4) The Rise of Jim Crow

Lynching was a typical terrorist measure against the African American population. Racism had worsened following the Civil War and segregation became institutionalised due to the Jim Crow laws. Agricultutral whites had become impoverished following the freeing of the slaves as they no longer had anyone to farm their land, and the taxes they were paying all seemed to be going to the African Americans. So, the black population became a symbol of their humiliation.

'Minstrel shows' depicted the African Americans getting into all kinds of trouble because of their limited intellect. Jim Crow was the most famous of these characters. The Jim Crow laws placed restrictions on black votes as loopholes were found in the 15th amendment. The 'grandfather clauses' were created where only those whose grandfathers had voted in elections could vote, which clearly meant no former slave could vote. There were also literacy restrictions created where it was illegal to teach a black person to read.

Toilets, drinking fountains, schools, and transport as well as other basic aspects of life became segregated. The African Americans also couldn't sit in the same railcar as a white person so train companies were supposed to create equally habitable cars on trains, although this didn't really happen.

People were taught race hierarchy/racism as they would see things like a dilapidated water fountain labelled 'coloured' next to a nice, clean water fountain labelled 'white'.

The black population in New Orleans wanted to change the laws that were limiting their freedom and persuaded Homer A. Plessy in 1896 to participate in an orchestrated test case by sitting in a white carriage on a train. Plessy was 1/8 black making legally black due to the 'one-drop laws', despite looking white. He was arrested for doing this as the railroad conductor and a private investigator were told about it. John Howard Ferguson who presided over the case in Louisiana ruled that the state had the right to regulate railroad companies despite Plessy arguing the segregation violated his rights under the 13th and 14th amendments. He was fined. The railroad companies were on the side of eradicating segregation on trains though as it was too expensive to maintain both types of cars as it was double the amount of what they needed.

They took it up with the supreme court and in a decision written by Henry Billings Brown, the court rejected Plessy's argument. The majority opinion had 4 main points:

• The segregation was based on nature as it was natural for this to have occured anyway.
• Segregation was reasonable as it protected the public peace and good order.
• The facilities available to each race were equal by law so the laws weren't at fault.
• It's impossible to legislate social equality. He believed a mingling of both races would be the only way of achieving equality which couldn't happen through changing the law.

The government held a laissez-faire attitude where problems were largely left to the public to sort out.

John Marshal Harlan was a southerner who had previously been a slave-holder. He tried to stick more closely to the words of the constitution and also had 4 main points:

• The court should base its decision on the constitution, not nature.
• "Community standards" had approved of slavery at the time as race prejudice had basically been the supreme law of the land. Those decisions cannot be guides in the new era.
• He contested Brown's assertion of "equal accommodation" by offering an expansive interpretation of the 13th amendment. He said it freed slaves and meant no badges of slavery or servitude may continue to exist in the US.
• The constitution is 'colourblind' as it states no race is dominant and all citizens are equal before the law.

There was rising resistance against racism and it was beginning to reach the supreme court.

Lynching was perhaps the main form of violence against the black population. Between the years of 1895-1907, there were more lynchings than legal executions. Lynching was justifed by saying the law had been broken and so they needed punishment. But, lynchings tended to be carried out by mobs and was very common following the Civil War. Lots of people would gather to watch and many would be lynched to death.

Ida B. Wells was a political activist and journalist. She became the co-owner of a black newspaper and created a good name for herself. But, one day, she learned that 3 of her friends had been killed in a lynch mob. She wrote about this in her newspaper and blamed the white men who were behind it. Thankfully, she wasn't in Memphis (her home) when the article was published as her office was destroyed and her co-partner barely got away.

There were many more lynchings in the south in 1892 where there were more legal institutions than in the west. She published her Southern Horrors in 1892 that gave 4 inconsistencies she had noticed surrounding lynchings, and her campaign was very successful: 

• Legal systems were in place where African Americans were being lynched.
• Many were lynched for reasons other than r ape which undercut the main point of those who defended lynching.
• The 'crimes' were often achievements in competing with the whites.
• Many of the r ape cases were actually consensual relationships.