Fig. 1. Jim Crow, the character, dancing to entertain whites. Pilgrim, David. "Black Face." Jim Crow Museum. Web. 22 Nov 2015.
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Jim Crow?In 1828, Thomas Dartmouth Rice introduced a character he called “Jim Crow.” The name Jim Crow would come to symbolize one of the most appalling eras of American history. The popular minstrel song labeled blacks, “Jim Crow” and soon became a title for the rules and laws blacks must obey. The rules varied from separation of whites and blacks at restaurants to black barbers only being allowed to cut black hair. In the minstrel routine, Rice had different characters depicting the different stereotypes of blacks. The stereotypes are seen in the thrilling movie, “King Kong” displaying a fictional ape relating to the terrible and abominable era of Jim Crow.
As the minstrel play became more and more popular, the laws became stricter and legal cases became frequent. Africans began risking their lives to drink out of a drinking fountain designated for white use only. If the blacks made a mistake and broke one of the Jim Crow laws, they would face the Criminal Justice System, including only white members. |
Background |
While most white Americans didn’t think blacks could or should be anything other than slaves, there were some who respected and fought for blacks. The novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, states, “You ought to be ashamed, John! Poor, homeless, houseless creatures! It's a shameful, wicked, abominable law, and I'll break it, for one, the first time I get a chance; and I hope I shall have a chance, I do! Things have got to a pretty pass, if a woman can't give a warm supper and a bed to poor, starving creatures, just because they are slaves, and have been abused and oppressed all their lives, poor things" (Stowe). Not every white person was cruel and harsh to slaves and black people. Some genuinely wanted the best for the blacks.
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'Separate but Equal' |
After the Civil War, Americans agreed blacks and whites could work side-by-side, with a catch. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 states a unique term, “Separate but equal.” The term defined how America really was after the Civil War. While the blacks were told they had more rights, they were still treated as second-class citizens. They had separate drinking fountains, bathrooms, classrooms, restaurants, seating on public transportation, etc. In the south, laws were more rigid and separation was worse than the north of the United States.
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Thomas Rice, a struggling white actor, published a song that would soon become prevalent in the Jim Crow era. Thomas Rice claims to have heard the song from a black person outside his home. When Rice heard the catchy tune, he used burnt cork on his face, appearing as a plantation slave. Thomas Rice was one of the first actors to use what was commonly called “black face.” Then the minstrel show would start with the Jim Crow character singing, “Come listen all you gals and boys, I’s just from Tuckyhoe. I’m going to sing a little song, my name’s Jim Crow. Wheel about and turn about and do jis so, eb’ry time I wheel about and jump Jim Crow.” Rice would continually add new verses to the song for special occasions. According to The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, Film & Television, “An early American edition of the sheet music (undated, but probably from the 1820s) includes 44 verses.” Rice and other white actors depicted blacks as singing, dancing buffoons.
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Fig. 2. The song book from the Jim Crow era with the lyrics inside the book. "Jim Crow Songbook." Smithsonian. Web. 22 Nov 2015.
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Fig. 3. A sample of the sheet music and the lyrics to the song, "Jump Jim Crow." Turner, Adam. “Jump Jim Crow”Nursing Clio. Web. 22 Nov 2015.
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Sambo, Coon, and Dandy soon joined Jim Crow on stage. As the popularity of the minstrel show continued to increase, Jim Crow became a well-known term describing laws and customs opposing blacks. The plays helped segregate blacks, as they were very popular in the 1850s-1870s. Rice, also known as Daddy Rice or the original Jim Crow, lived an excessive life, but died in poverty in 1860. While the origin of the song is still unknown to this day, the term “Jim Crow” became a common phrase, eventually becoming the name for laws and racist reactions against blacks in the 19th and 20th centuries.
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In the Jim Crow era, 1877-1954, white American people didn’t believe Africans were fit for freedom and equality. Africans were called many different names such as niggers, coons, and darkies. There were two main stereotypes for black males: Sambo and Savage. Sambo was a character in Rice’s minstrel plays. Sambo was childish, foolish, buffoonish, docile, lazy, and irresponsible. He loved his master and obeyed without question. Savage was the other black male character in Rice’s plays. Unlike Sambo, Savage was violent, threatening, feared, hated, and dangerous. The two characters represented the whites feelings towards blacks. Sambo represented white’s wants, hopes, and dreams for easy and content slaves. Every slave owner yearned for a Sambo. Savage represented white’s fears, nightmares, and anxieties concerning a black uprising. In the eyes of white slave owners, Nat Turner was a Savage.
Black females had three character stereotypes: Mammy, Mulatto and Jezebel. Mammy, being the counterpart to Sambo, was a very dark skinned, fat, desexualized, paternal slave. She was depicted as unattractive and defeminized. Mammy was said to love and care for the white children she was enslaved to, but she resented her own children. Mammy was a victim of rape from white men resulting in Mulatto’s birth. Mulatto was a tragic figure, she could pass as white, but if her “dark secret” was discovered she was beaten. While not historically correct, Mulatto was depicted this way in the plays. In reality Mulattos played major leadership roles in slave riots. Jezebel, a counterpart to Savage, was very similar to Mulatto. Jezebels had light complexions. She was considered a sexual temptress and prostitute because she arranged long-term sexual contracts. In general, black women were depicted as over-sexualized woman. They were usually portrayed as nude or semi-nude woman who were desirous of sex. This is also historically incorrect as black woman were very modest and more often then not raped by white men. The white people were so worried their slaves would turn out like Savage they invented Sambo to calm their worries. The whites genuinely feared the blacks and what they could do if they wanted to. |
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In 1868 the Constitution gave black men full citizenship, promised them equal protection, and gave them certain rights. Blacks were able to vote, serve on juries, and had the same protection as whites. But the equality was shortly lived. Only ten years later, in 1878, blacks again became second-class citizens, resulting in being labeled as niggers, coons, and darkies. Whites assumed they were better because of the skin they were born with.
The Reconstruction was a period in the United States history after the Civil war when the government set the arrangements that would allow the southern states that had succeeded back into the Union. According to A Brief History of Jim Crow, “Over the next 20 years, blacks would lose almost all they had gained. Worse, denial of their rights and freedoms would be made legal by a series of racist statues, the Jim Crow laws” (Packard). The depressing truth is displayed in history, as we reflect on the tragic Jim Crow era. Blacks were provided with ten years of equality before the laws were reversed. |
Fig. 4. A picture depicting the separation of blacks and whites, such as laundry companies. Kaplan, Fran. "Five Pillars of Jim Crow." Web. 22 Nov 2015.
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The Laws |
The rules in the Jim Crow era referred to as “Jim Crow Laws” limited, if not removed, any form of social or physical contact between blacks and whites with laws similar to the following laws found in Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia: “A black male could not offer his hand with a white male or white woman…Under no circumstance was a black male to offer to light the cigarette of a white female…No colored barber shall serve as a barber (to) white girls or women…etc” (Dr. David Pilgrim). The laws were placed to teach blacks they were not and never would be as equal to whites. The new laws also continued to treat African Americans as if they were possessions, not people. The article previously motioned also included other laws such as, “Blacks and whites were not supposed to eat together…Blacks were not allowed to show affection toward one another in public…The schools for white children and the schools for negro children shall be conducted separately…All passenger stations in [Alabama] operated by any motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket windows for the white and colored races…etc.” (Pilgrim). With these new laws and rules, the term used in the Civil Rights Act of 1875, “separate but equal,” came into play.
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Violence played a big part in the Jim Crow era. Lynching is a term used to describe an angry mob doing what the government wouldn’t. The victims were usually killed because they had broken a Jim Crow law, such as a black man bumping into a white woman. During the Jim Crow era, almost 4,000 lynchings of black people took place. When lynchings occurred, nearly all the policeman supported the whites and would even join the murderous process resulting in the crime going unpunished. Lynches occurred in small and medium towns where blacks were considered economical opponents and rivals. In the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, the author, Dr. David Pilgrim quoted James Weldom Johnson, a famous black writer. Johnson labeled 1919 as “The Red Summer” because, “It was red from racial tension; it was red from bloodletting” (Pilgrim). Whites treated the blacks this way to show them who was in charge and install fear into the hearts of black people all over America.
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Fig. 5. A noose representing the violence and lynchings in the Jim Crow era. Kearse, Bettye. "Strange Fruit |Lynchings During Jim Crow And Now." Web. 22 Nov 2015.
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Louisiana Sperate Car Act
In July 1890, the Louisiana Separate Car Act was passed. The Act basically said blacks and whites were permitted to ride in the same public transportation vehicle as long as they were separate. There had to be a section for blacks and a section for whites. After the Louisiana Separate Car Act was formed, the American Citizens Equal Rights Association (ACERA) was created to fight the discriminations.
Louis A. Martinet was an attorney, doctor, and founded the Daily Crusader newsletter. Martinet, with the help of his newspaper, became one of the leading opponents of the discriminations against blacks. Martinet teamed up with Albion W. Tourgée, a white lawyer and judge in North Carolina. The two lawyers decided to fund a lawsuit after finding another lawyer, James Walker, in 1891.
The group of lawyers had to go through state government before they could take their case to the federal government. According to Jim Crow Law, “Tourgée and Martinet considered several possibilities…black passengers buy a ticket outside Louisiana and then travel into the state…they might have a fair-skinned person of mixed race attempt to enter the ladies’ car…[although,] she might not be refused admission” (Urofsky). They plan to the test case with someone who is 1/8th black or less. Tourgée wanted to know how an ordinary train conductor was qualified to determine race. Daniel Desdune, who happened to be 1/8th black, offered to help them test the case. He purchased a first-class ticket to travel. After a short while he is confronted and arrested for defying the law.
The lawyers filed a plea of jurisdiction claiming Desdune was in a state where the law didn’t apply and then, and only then, traveled into a state where it did apply. They claimed Desdune should be exempt from the law. Then Tourgée introduced the claim about train conductors not having the right to determine race. The lawyers expected their plea to be denied, Desdune to be convicted, and to be forced to appeal. According to the article previously mentioned, “A train conductor on the Texas and Pacific Railway had been prosecuted for seating a black passenger in a white car, and the railway argued that since the passenger was traveling between two states, either the Louisiana law did not apply to interstate travel or, if it did, then it was unconstitutional under the commerce clause…Louisiana high court agreed…the Separate Car Act could not apply to interstate passengers” (Urofsky). With this new information, John Ferguson, the presiding judge in Desdune’s case, reconsidered the current outcome of the case. John Ferguson dismissed the case soon after.
Louis A. Martinet was an attorney, doctor, and founded the Daily Crusader newsletter. Martinet, with the help of his newspaper, became one of the leading opponents of the discriminations against blacks. Martinet teamed up with Albion W. Tourgée, a white lawyer and judge in North Carolina. The two lawyers decided to fund a lawsuit after finding another lawyer, James Walker, in 1891.
The group of lawyers had to go through state government before they could take their case to the federal government. According to Jim Crow Law, “Tourgée and Martinet considered several possibilities…black passengers buy a ticket outside Louisiana and then travel into the state…they might have a fair-skinned person of mixed race attempt to enter the ladies’ car…[although,] she might not be refused admission” (Urofsky). They plan to the test case with someone who is 1/8th black or less. Tourgée wanted to know how an ordinary train conductor was qualified to determine race. Daniel Desdune, who happened to be 1/8th black, offered to help them test the case. He purchased a first-class ticket to travel. After a short while he is confronted and arrested for defying the law.
The lawyers filed a plea of jurisdiction claiming Desdune was in a state where the law didn’t apply and then, and only then, traveled into a state where it did apply. They claimed Desdune should be exempt from the law. Then Tourgée introduced the claim about train conductors not having the right to determine race. The lawyers expected their plea to be denied, Desdune to be convicted, and to be forced to appeal. According to the article previously mentioned, “A train conductor on the Texas and Pacific Railway had been prosecuted for seating a black passenger in a white car, and the railway argued that since the passenger was traveling between two states, either the Louisiana law did not apply to interstate travel or, if it did, then it was unconstitutional under the commerce clause…Louisiana high court agreed…the Separate Car Act could not apply to interstate passengers” (Urofsky). With this new information, John Ferguson, the presiding judge in Desdune’s case, reconsidered the current outcome of the case. John Ferguson dismissed the case soon after.
Fig. 6. The East Louisiana Railroad Company train representing the Louisiana Separate Car Act. Gates, Henry Louis Jr. "East Lousiiana Railroad Co." Web. 22 Nov 2015.
King Kong
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The movie “King Kong” first premiered in 1933, directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. Forty-three years later “King Kong” directed by John Guillermin found it’s way to the big screen. The most recent version of “King Kong” was aired in 2005 and was directed by Peter Jackson. In the movie, a group of men discover the mysterious Skull Island where they hope to find oil. Robert Armstrong, a paleontologist, sneaks onto the boat hoping to uncover the mysteries of Skull Island. Robert is a stowaway for a short period of time before he is found.
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The ship continues to sail towards Skull Island when they come upon a small life raft with a girl, Fay Wray, lying unconscious inside. Her yacht had exploded leaving her floating in the ocean. The crew gladly accepted the young and beautiful Fay. Soon they arrived at Skull Island only to discover a group of natives inhabiting the island. The natives’ kidnap Fay and “sacrifice” her to Kong. Kong falls in love with Fay and protects her. The men searching for oil discover the oil is useless and decide capturing Kong will earn them the money they desire. After Kong is captured they take him back to New York City, where he is paraded around. Kong is still captivated with Fay’s beauty and is angered when the news reporters push Fay around. Kong breaks free of his chains and snatches Fay. He runs through the town until he finds the World Trade Center, reminding him of his home on the island. Kong climbs the building with Fay clutching onto him for her life. Sadly, Kong is shot and killed at the end of the movie leaving Fay heartbroken for her deceased friend.
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Fig. 7. A poster of the movie, "King Kong" when it first aired in 1933. King Kong. Dir. Merian C. Cooper, and Ernest B. Schoedsack. Perf. Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong. Paramount. 1933. Film.
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King Kong is a movie with adventure, romance, and action. At first glance, no one would suspect there is a deeper meaning behind the movie about a giant ape. According to Racial Stereotypes, “Kong is Nat Turner…Africans have long been derogatorily depicted as apes, and Kong the giant ape depicts millions of Africans, the masses of black people in America.” Basically, the whole movie has hidden meanings and messages. White Americans were so afraid the blacks would revolt and riot they imprisoned them and forced them to become slaves. Kong was captured and forced into becoming a prop, so to speak. The whites were very nervous the black men would rape the white woman. Fay Wray was the white woman who Kong supposedly lusted after. The end of the movie was the biggest piece evidence; King Kong was shot off of the World Trade Center and was killed. Martin Luther King Junior, Malcolm X, and Nat Turner were also shot and killed. The white people were sending a message to all black slaves who were considering a rebellion, “If you rebel, we will shoot you down.” In the article previously mentioned, it says, “The title of the movie itself suggests the great Mani Kongo or King of the Congo (King of Africa), who has been captured from his homeland and shipped in chains to America” (Racial Stereotypes). The movie represents something bigger than what most people would expect. The thrilling movie of a fictional ape relates to the terrible and abominable era of Jim Crow.
That's Jim Crow
The Jim Crow era was a very historical and influential time period in America’s history. The minstrel play of Jim Crow became a term used to describe laws, rules, and an era. As Jim Crow became more and more popular, he could be found in movies such as King Kong. Jim Crow, a character in a minstrel play, had come to mean much more than a simple stereotype. It had come to be a term used to define and label a dismal era.
“The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow.” 13 Oct. 2009. YouTube. Web. 24 Oct.
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