The racial inequality of schools during Jim Crow
Jim Crow definition: The late nineteenth century is also an interesting period to examine because it was during this time that the South witnessed the emergence of legal and customary forms of discrimination that eroded the citizenship rights of the overwhelming majority of African American men and women. In the wake of the redemption of Democratic state governments in the 1880s and 1890s, the states of the former Confederacy began to implement laws that enforced the separation of the races in educational institutions, sites of commerce, and public spaces; established practically insurmountable barriers to voting; and made it possible for the landed elite to reassert their economic dominance and control over a formerly enslaved labor force. Moreover, this matrix of discriminatory laws was reinforced by the ever-present threat of extralegal violence in the form of lynchings, rapes, and race riots.
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Photo description: Wilson Elementary Classroom Building, interior, Clay County 1956. University of Mississippi Visual Collections, John E. Phay Collection. Note: Although this photo is taken after Brown v. Board, it took many states years to integrate after the Supreme Court decision.
Black Educational opportunity was a particular victim of segregation and discrimination, a development that seemed to be fostered by Supreme court decisions in the decades after Plessy. These decisions included Cumming v. County Board of Education (1899) and Barea College v. Kentucky (1908). Cumming v. County Board of Education (1899), especially weakened Black educational opportunity, which declared the unequal opportunities of education between blacks and whites as constitutional, allowing the laws in the table on the left to be passed throughout the era of Jim Crow. |
The beginning of the NAACP fight to end segregation:
One particular organization that fought for racial equality was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded in 1909. For about the first 20 years of its existence, it tried to persuade Congress and other legislative bodies to enact laws that would protect African Americans from lynchings and other racist actions. Beginning in the 1930s, though, the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund began to turn to the courts to try to make progress in overcoming legally sanctioned discrimination. From 1935 to 1938, the legal arm of the NAACP was headed by Charles Hamilton Houston. Houston, together with Thurgood Marshall, devised a strategy to attack Jim Crow laws by striking at them where they were perhaps weakest--in the field of education.
One particular organization that fought for racial equality was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded in 1909. For about the first 20 years of its existence, it tried to persuade Congress and other legislative bodies to enact laws that would protect African Americans from lynchings and other racist actions. Beginning in the 1930s, though, the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund began to turn to the courts to try to make progress in overcoming legally sanctioned discrimination. From 1935 to 1938, the legal arm of the NAACP was headed by Charles Hamilton Houston. Houston, together with Thurgood Marshall, devised a strategy to attack Jim Crow laws by striking at them where they were perhaps weakest--in the field of education.
Citations:
- "Civil Rights Movement." ColdWar-HMS09F -. https://coldwar-hms09f.wikispaces.com/Civil+Rights+Movement (accessed October 10, 2014).
- Johnson, John W.. Historic U.S. court cases, 1690-1990: an encyclopedia. New York: Garland Pub., 1992.
- Lusane, Clarence. The struggle for equal education. New York: F. Watts, 1992.
- Quill, Patricia. "University of California, San Diego: External Relations: News & Information: News Releases : Arts & Humanities." University of California, San Diego: External Relations: News & Information: News Releases : Arts & Humanities. http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/archive/newsrel/arts/JimCrow_5_2004.asp (accessed October 10, 2014).
- Summers, Martin. 2013. MANHOOD RIGHTS IN THE AGE OF JIM CROW: EVALUATING "END-OF-MEN" CLAIMS IN THE CONTEXT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY. Boston University Law Review 93, (3) (05): 745-767, http://search.proquest.com/docview/1433777931?accountid=35494 (accessed October 10, 2014).
- United States Courts. "History of Brown v. Board of Education." USCOURTSGOV RSS. http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/get-involved/federal-court-activities/brown-board-education-re-enactment/history.aspx (accessed October 8, 2014).
- Yahoo!. "22ClayCtyWilsonElemClassroomBuild1956." Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/11304375@N07/2534294669/in/photostream/ (accessed October 10, 2014).