The Impact of the Jim Crow Era on Education (lesson 3)

The Impact of the Jim Crow Era on Education (lesson 3)

In this lesson students will examine the denial of rights of African Americans both nationally and in Virginia, and consider the impact these events had on the lives of individuals and families. Students will investigate what happened to the rights of African Americans after Reconstruction. They will be able to define the terms “discrimination” and “segregation” and recognize how these can and did affect people. Specifically, students will examine some Jim Crow laws and consider the 1902 Virginia Constitution. This lesson works well after students have learned about Reconstruction, and can serve as a transition lesson to their study of the Jim Crow era. It is designed to follow “A Look at Virginians During Reconstruction.”

Students will:

1. Explain what happened to the rights of African Americans after Reconstruction.

2. Define discrimination and segregation and be able to explain how these have and can affect people, working with primary sources (photographs) to accomplish this goal.

3. Understand how the Jim Crow laws and the 1902 Virginia Constitution affected voting rights and education in Virginia.

4. Using primary source photographs and charts, students will assess the differences between white and black schools during the Jim Crow period.

grades 4, 6, and 11

Grade 4: Virginia Studies

VS.1 The student will develop skills for historical and geographical analysis including the ability to: (a) identify and interpret artifacts and primary and secondary source documents to understand events in history.

VS.1 The students will develop skills for historical and geographical analysis including the ability to
a) identify and interpret artifacts and primary and secondary source documents to understand events in history;
b) determine cause and effect relationships;
c) compare and contrast historical events;
f) sequence events in Virginia history;
g) interpret ideas and events from different historical perspectives.

VS.8 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the reconstruction of Virginia following the Civil War by: (a) identifying the effects of Reconstruction on life in Virginia;
(b) identifying the effects of segregation and "Jim Crow" on life in Virginia.

Grade 7: United States History II – 1877 to the Present

USII.1 The student will demonstrate skills for historical and geographical analysis, including the ability to: (a) analyze and interpret primary and secondary source documents to increase understanding of events and life in United States history from 1877 to the present.

USII.3 The student will demonstrate knowledge of how life changed after the Civil War by: (c) describing racial segregation, the rise of "Jim Crow," and other constraints faced by African Americans in the post-Reconstruction South.

Grade 11: Virginia and United States History

VUS.1 The student will demonstrate skills for historical and geographical analysis, including the ability to: (a) identify, analyze, and interpret primary and secondary source documents, records, and data, including artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, journals, newspapers, historical accounts, and art to increase understanding of events and life in the United States.

VUS.8 The student will demonstrate knowledge of how the nation grew and changed from the end of Reconstruction through the early twentieth century by: (c) analyzing prejudice and discrimination during this time period, with emphasis on "Jim Crow."

Estimated time is 1-2 class periods (45 minutes each), but feel free to adapt this lesson to your needs.

In 1877, white southerners moved with great speed to erect a system of segregation and black disenfranchisement and in 1883, the U.S. Supreme Court aided white supremacists by striking the Civil Rights Act of 1875, an act that had banned racial segregation in public transportation and accommodations. In 1887, Florida passed a law requiring segregation in public facilities. The rest of the former Confederate states soon followed. These Jim Crow laws – named for a character in a minstrel show – soon became the norm in all southern states and applied to everything from segregated seating on trains to separate bathrooms, drinking fountains, and graveyards. Whites worked to keep blacks in separate spaces from birth to death, and the differences later proved unjust by every measure.

In the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court validated southern legislation, ruling that segregation was not discriminatory in intrastate railroads, provided that accommodations for blacks equaled those for whites. Jim Crow laws, according to the majority, did not violate black civil rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. Since legal ratification of segregation was not enough to keep blacks in subservient roles, southerners resorted to extra-legal action in the form of public humiliations, race riots, convict labor, and lynchings.

Race relations disintegrated in Fairfax County, too. In the 1870s, black landowner William West described “relations between the races in Vienna as ‘very good; a black could go into any white store, and none was prevented from buying land.” In 1873, the town had 632 registered voters, 232 of whom were black. By the 1880s, however, relations between the races had deteriorated significantly and many privileges, including voting rights that William Jasper and Thornton Gray had enjoyed immediately after the Civil War, were denied.

Black disenfranchisement and increased segregation came about in many ways. In Falls Church, whites used gerrymandering to improve their situation. Other places relied on fear to intimidate black voters. Some used the press to counter black ambitions to hold public office. In 1889 the Fairfax Herald, expressing anxiety over a possible nomination of a black for constable in the Providence district, wrote, “[I]t is the suicidal and pernicious policy of electing negroes to office to the injury and detriment of our county, to which we wish to call the attention of the people.” Statutory acts, court rulings, and constitutional amendments provided the legal apparatus to solidify white rule.

Following other southern states, Virginia made black disenfranchisement legal at its Constitutional Convention of 1901-1902. Delegates traveled to Richmond with the chief intent of stripping blacks of their right to vote. In education, delegates rewrote sections of the education clause to legalize racial discrimination in the school system. They did so by approving a substantial loophole in school funding that enabled districts to withhold funds from black schools. Depriving black fathers of the vote and black children of the schoolbook was the intent of the convention and its result.

In 1915, discrimination against blacks could be clearly seen in counties across Virginia. For every dollar spent on educating a black child in Amelia County, $12.37 went to a white child’s education. Educational discrimination was worst in areas with the greatest number of blacks. While African Americans continued their lessons in inadequate one-room buildings -- one of which was commonly referred to as “our shoebox” by its students and teachers because it was so tiny -- white children often enjoyed much larger schools. Some of them were two stories tall, and some were brick.

Despite these added obstacles, black schools stayed open, and children continued to learn. Black education advanced as the state made more of an effort to improve education generally. School reformers, including northern philanthropists, campaigned for longer terms for both black and white children, improved teacher training, school consolidation and transportation, school libraries, better organization, and local school improvement leagues. Though improvements in education moved at a slower pace for blacks than whites, blacks nevertheless held to their strong values in education.

Black communities realized the power of literacy. As historian James Anderson has noted, “The short-range purpose of black schooling was to provide the masses of ex-slaves with basic literacy skills plus the rudiments of citizenship training for participation in a democratic society. The long-range purpose was the intellectual and moral development of a responsible leadership class that would organize the masses and lead them to freedom and equality.” As discrimination increased, blacks did not alter their education strategy.

Support from the black community for education was crucial. Black community investment in education remained a constant. Examples of community and teacher support are many. These include reports of parents and neighbors providing firewood for the schools, dinner and lodging for teachers, and donating services to warm schoolrooms on cold days, and build a baseball field for the children. Generation after generation, from 1886 to 1932, the Laurel Grove School community supported its little school.

1. Hook: Begin with Orange and Blue Activity. The purpose of this activity is to introduce the concept of discrimination, make it concrete to younger students, and provide an opportunity for students to experience and reflect on it. See “Rules” for Orange and Blue Activity at end of this lesson for set up and instructions. * As an alternate activity, particularly for older students, the teacher can review the Supreme Court case, Plessy v. Ferguson. The class will examine Justice Henry Brown’s opinion and use the primary source to write down information pulled from the document and also historical information the document implies. Justice Brown’s opinion and an example of what students might note are attachments.

2. Using the experiences and reflections of students in the above activity, ask the students to work in pairs to discuss and write what they think discrimination is. Have students compare their ideas to your textbook’s definition. The textbook we used defines discrimination as: an unfair difference in the treatment of people. The American Heritage Dictionary defines discrimination as: treatment or consideration based on class or category, rather than individual merit.

3. Next, provide several copies of each primary source document to the students. The primary sources the students will use are listed below and also are attachments. The students should examine the documents, noting specific information they identify and historic information implied. They will follow the same steps as the alternate “hook” activity. For HS students:
• Letter from Raleigh C. Minor to members of the Constitutional Convention, 1901
• Flyer - "No White Man to Lose His Vote", 1901
• The Daily Progress , October 4, 1902, “The Recent Voter Registration Drive”
• Excerpt from the Virginia Constitution of 1902

4. Once the students have had enough time to analyze the documents, return to a whole group to discuss what the students noticed. Share additional examples of how discrimination affected African Americans. For example, by 1892, no public offices in Virginia were held by African Americans and whites had numerous tactics to prevent African Americans from voting or sway them to vote a certain way. * The first four paragraphs of the Historical Background (up to but not including section on the 1901-02 Virginia Constitutional Convention) include additional examples of Jim Crow treatment at this time.

5. Next, tell students that in 1901-02 some Virginians held a Constitutional Convention to revise the Constitution of 1869.

6. Help students remember what they learned about Reconstruction by asking them to recall key points from the role-play in the previous lesson “A Look at Virginians During Reconstruction.”

7. The students will compare the Constitutions of 1869 and 1902. Create this chart on the board or chart paper and ask students to use what they learned in the previous lesson to help you fill in the 1869 boxes [see attachment].

8. Next provide the information about the 1902 Constitution for boxes 1-4 [answers in italics]. Ask students what decisions (#5) they think were made in 1902, and why. It is important for students to recognize that, without having freedmen and their allies present at the Convention, the gains they made in voting and education were lost or seriously eroded. A chart is attached which outlines information from the Constitutional Conventions in 1869 and 1902.

9. Students will next assess the impact of the Virginia Constitution of 1902 on the lives of Virginians. To do this they will examine early 20th century photos of both white and colored Virginia schools, and a comparative chart of teachers’ salaries. NOTE: The steps below are based on photos of colored and white schools in Halifax County, Virginia, and the average monthly salaries of colored and white teachers compared.

10. Give each student a copy (and possibly have a copy on a smart board or overhead projector) of the photos of colored and white schools in Halifax County, Virginia.

11. Direct students to work in pairs but first, on their own, look closely at each photo and jot down on paper what they notice about each photo and also make a note of any questions they have. These are purposely open-ended tasks, with the goal being for students to focus and think first on their own, and then to have pairs of students discuss what they found.

12. Examples of things students might notice and question include: that the colored school is small, possibly one or two rooms, built of wood, with few windows, one door; a roof that may well leak; seems likely to be hot in summer and cold in winter, etc. On the other hand the white school is a much larger, three-floor structure made from brick, stone, and concrete, with large windows and doors; likely that it is comfortable year-round, etc. Students might question what it was like to be a student in each one and how it affected their lives as students, what parents of the colored students did about these circumstances, etc.

13. Reconvene the class as a whole and ask students to share what they noticed and the questions they had, and write their basic points on the board under Notice and Questions. Answer questions as you can.

14. Before going on to the context, ask students to examine the chart comparing average monthly salaries of colored and white teachers between 1905 and 1917. Again have students work in pairs but first, on their own, look closely at the chart and jot down on paper what they notice and also make a note of any questions they have.

15. In this case, examples of things students might notice and question include: that white male teachers are paid about twice as much as colored male teachers over this period, that white female teachers get more but not as much more than colored female teachers, that there is also a clear and consistent gender inequality, etc. Students might ask about the worth of a dollar then, or about inflation.

16. Reconvene the class as a whole and ask students to share what they noticed and the questions they had, and write their basic points on the board under Notice and Questions. Answer questions as you can.

17. The next step is to connect students’ observations and questions on the photos and chart to the historical context at this time. Again, use the relevant section of the Historical Background and the Three-Part Time Line to do this in whatever method makes sense to you and your class.

18. Wrap up. Last, ask students to use what they have just learned – and what they have learned in prior lessons about the experience and values of William Jasper, his family and his community. Students should predict what these people will do in the face of segregation. This can be done in the form of a brainstorm or in journals with structured questions. NOTE: Students can work in pairs then share their predictions which the teacher can record and keep – and use to compare with what actually happens in the next lessons on a child’s life in segregated society, the founding of the Laurel Grove School and other colored schools in Fairfax County, and daily experience of the Laurel Grove School, 1925. Another option might be for students to students to write newspaper articles reporting the 1902 or a journal from any perspective about the 1902 Convention. The students should focus on the effects on daily lives of people at this time. A final possibility is that students curate a museum exhibit using photographs and other materials. The students should consider which items will best tell the story of Jim Crow education in Virginia, provide captions for the items which ties the discriminatory actions of state and local school boards to the 1902 Virginia Constitution.

Books & Media

Anderson, James D. The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988.

Foner, Eric and John Garraty, eds. The Reader’s Companion to American History. Boston: Houghton and Mifflin Company, 1991. Entry on segregation by Howard Rabinowitz.

Harlan, Louis R. Separate and Unequal: Public School Campaigns and Racism in the Southern Seaboard States, 1901-1915. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1958.

Sargent Wood, Linda. The Laurel Grove School: Educating the First Generation Born into Freedom. Unpublished essay, 2006.

Websites

The Virginia Historical Society’s exhibit The Civil Rights Movement in Virginia focus on Beginnings of Black Education
http://www.vahistorical.org/civilrights/education.htm#16

The New York Public Library, NYPL Digital Gallery, Schomburg Center for Research in BlackCulture
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/

Primary Sources:

• Letter from Raleigh C. Minor to members of the Constitutional Convention, 1901

• Flyer - "No White Man to Lose His Vote", 1901

• The Daily Progress , October 4, 1902, “The Recent Voter Registration Drive”

• Excerpt from the Virginia Constitution of 1902

• Photos of white schools from County Board of Supervisors, Industrial and Historical Sketch of Fairfax County, Virginia

• Photos of colored schools are from the Library of Congress, and African American Landowners, Churches, Schools and Businesses, 1860-1900 in Fairfax County

• Photos of colored and white schools from South Boston, Halifax County, Virginia

• Average monthly salaries of colored and white teachers compared in chart

Other Materials:

• Directions for Orange and Blue Activity

• Chart paper

• Three-Part Time Line

History does not always tell a story of even and steady progress. Students will understand that the freedoms and rights promised to and sometimes exercised by African Americans after the Civil War were slowly taken away after Reconstruction. It took years to win them back. During Reconstruction, African Americans began to have power in Virginia’s government, and men of all races could vote. After Reconstruction, these gains were lost when Jim Crow laws were passed by southern states. These laws had a substantial negative effect on African American life, in restrictions on voting, holding public office, using separate public facilities, and by having African American and white children attend separate schools.