1. Jim Crow and Segregation
U.S. and Virginia History

2. Origins
After Reconstruction, many southern states passed Jim Crow Laws – designed to legally separate black and white people in public places
Voting and segregation laws were instigated throughout the South in order to keep
blacks inferior to the white majority
Intimidation and crimes (such as
lynchings) were directed at black
people in order to keep them
subjugated

3. Plessy v. Ferguson
African-Americans hoped that the courts would safeguard their rights
In the Supreme Court case known as Plessy v. Ferguson, the court ruled that “separate but equal” did not violate the 14th amendment
In other words, segregation was legal as long as blacks were still considered and treated as equal to whites
However, black facilities (such as bathrooms and water fountains) were often inferior to white facilities

4. The Great Migration
In response to the poor treatment in the South, many freedmen decided to leave their homes in search of a better life and better opportunities
In what is known as the Great Migration, millions of black southerners migrated to the North and West in search of jobs and an escape from the poverty and discrimination of Jim Crow

5. Responses to Jim Crow
Ida B. Wells, a journalist from Mississippi, famously wrote about the horrors of lynching in the black community
She argued that lynchings often occurred to control or punish blacks who competed with whites for jobs, as opposed to just being used to punish black criminals (as was often claimed by whites)
She was also one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

6. Responses to Jim Crow cont.
Booker T. Washington, a Virginian author and scholar, argued that the pathway to success for blacks was through patience and education
While he accepted social segregation, he believed that if black people were able to educate and better themselves then segregation would eventually die out
He founded the Tuskegee Institute in
Alabama, a college that promotes the
advancement of African-Americans

7. Responses to Jim Crow cont.
Unlike Washington, W.E.B. Dubois advocated for immediate equality for African-Americans
DuBois was the first black person to earn a doctorate from Harvard University, and argued that education for African-Americans was meaningless without equality
Along with Ida B. Wells, he was one of the
co-founders of the NAACP