Historical Background

Slavery

a) Slavery in the southern state began in the 1600s.

b) The slaves were shipped in from Africa

c) The slaves were owned by whites, although some Native Americans and free blacks also held slaves.

d) Yes, there were laws.

In 1641,Massachusetts explicitly permits slavery of Indians, whites, and Negroes in its Body of Liberties. It is the first mainland British colony to legalize slavery.

In 1642,Virginia passes a fugitive slave law. Offenders helping runaway slaves are fined in pounds of tobacco. An enslaved person is to be branded with a large R after a second escape attempt.

In 1643, The New England Confederation reaches an agreement that makes the signature of a magistrate sufficient evidence to re enslave a suspected fugitive slave.

In 1650, Connecticut legalizes slavery. Rhode Island by this date has large plantations worked by enslaved Africans.

In 1657, Virginia amends its fugitive slave law to include the fining of people who harbor runaway slaves. They are fined 30 pounds of tobacco for every night they provide shelter to a runaway slave.

In 1662, Virginia reverses the presumption of English law that the child follows the status of his father, and enacts a law that makes the free or enslaved status of children dependent on the status of the mother.

In 1663, Maryland slave laws rules that all Africans arriving in the colony are presumed to be slaves. Free European American women who marry enslaved men lose their freedom. Children of European American women and enslaved men are enslaved. Other North American colonies develop similar laws.

In 1664, Maryland establishes slavery for life for persons of African ancestry. New Jersey and New York also recognize the legality of slavery. In Virginia, the enslaved African's status is clearly differentiated from the indentured servant's when colonial laws decree that enslavement is for life and is transferred to the children through the mother. Black and slave become synonymous, and enslaved Africans are subject to harsher and more brutal control than other laborers.

In 1667, England enacts strict laws regarding enslaved Africans in its colonies. An enslaved African is forbidden to leave the plantation without a pass, and never on Sunday. An enslaved African may not possess weapons or signaling mechanisms such as horns or whistles. Punishment for an owner who kills an enslaved African is a 15-pound fine. Virginia declares that baptism does not free a slave from bondage, thereby abandoning the Christian tradition of not enslaving other Christians.

In 1670, The Virginia Assembly enact law that allows all non-Christians who arrive by ship to be enslaved.The Massachusetts legislature passes a law that enables its citizens to sell the children of enslaved Africans into bondage, thus separating them from their parents. Massachusetts permits the separate sale of children of enslaved parents.

In 1671, A Maryland law states that the conversion of enslaved African Americans to Christianity does not affect their status as enslaved people.

In 1672, Virginia law now bans prosecution for the killing of a slave if the death comes during the course of his his or her apprehension.

In 1682, New York enacts its first slave codes. They restrict the freedom of movement and the ability to trade of all enslaved people in the colony. A new slave code in Virginia prohibits weapons for slaves, requires passes beyond the limits of the plantation and forbids self-defense by any African Americans against any European American.

In 1685, New York law forbids enslaved Africans and Native Americans from having meetings or carrying firearms.

In 1690, South Carolina enacts its first laws regulating slave movement and behavior.

e) Yes, it has told me that slaves were treated unfairly.



The Civil War



a) South Carolina

Mississippi

Florida

Alabama

Georgia

Louisiana

Texas



b) Abraham Lincoln

c) In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against the expansion of slavery beyond the states in which it already existed. In response to the Republican victory in that election, seven states declared their secession from the Union before Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861. Both the outgoing administration of President James Buchanan and Lincoln's incoming administration rejected the legality of secession, considering it rebellion. Several other slave states rejected calls for secession at this point.
Hostilities began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a U.S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Lincoln responded by calling for a volunteer army from each state to recapture federal property. This led to declarations of secession by four more slave states. Both sides raised armies as the Union assumed control of the border states early in the war and established a naval blockade. In September 1862, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made ending slavery in the South a war goal, and dissuaded the British from intervening.

d) from : April 12, 1861- April 9, 1865.

e) The war produced about 1,030,000 casualties (3% of the population), including about 620,000 soldier deaths—two-thirds by disease. The war accounted for roughly as many American deaths as all American deaths in other U.S. wars combined.
The causes of the war, the reasons for its outcome, and even the name of the war itself are subjects of lingering contention today. Based on 1860 census figures, 8% of all white males aged 13 to 43 died in the war, including 6% in the North and 18% in the South. About 56,000 soldiers died in prisons during the Civil War.

f) The novel " To Kill a Mockingbird" was written during the time when the civil war was fought. This makes an impact of the civil war and it acts as an reminder of the times when the civil war was fought.

Jim Crow's Laws

a) Jim Crow is not actually a person, but the subject of a song performed by Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice. Rice was a white man who performed in black face. Like most black face performers, Rice denigrated Blacks through his music, his stereotypical behavior, and his rude jokes.
Jump Jim Crow is a lengthy song that was a bonfire hit among Caucasian Americans in the early 19Th century. The lyrics of “Jump Jim Crow” express several racist sentiments. First, Jim Crow is satisfied with his lot as a slave. He is sexually promiscuous. Jim Crow is also ignorant, and the song is usually sung in “supposed” slave dialect.

b) The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans. In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for white Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages.
Some examples of Jim Crow laws are the segregation of public schools, public places and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants and drinking fountains for whites and blacks. The U.S. military was also segregated.

c) They were strongly against the law

d) It was when Jean Louise and her brother followed their care taker to the her church. Also when Tom Robinson was accused of raping Mayella Ewell.

The above information were taken from http://www.wikipedia.org/, http://www.blackpast.org/ , http://www.pbs.org/, http://www.wisegeek.com/