America 1920-1973Topic Summary
Topic Summary: Segregation and Jim Crow
Part of Segregation — GCSE History
This topic summary covers Topic Summary: Segregation and Jim Crow within Segregation for GCSE History. Revise Segregation in America 1920-1973 for GCSE History with 10 exam-style questions and 3 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 13 of 13 in this topic. Use this topic summary to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Topic position
Section 13 of 13
Practice
10 questions
Recall
3 flashcards
Topic Summary: Segregation and Jim Crow
Key Terms
- Jim Crow laws: State laws enforcing racial segregation in the South — schools, transport, public spaces
- Plessy v Ferguson: 1896 Supreme Court ruling — "separate but equal" is constitutional
- Segregation: Enforced separation of races in public and private life
- Poll tax: Voting fee that excluded poor Black Americans from the register
- Lynching: Illegal murder by mob — 4,743 victims 1882-1968, mostly Black men
- NAACP: Organisation fighting for Black rights since 1909; led legal challenges to segregation
- Brown v Board: 1954 ruling — school segregation unconstitutional; overturned Plessy
Key Dates
- 1865: 13th Amendment — slavery abolished
- 1868: 14th Amendment — equal protection clause
- 1877: Reconstruction ends; rights rapidly dismantled in South
- 1896: Plessy v Ferguson — "separate but equal" becomes law
- 1909: NAACP founded
- 1954: Brown v Board of Education — segregation in schools unconstitutional
Key People
- Homer Plessy: Mixed-race man who challenged Louisiana segregation law in 1896 test case
- Thurgood Marshall: NAACP lawyer who argued Brown v Board; first Black Supreme Court justice
- A. Philip Randolph: Labour leader; threatened 1941 march on Washington, winning ban on defence industry discrimination
Must-Know Facts
- Black schools: $43 per pupil; white schools: $179 per pupil — "separate but equal" was a lie
- 4,743 people lynched 1882-1968 — nearly three-quarters were Black men in the South
- Mississippi 1890: 90% of Black voters removed from register in one year
- Plessy v Ferguson (1896) stood for 58 years until Brown v Board (1954)
- NAACP grew from 50,000 to 500,000 members during WW2
- Segregation enforced by law (Jim Crow), economics (low wages), politics (voting barriers), and violence (lynching)
Cross-Topic Links
- → Topic 3 (America in 1920): Jim Crow laws and the 75+ annual lynchings visible in 1920 are the starting conditions — segregation was already deeply entrenched before the 1920s began, and it persisted unchanged through the boom, the Depression, and WW2 until the Civil Rights movement challenged it directly.
- → Topic 6 (Wealth Inequality): Economic discrimination (Black wages = 50% of white wages, "last hired first fired") reinforced legal segregation — without economic power, Black Americans lacked the resources to challenge Jim Crow through courts or politics, making the "double burden" of race and class inseparable.
- → Topic 15 (WW2 and Post-War): WW2 created a contradiction that the movement exploited: Black soldiers fought for freedom abroad while facing segregation at home; the NAACP's wartime growth (50,000 to 500,000) directly prepared the organisational infrastructure for the 1950s–60s campaigns.
- → Topic 17 (Direct Action): Brown v Board (1954) is the legal turning point that ends this topic and begins the next — the Supreme Court's overturning of Plessy v Ferguson gave the movement the judicial precedent it needed to challenge every aspect of segregation in the courts and streets.
- → Topic 9 (Intolerance): The KKK's racial violence in the 1920s (a peak of 4-6 million members) is part of the same system of terror that kept segregation in place for decades — understanding 1920s intolerance helps explain why dismantling Jim Crow required federal intervention, not just persuasion.