1877: Jim Crow—Reconstruction fails and laws intended to criminalize black life make it illegal to change employers without permission, be a vagrant, ride freight cars without a ticket, engage in sexual activity or talk loudly with white women. Despite no evidence of crime increase by black people, thousands of random black citizens are imprisoned.  Western states pass laws that criminalize Asian and Native Americans.

Actions for Self-Determination:

• 1879: 40,000 African Americans leave the South to settle in Kansas, purchasing more than 20,000 acres and forming communities. 
• 1892: Ida B. Wells raises awareness of the impact of Jim Crow through anti-lynching articles and speeches. 
• 2010: Michelle Alexander makes the case for the relationship of Jim Crow to the current expansion of the prison system. 
• 2011: Stop the Injunctions Coalition and the LoveLife Foundation in Oakland draw attention to the relationships between Jim Crow and gang injunctions while organizing to halt the expansion the use of gang injunctions in Oakland.

Discussion Questions:

• Discuss Ruth Wilson Gilmore's statement, "Defined in the simple terms of the secular state, crime means a violation of the law. Laws change, depending on what, in a social order, counts as stability, and who, in a social order, needs to be controlled."
• How has our acceptance of laws changed over time?
• How are gang injunctions similar or different to Jim Crow laws?
• Beyond a set of laws, Jim Crow was also an unspoken "culture."  What types of "policing" are not in laws but are present in your life today?

Additional Resources:

• Map breakdown of Jim Crow laws [Interactive Map]
• Collection of Jim Crow-focused lesson plans [Teaching Activities]

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