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What Is The Jim Crow Era

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The U.S. Supreme Court encountered various difficulties in trying to overthrow Jim Crow. After the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) decision, it makes things difficult for the court to overturn its “separate, but equal” ruling. Heading into the 20th Century, Black civil rights in America, particularly in the South were met with swift opposition. It was in large part due to the Supreme Court ruling that gave those states the power to enforce discriminatory legislation. In Robert J. Cottrol book, “Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution”, he described the Jim Crow era as it dealt with public education. The problem with the Supreme Court was the inconsistency in their decisions following the 1896 ruling. In the first …show more content…

Commonwealth of Kentucky (1908) gave power to states to segregate institutions. The Supreme Court acknowledges that Kentucky could prohibit having both Black and White students because the College was an institution (Cottrol 42-43). In the same way, they did concede had an individual sued, Kentucky’s law likely was illegal. But, here lies the problem with the Supreme Court, they were not consistent or used very specific language in their rulings. The National Association for the Advancement of Color People (NAACP) was formed in 1909 to fight for the civil rights for African-Americans. As an organization, they had a strategy to fight against racial injustices, but it was difficult to advance with their plan. Racial attitudes in the country with eugenics and the media portrayal of African Americans led to delayed progress (Cottrol …show more content…

For instance, Felix Frankfurter a Supreme Court Justice was a conservative whose language was difficult to comprehend. In the Brown II decision, he wrote that desegregation should be done with “due deliberate speed” (Hoffer 2017). What does that even mean? Given the U.S. Supreme Court problem with overthrowing Jim Crow, it did manage to resolve those difficulties. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund played a huge role in getting the U.S. Supreme Court to overthrow various aspects of Jim Crow. For example, the brilliant attorney Charles Hamilton Houston and the NAACP tried numerous cases in the Supreme Court that forced the Court to recognize that “separate, but equal” was hardly the case in public education. In the Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938), a six to two decision, the Supreme Court declared that Blacks can be admitted to White institutions if they were was not a school for Blacks (Cotroll 64-65). Though, it was a victory, it represented a small crack against the Plessy ruling. In future court cases such as Brown I, and the Painter case, the Supreme Court began to rule against separate educational institutions (Hoffer 2017). Slowly, but surely the “separate, but equal” clause could not be defended any longer, as the Supreme Court decisions opposed their infamous past ruling. It helped too, that eugenics and Social Darwinism began to hold less influence in the

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In 1950, in the Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents cases, the Court struck down segregation of African American students in law and graduate schools. The Justice Department, in its brief to the Court, said it believed Plessy was unconstitutional and should be overturned. NAACP Legal Defense Fund lawyers, led by Thurgood Marshall, began to devise a strategy that would force the Court to re-examine the constitutionality of the separate-but-equal doctrine (2015 The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights/The Leadership Conference Education Fund). Thomas Madison had every right to go that college, he met every schoo. 1978:

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Notаbly absent from the opinion, as it was in Plessy, is any citаtion to a Supreme Court cаse that considered whether the prаctice of segregating schools was a violation of the Fourteenth Аmendment. It was an open question for the Court. The Court аdmitted that the precedent to which it cited involved discriminаtion between whites and blacks rаther thаn other rаces. However, the Court found no аppreciable difference here—"the decision is within the discretion of the state in regulating its public schools, and does not conflict with the Fourteenth Аmendment."

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“The most oppressive feature of black secondary education was that southern local and state governments, through maintaining and expanding the benefits of public secondary education for white children, refused to provide public high school facilities for black children.” In sum, Anderson uses this chapter to build a broader argument about the “separate, but equal doctrine” under Plessy v. Ferguson that mandated segregation. More specifically, he situates this argument through case studies in Lynchburg, VA and Little Rock, AR. In the culminating chapter, James Anderson discusses the emergence of historically black universities and black land-grant colleges.

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Annabelle Wintson Bower History 8A March 12, 2018 Title Although the slavery was abolished in 1865, the rights given to African Americans were not nearly equal to those of white Americans. After slavery was abolished, inequality in American society ran high, and many laws were put in place to restrict the rights and abilities of African Americans. Some laws include the Jim Crow Laws (1870 to 1950s) and the Supreme Court Ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that ruled that there could be “separate but equal” facilities and services for people of color and white Americans.

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Near the end of the Reconstruction Era, laws and amendments were passed to give African American’s rights. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was passed to forbid racial discrimination in public areas. However, Congress ended up repealing the law saying that it was unconstitutional. As a result, more laws dealing with segregation were passed. Plessy v. Ferguson was an important landmark court case because it paved way for African American civil rights movements that challenged the laws under “separate but equal.”

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In June of 1953, the court was still divided over the issue, so the court decided on a rehear in December of 1953. Within those few short months, Chief Justice Fred Vinson died and was replaced by Governor Earl Warren of California. After the case was reheard in December, Gov. Warren got all of the justices to decide, unanimously, that the segregation in the public schools was unconstitutional. Since the vote was unanimous, Gov. Warren delivered the opinion of the court. He said that they concluded that the separate educational facilities are not equal and the plaintiffs are deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

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The court had reviewed information on why schools were not “substantially” equal to one another. Showing multiple studies on how students in segregated schools had “dangerous inferiority complexes” (pbs.org, Brown v Board), and that they should not be limited to their learning experience. The Supreme Court heard and ruled that “separate was not equal” (history.com, Brown v Board), and therefore made it unconstitutional, violating the 14th amendment.

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In 1896, the United States Supreme Court decided in favor of maintaining segregation in the now infamous case, Plessy v Ferguson. While claiming to set the standard “separate but equal,” the Plessy v Ferguson decision set back racial equality for almost 60 years, calling into question whether the United States Supreme Court had been granted too much power. It was on May 18th in 1896 when this historical decision changed the lives of many. The Plessy v Ferguson decision codified the practice of racial segregation. The ruling of the case provided justification for segregation of public and private institutions.

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According to the FindLaw argued that Despite, with all these new laws passed by President Abraham Lincoln 's, African-American and ethnic minorities, did not get any equal right under the law. In fact, in 1896, we have the Supreme Court of the United States argued that, the state government have the power to separate different races as long as the separation were equal. This “Separate but Equal” The Supreme Court policy stayed there until 1954. In that same years the Supreme Court walk back to their decision in 1896, “Separate but Equal” because of the cases which involved schools’ discriminations in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. Also in the 1890, African-American did not have the right to vote, because of the “poll Taxes”,

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Despite that racial segregation in public schools became unconstitutional due to the notable Brown vs. Board of Education court case in 1954, that was merely the beginning of the transformation of American society and acceptance. Subsequently, the new racial movement allowed other minorities to have the courage to defend their civil rights. This was not only a historical moment for minorities, but for women as well. Women, regardless of race, revolted against oppression and traditions. To be politically correct was now discretional.

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A popular case that has left its mark on the United States for years to come is Brown vs. Board of Education. Scott F. Johnson, a Professor at Concord Law School at Kaplan University states the court's decision as, “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs…are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.” This is a very essential quote for this topic especially.

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Al Sharpton radio host, and minister once said, “We have defeated Jim Crow, but now we have to deal with his son, James Crow Jr., esquire.” (cite) He then goes on to say that his “son” is smarter, slicker, and more cunning than him. This metaphor describes that even though the Jim Crow Laws have been ratified, there is a new racial discrimination in America that is growing and is harder to defeat than the last. The Jim Crow Laws were the set of laws that set the whites and blacks separate from each other in the 1900s, although they have been defeated, America today may be equal lawfully but not on an individual level.

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Divisions Jim Crow lasted 58 years. It began with Plessy V. Ferguson in 1896, and finally was overturned with the supreme court decision Brown V. Board of Education in 1954. Jim Crow was the segregation of colored people and white people, which dominated almost every aspect of life of white and black “americans” in the south. It Regulated the most basic personal freedoms, from simple things such as playing Billiards or Baseball together, enjoying the same parks or the same restaurants together, and even absurdly invading into the bedroom and love. Jim Crow divided U.S citizens.

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