim Crow Laws 1877-1900

What are Jim Crow Laws?

Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial
segregation in the Southern United States.
The phrase separate but equal could be used
Separate was accurate but equal was not

What is Segregation?
1. The enforced separation of different racial groups in a
country, community, or establishment.
2. Meaning anyone who was not white would be forcefully
separated from the whites in the United States South.
3. This was a racial separation not an economic, although
the two are generally intertwined

Places that were segregated

Schools and parks

Bus stations
Railroad cars and coaches
Restraints
Movie theaters
Restrooms
There were even separate cemeteries in some locations

. At the bus station, Durham, North Carolina, 1940

Greyhound bus terminal, Memphis, Tennessee. 1943.

A rest stop for bus passengers on the way from Louisville, Kentucky to
Nashville, Tennessee, with separate entrance for Blacks. 1943.

A sign at bus station, Rome, Georgia. 1943.

A highway sign advertising tourist cabins for Blacks, South Carolina.

1939.

Cafe, Durham, North Carolina. 1939.

Drinking fountain on the courthouse lawn, Halifax, North Carolina. 1938.

Movie theaters "Colored" entrance, Belzoni,

Mississippi. 1939.

The Rex theater for colored people, Leland,

Mississippi. June 1937.

Restaurant, Lancaster, Ohio. 1938.

Water cooler in the street car terminal, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 1939.

Sign above movie theater, Waco, Texas. 1939.

Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee. 1939.

Conclusion
Jim Crow Laws were created to separate African American

or colored people from the white population

Slavery was over but Jim Crow took its place
African Americans did have a sense of agency
If colored persons did not obey Jim Crow laws there were
very sever punishments that could be as lethal as Murder
Jim Crow was separate but it was not equal

Questions to keep in mind

Was Jim Crow any better than slavery?
Was Jim Crow constitutional?
What were the lives like for colored people during Jim
Crow?
Do you think these Jim Crow Laws were always followed?
Why werent facilities equal?
What would it take for segregation to end?