Life at the Turn of the 20th Century: Summary Notes

The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enacted that mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in southern states of the former confederacy. The blacks were said to be “separate but equal” and this separation led to conditions for the blacks that tended to be inferior to those provided for whites. Law-enforced segregation mainly applied to the southern United States whereas northern segregation had patterns of segregation in housing that was enforced by the covenants, bank lending practices, and job discrimination. For decades, this included discriminatory union practices for decades. The Jim Crow laws segregated public schools, public places, public transportation, restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains. Therefore, it did nothing to bring about social or economic equality.

Another method of preventing blacks from gaining the vote was the successful ‘grandfather clause’ which stated if your grandfather had voted then you were also allowed to vote. In 1900 only 3% of southern blacks were able to vote. This evidence suggests that the black Americans did not stand ‘in the sun’ as the majority was unable to gain the vote and so the reconstruction failed to offer any real racial equality.

Jim Crow law in U.S. history was any of the laws that enforced racial segregation in the South between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s. Jim Crow was the name of a minstrel routine performed beginning in 1828. The term came to be a derogatory epiblast for African Americans and a designation for their segregated life. Southern state legislatures passed laws requiring the separation of whites from “persons with color”. The Jim Crow law was from 1877 to 1954. (Britannica.com)

Jim Crow Laws were mainly found in the southern states of the the US, but could also sometimes be found in northern states. These laws were created around the time the 14th amendment was created in which all races had the right to vote. Jim Crow Laws were meant to limit the freedom of Africans-American. These laws included,”A black male could not offer his hand to a white man” and that blacks and whites were not suppose to eat together. An African-American couldn’t even look in the direction of a white person without being punished.

They Jim Crow was a system of segregation and discrimination practiced in Southern and some

Jim Crow laws- were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965.

The Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. “The most common types of laws forbade intermarriage and ordered business owners and public institutions to keep their black and white clientele separated.”(1) A vast majority of the Southern States agreed upon the Jim Crow Laws, which were slave states. That left some of the Northern States free states which didn’t pass the Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow Laws prevented African Americans from doing a lot of things that white americans could do.

But assuming one wasn’t, the Grandfather Clause was established. The Grandfather Clause stated that if your grandfather was able to vote you automatically could too. No African American had a grandfather who voted, they were all still slaves. Because the South kept on segregating African Americans with Black Codes and disenfranchisement, the Civil Rights Act had to be put into action during Reconstruction.

Education was and still is a very important aspect in life, but Jim Crow laws made receiving an equal education an impossible task. “Education: The schools for white children and the schools for Negro children shall be conducted separately” Florida (“Jim Crow Laws”). Although both races did receive an education, they were not equal. Schools for white

“Jim Crow Laws were statutes and ordinances established between 1874 and 1975 to separate the white and black races in the American South. In theory, it was to create "separate but equal" treatment, but in practice Jim Crow Laws condemned black citizens to inferior treatment and facilities.” The Jim Crows Laws created tensions and disrespect towards blacks from whites. These laws separated blacks and whites from each other and shows how race determines how an individual is treated. The Jim Crow laws are laws that are targeted towards black people. These laws determine how an individual is treated by limiting their education, having specific places where blacks and whites could or could not go, and the punishments for the “crime”

The grandfather clause was one of these racist laws. This law stated that an individual was not allowed to vote if their grandfather was unable to vote in slavery days. Luckily the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down. Sadly, however other rulings by the courts like William v. Mississippi, (1898) allowed states to add poll taxes and require literacy tests to voting requirements. These laws dramatically reduced the amount

The Grandfather Clause was outlawed by the Supreme Court in Guinn v. United States because it conflicts with the 15th Amendment, “thereby outlawing literacy tests for federal elections” (Rowen). Nevertheless, the tax poll remained for the time

A big change in the turn of the century was the idea of Urban Planning. Urban planning is the idea of city planners to restore serenity to the environment by designing recreational areas. These and other advances in science and technology helped solve overcrowding

Negotiation were undertaken with no fewer than six different landowners to acquire a parcel of land on the lakefront on the very edge of the city centre. The Auditorium building project was entrusted to Dankmar Alder [Hugh Morrison, Louis Sullivan,-Prophet of Modern Architecture (New York: The Museum of Modern Art and W.W. Norton Company, Inc., 1935),pp. 283-293.] and Louis Sullivan. Their firm had dedicative to the Chicago landscape with many high-profile projects. They seek for unique solution to the requirement of every building project by using what they had developed rather than following the traditional design styles. Adler always keep the long client list to the firm, bring forth new idea engineering, especially acoustic. In another side, Sullivan was good in ornament and he brought out the expressive façade designs that contain natural form and his famous formula in the history of modern architecture “Form follows Function.” [Louis H. Sullivan,” The Autobiography Of An Idea” Chapter XIII The Garden City

In the summer of 1936 Herbert Johnson was ready to build a new administration building. He had commissioned a prominent local Architect and was nearly ready to start construction. However, both Johnson and his general manager Jack Ramsey were not satisfied with Architect J. Manor Matson’s proposed Beaux Arts style proposal. Although dissatisfied with the proposed building, neither Johnson or any of his team could come up with suggestions on how to improve the design. At this point Johnson decided to search for a new Architect. He wanted a “beautiful, pure, and completely American image for his company” (1), but even more importantly, he wanted “a place where his employees would be happy to work” (1). It was this decision that not only brought the S.C. Johnson & Son company into the 20th century, but also brought about a second renaissance in the career of Frank Lloyd Wright.