Promises Betrayed (1865 - 1896)

Episode 1 of The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow

How did Jim Crow begin?

As Reconstruction ended, African Americans' efforts to assert their constitutional rights began to be repressed at every turn, betraying the promises of Emancipation. Southern whites were embolden by the North's withdrawal of support for Black access to land, civil and economic rights, and due process in law and politics. Whites passed laws that segregated, divested and disfranchised African-Americans -- laws that were enforced with violence and terror.

This episode recounts the Black response by documenting the work of such leaders as anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells and the emergence of Booker T. Washington as a national figure.