Jim Crow Laws Notes

Starter Questions

  • Write down three questions about the image provided.
  • Explain what the image shows.
  • Make an educated guess about what will be learned.

Lesson Overview

  • Learning Objective: To be able to evaluate the significance of the Jim Crow Laws.
  • Keywords:
    • Segregation
    • Civil Rights Movement
    • Jim Crow Laws
    • Race
  • Title: What were the Jim Crow Laws?
  • AO1: Knowledge and understanding of period.
  • AO2: Explain and analyses historical events.
  • AO3: Analyse, evaluate, and use sources.
  • AO4: Make judgements and interpretations.

Key Words: Definitions

  • Segregation: Separating people because of their race, religion, or culture.
  • Civil Rights Movement: A struggle by African Americans to achieve social and political equality with white Americans.
  • Extension: Think of any examples today where people are segregated.

Spelling Test (Homework)

  • Civil Rights Movement
  • Freedom
  • Jim Crow Laws
  • Segregation
  • Racism

Discussion on a 19th Century Cartoon

  • The cartoon depicts a character called ‘Jim Crow,’ which was a white person in blackface used to ridicule black people.
    • What does it suggest about how white people saw black Americans?
    • What details can you pick out about this character?
    • Why do you think they depicted ‘Jim Crow’ this way?

Diamond 9 Activity: Categorizing Jim Crow Laws

  • Task: Arrange 10 statements about Jim Crow Laws in order of severity (1 = most severe/worst; 10 = least severe).
  • Place the top 9 statements on a diamond, omitting the tenth.
  • Explain why the most severe law was chosen.

Examples of Jim Crow Laws

  • No white nurses are to work in a hospital where black people are being treated.
  • Black and white people will have separate waiting rooms for buses and trains.
  • In restaurants, it is against the law to serve black and white people in the same room.
  • Black and white people shall have separate public drinking fountains.
  • Black and white people should not marry.
  • There will be separate schools for black and white children.
  • Black people are not allowed to take books out of libraries.
  • Black people must give up their seats on both trains and buses for a white person.
  • If a black and white person (man and woman) are found living together, they shall be imprisoned for a period of a year and fined.
  • Anyone found printing books or leaflets about the rights of black people will be imprisoned and fined.

Plenary Questions

  • Explain what the image shows using key words from the lesson.
  • Why are we learning about this? Why is it important? Note "I have a dream" is mentioned.