1
Separate but Equal

• Plessey vs. Ferguson and Jim Crow Laws

2
What is it?

• The phrase separate but equal pertains to
  facilities used by blacks and whites
• Blacks would have to use separate facilities
  (schools, train cars, restrooms, parks, etc) that
  were equal in quality
• Whites used this as an excuse to exclude blacks
  and deny them service

3
Where did it come from?

• States were passing laws to segregate railroads
• Separate Car Act 1892- legally segregated common
  carriers (different cars for blacks and whites)
• Homer Plessey was part of a planned challenge of
  this laws constitutionality
• Was the second challenge
• Arrested Defended by Tourgee
• Case How would you defend Plesseys rights?????

4
Plessey vs. Ferguson

• Local court determined law was Constitutional
  (did not violate 14th amendment)
• Judge John Howard Ferguson
• Went to Louisiana State Court
• Constitutionality upheld
• Supreme Court- 1896
• 8 out of 9 judges voted against Tourgees case
• Enforced separation does not "stamp" blacks with
  the badge of inferiority, because both blacks and
  whites were treated equally under the law--in the
  sense that whites were forbidden to sit in a
  railroad car designated for blacks.

5
Impact

• Gave the South the green light
• for segregation
• Schools, restaurants, theaters, etc.
• In reality, facilities were not equal
• Continued into the 1950s Brown vs. Board of
  Education
• Nicknamed Jim Crow Laws
• Media depiction- Remember the Titans
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vA0Knh3o_6xs

6
Review

• Who was Plessey? Ferguson?
• Was this an organized protest?
• How did Southern society respond to this court
  case?

7
Response to the Jim Crow Laws

• Many African Americans began migrating North
• Many areas still segregated, but not to the
  extent of the South
• Lack of acceptance in some areas
• NYC race riot of 1900

8
Great Migration

• In the 1920s Migration to the North increased
  enormously
• Push factors
• Escape racial discrimination
• Boll weevil infestation ruined crops in the South
• Pull factors
• Job opportunities in the North
• Henry Ford 1914
• World War I
• Drop in European immigration
• Immigration Act of 1924

9
Great Migration

• Northern manufacturers in need of workers
  distributed rail passes
• Chicago Defender promoted vision of prosperity in
  the North
• Hazards of living in the South
• Job openings in the North
• Train schedules
• Statistics 500,000 blacks moved North between
  1915 and 1920

10
Review

• Why was there an influx of migration to the North
  in the 1920s?
• Push and pull factors
• Who encouraged this move and how?
• How did some Northerners respond?