Lecture 3: Jim Crow�

Chief characteristics of Jim Crow�Ø A violent and oppressive period in

American race relations, 1890-1910 �

Ø Characterized by legalized segregation, lynch mobs, and white supremacy �

Ø White men viewed black men as a threat to their “manhood” �

Ø Exploitative labor and penal systems �

v  Examples: the sharecropping, crop-lien, debt peonage, and convict labor systems �

Political Disfranchisement�« Designed by white southern Democrats to

suppress voter turnout among blacks, who tended to vote for the Republican Party �o  Since Republicans are strong in North and West,

Democrats must secure the “solid South” �« What specific techniques did they pursue? �

o  Created barriers to voter registration �o  Charged a poll tax �o  Disqualified voters with a criminal record�o  Implemented educational qualifications�

v  Someone else decides if you can understand a clause �v  Literacy tests – intent is to disfranchise blacks, but it also

disfranchises poor, illiterate white voters �Ø  Whites get around it through grandfather clause �

Example: Louisiana State Literacy Test, 1963-64��  Test: Answer 30 Questions in 10 minutes ��  To Pass: MUST get EVERY answer correct ��  Here’s a sample of some of the tricky questions:�

�1. Draw a line around the number or letter of this sentence�5. Circle the first, first letter of the alphabet in this line. �15. In the space below write the word “noise” backwards and place a ‘d’ over what would be the second letter should it have been written forward �21. Print the word “vote” upside down but in correct order. �27. Write right from the left to the right as you see it spelled here. �28. Divide a vertical line in two equal parts by bisecting it with a curved horizontal line that is straight at the point of bisection of the vertical �29. Write every other word in the first line and print every third word in the same line, but capitalize the fifth word that you write. �

�  If you failed, what would that prove? That you are illiterate? This is designed to fail you! �

�  1960s wasn’t that long ago—there are plenty of people alive today who remember this era�

Almost 4,000 African Americans were lynched in the 12 southern states, 1877-1950 (more than the number of 9/11 victims)�

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)�� At issue was the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of

“equal protection of the laws”�

�  In 7-1 decision, the Supreme Court endorsed state laws requiring separate facilities�

�  Established doctrine of “separate but equal”�Ø  Black schools are not truly “equal” �Ø  Not overturned until Brown v. Board of 1954�

�  Larger picture: segregation not just in transportation – also housing, education, restaurants, armed forces, and government jobs �

The Case for Reparations�u  Article by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Atlantic Magazine (May 2014)�

u Only 6% of white Americans support reparations. Why? �Ø “Slavery was a long time ago”; “we passed civil rights” �Ø “We have a black president”�Ø “My ancestors also endured exploitation and oppression”�

u  So what is Coates’s response? �Ø Conditions are not truly “equal” with abolition of slavery in 1865�Ø Centuries of unpaid labor and exploitation accumulate over time�

u  Racism and inequality resulted from deliberate policies�Ø The state is a very powerful actor – think defense, taxation�Ø  If racism is state-sponsored, then it is hard to blame

individuals exclusively for bad choices ��

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Examples of state-sponsored discrimination in 20th cent.�

�  Social Security, 1935 – denial of benefits for agricultural and domestic workers �

�  GI Bill after WWII – housing and educational benefits often denied to blacks �

�  Federal Housing Policy – FHA created in 1934�² Allowed for expansion of suburbia in 1950s and 60s�² Discrimination through redlining �² Why is housing policy important?�

o  A house is a common means of wealth accumulation �o  It is passed down over the generations through inheritance�o  Segregated housing leads to underfunded schools, which

function as a pipeline to prisons �

What is the “New Jim Crow?”�

Alexander argues that the criminal justice system in the United States perpetuates a caste system reminiscent of slavery and the Jim Crow era�

Evidence for the New Jim Crow��  Felonies lead to lifetime bans from voting, public

housing, food stamps, serving on juries, educational opportunities – these are exclusions from citizenship �Ø  Florida and Kentucky still have lifetime voting bans for ex-

felons, and these are left over from the Jim Crow era �

Ø  Some Jim Crow policies never went away entirely �

�  Harsher penalties for crack cocaine versus powder �

�  Three-strikes law and mandatory minimum sentencing�

�  US has 5% of world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners (more than China, Russia, and Iran)�

�  High imprisonment of people of color NOT LINKED to higher drug use or criminality �

The Prison-Industrial Complex�

Much of this is due to the “war on drugs”�

Statistical evidence for disproportionate impact of

punishment on non-white peoples �