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"Jim Crow Laws"

No longer in effect, Jim Crow laws are now a part of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. This list, based on a compilation by the National Park Service, takes a look at the language that separated a nation.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 9 Unit 3's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: Jim Crow, Jim Crow Laws, Letter from Birmingham Jail, Scout, Atticus & Boo, To Kill a Mockingbird, In Defense of To Kill a Mockingbird
15 words 585 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. partition
    a vertical structure that divides or separates
    It shall be unlawful to conduct a restaurant or other place for the serving of food in the city, at which white and colored people are served in the same room, unless such white and colored persons are effectually separated by a solid partition extending from the floor upward to a distance of seven feet or higher
  2. null
    lacking any legal or binding force
    The marriage of a person of Caucasian blood with a Negro, Mongolian, Malay, or Hindu shall be null and void.
  3. prohibited
    forbidden by law
    All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the fourth generation inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited.
  4. distinct
    constituting a separate entity or part
    The Board of Control shall see that proper and distinct apartments are arranged for said patients, so that in no case shall Negroes and white persons be together.
  5. exclusively
    without any others being included or involved
    All persons licensed to conduct a restaurant shall serve either white people exclusively or colored people exclusively and shall not sell to the two races within the same room or serve the two races anywhere under the same license.
  6. devoted
    dedicated exclusively to a purpose or use
    It shall be unlawful for any amateur white baseball team to play baseball on any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of a playground devoted to the Negro race, and it shall be unlawful for any amateur colored baseball team to play baseball in any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of any playground devoted to the white race.
  7. frequent
    be a regular visitor to a certain place
    It shall be unlawful for colored people to frequent any park owned or maintained by the city for the benefit, use and enjoyment of white persons...and unlawful for any white person to frequent any park owned or maintained by the city for the use and benefit of colored persons.
  8. maintain
    supply with necessities and support
    The board of trustees shall...maintain a separate building...on separate ground for the admission, care, instruction, and support of all blind persons of the colored or black race.
  9. misdemeanor
    a crime less serious than a felony
    Any person...who shall be guilty of printing, publishing or circulating printed, typewritten or written matter urging or presenting for public acceptance or general information, arguments or suggestions in favor of social equality or of intermarriage between whites and negroes, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both.
  10. establish
    set up or found
    Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent
  11. furnish
    give something useful or necessary to
    No persons, firms, or corporations, who or which furnish meals to passengers at station restaurants or station eating houses, in times limited by common carriers of said passengers, shall furnish said meals to white and colored passengers in the same room, or at the same table, or at the same counter.
  12. provision
    the activity of supplying something
    Said court shall make proper provision for the negroes of said county to be served through a separate branch or branches of the county free library
  13. respective
    considered individually
    The conductors or managers on all such railroads shall have power, and are hereby required, to assign to each white or colored passenger his or her respective car, coach or compartment.
  14. sole
    not divided or shared with others
    If the passenger fails to disclose his race, the conductor and managers, acting in good faith, shall be the sole judges of his race.
  15. designate
    indicate a place, direction, person, or thing
    Every person...operating...any public hall, theatre, opera house, motion picture show or any place of public entertainment or public assemblage which is attended by both white and colored persons, shall separate the white race and the colored race and shall set apart and designate...certain seats therein to be occupied by white persons and a portion thereof, or certain seats therein, to be occupied by colored persons.
Created on Tue Sep 23 12:09:05 EDT 2014 (updated Tue Sep 23 18:34:44 EDT 2014)

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