PART II: QUESTIONS -- TEACHER COPY
Instructions:Answer the following questions in complete
sentences.
1. How was segregation practiced on the street cars and buses in New
Orleans? Specifically,
what was the race screen? How did the race screen operate?
Before the Civil Rights movement, the laws of segregation stipulated that white people sat in the
front of street cars and buses, and black people sat in the rear. The race screen was a movable
sign which served to separate white and black people on the street cars and buses. On one side it
said "white only" and on the other "colored only." Any white person could remove the "race
screen" from its position on the back of a seat and place it on another seat and thus require all
black people to get up and move behind the screen.
What difficulties peculiar to New Orleans did street car operators
have when enforcing segregation on the street cars?
In New Orleans, the conductors of street cars and the motor men on buses sometimes could not
tell who was white and who was black.
In your opinion, why was public transportation one of the early battlegrounds of the Civil Rights
movement? Explain.
The answer to this question depends on the students' opinion, but the opinion must be supported
by evidence. One answer might be that segregation as practiced on public transportation was
often a daily reminder (a twice daily reminder) to black people of the inequities of the system, a
reminder which directly impacted them in ways that were personal and humiliation. It was also
physically taxing to people.
2. Jerome Smith, a black activist at the forefront of the Civil
Rights struggle in New Orleans, describes an incident which occurred in
the 1950's while he was riding the bus on St. Claude
Avenue. What did Jerome Smith do on the bus to arouse the anger of the bus driver and how did
the bus driver respond?
Jerome Smith seized the race screen and threw it on the floor of the bus. The driver told Jerome
Smith to move to the rear of the bus which was reserved for black people. Jerome Smith refused
to move to the back, and the bus driver threatened to call the
police.
Jerome Smith describes the actions of "an old black woman" on the bus. What was her reaction to
the incident?
The elderly black woman intervened on Jerome Smith's behalf by pleading with the bus driver not
to call the police. She told the bus driver that she would take Jerome Smith home to his
grandmother who would discipline the child.
The "old black woman" described by Jerome Smith handled herself one way on the bus and
another way off the bus? Why? Explain.
The black woman pleaded with the bus driver, saying Jerome Smith "gives too much trouble." In
other words, she suggested that Jerome was at fault. But off the bus the black woman took
Jerome to a safe spot behind a nearby store and hugged and kissed him and said she was proud of
him for his defiant actions. The woman was shrewd. She understood that in order to rescue
Jerome from this difficult situation, she had ostensibly to observe the rules of segregation. Jerome
was wrong, she said to the driver. Safely away from the bus driver, the woman expressed her
admiration for Jerome's courage.
In your opinion, why did Jerome Smith throw the race screen on the ground?
Once again, the answer to this question depends on the students'
opinion.
Possibly, one reason Jerome Smith "pitched" the race screen is because
he had seen his father do the same thing. Also,
the race screen was a symbol of humiliation to black people, and Jerome Smith might have felt the
proper place for such a symbol was the floor.
3. Compare and contrast the two quotations taken from Part II. One is from a white man, the
other from a black man.
Quote 1: Joe Giarusso, the white police chief in New Orleans during the late fifties and
early sixties, describes segregation this way: "We were not on the losing end, and so we took it
for granted."
Quote 2: Llewelyn Soniat, a black man and director of the New Orleans chapter of the
NAACP during the Civil Rights struggle, says this about segregation, "We felt that being
separated in this fashion was the way it should have been then."
How are the two statements similar?
The two statements are similar in the respect that both of the men seemed to accept legal
segregation, to quote Llewelyn Soniat, "as the way it should have been then."
In what ways do the statements reflect the period in which the two men grew up? Explain.
The point is that neither man knew a different way of life. This made it very difficult for people to
think in terms of change.
In your opinion, what does Joe Giarusso mean by his comment?
A possible answer: he is saying that white people did not suffer the indignities of segregation and
as a result the unfairness of the system was not given a second thought. It is an honest response
that nonetheless reflects a selfish attitude, an attitude that was common: the system is good for
me; the system must stand.
4. In the documentary, Avery Alexander recalls a situation he observed as a child involving his
elderly grandfather and a young white man.
How did each man address the other and why did this perplex the young
Avery Alexander?
The young white man addressed the elderly black man by his first name, Arthur, but the elderly
black man addressed the young white man as Mr. Ginrich. This was one of the rules of
segregation, but the young Avery Alexander did not yet understand that. He assumed that an
elderly man, black or white, was entitled to respect and to the courtesy of being addressed as
"Mr."
How did the grandfather answer when Avery Alexander asked him why he called Mr. Ginrich "Mr
Ginrich" and why Mr. Ginrich called him "Arthur"? In your opinion, why did
he answer this way?
The grandfather refused to answer the question, and basically told the young Avery Alexander to
forget about it. Why? He refused to talk about it perhaps because he saw no need in discussing
the matter: this was the reality of life; it made no sense to discuss it; there was no hope of
changing the system, unfair as it was. He might also have refused to discuss this with his grandson
because he recognized that a youth who even asked questions of this nature was in danger of
getting in trouble with the upholders of segregation.
In your opinion, why does Avery Alexander say, "I then realized the difference between white and
black"?
A possible answer: at this early age, and as a result of observing the relationship between his
grandfather and Mr. Ginrich, Avery Alexander recognized that all the privileges and advantages in
the segregated South go to white people, even the privilege of being addressed as a "Mr."
Furthermore, a black person does not have the right to even question the arrangement.
In this instance, how did language uphold the rules of segregation?
Language upheld the rules of segregation because simple words defined who was superior and
who was inferior. The way each person addressed the other reflected who
was in control.
5. In the documentary, Avery Alexander recounts an incident of police brutality that occurred
while a black family was conducting a wake for a deceased relative in the front room of a
home.
One police man shot and killed a mourner. Why?
The police arrived at the wake, and one police man ordered the mourners "Run you niggers run!"
One mourner, who was deaf, did not hear the order and did not run. The police man evidently
believed this mourner was being defiant, and for this reason he shot and killed him.
What was the response of the family whose son had been killed at the wake?
According to Avery Alexander, the family could not do anything to protest the murder. To
discuss the killing publicly would invite further bloodshed. There was no legal recourse. To whom
could the family report the crime? The police? No, a police man was the killer."We couldn't even
petition," Avery Alexander says. The only thing family could do was grieve (and quietly) for their
son who was killed because he was black and could not hear.
What was the purpose of white directed violence in the segregated
South?
The purpose of white directed violence was to punish black people who had violated the rules of
segregation and to intimidate other black people in the effort to dissuade them from even thinking
of fighting for change. The enforcement of Jim Crow segregation was based on terror, and any
hint of a violation of segregation's hard rules invited punishment and death. Not infrequently,
terror was randomly applied to sow doubt as well as fear.
PART II: QUESTIONS STUDENT COPY
Instructions: answer the following questions in complete
sentences.
1. How was segregation practiced on the street cars and buses in New Orleans? Specifically,
what was the race screen? How did the race screen operate?
2. Jerome Smith, a black activist at the forefront of the Civil Rights struggle in New Orleans,
describes an incident which occurred in the 1950's while he was riding the bus on St. Claude
Avenue: What did Jerome Smith do on the bus to arouse the anger of the bus driver and how did
the bus driver respond?
Jerome Smith describes the actions of "an old black woman" on the bus. What was her reaction to
the incident?
The black woman described by Jerome Smith handled herself one way on the bus and another
way off the bus? Explain.
In your opinion, why did Jerome Smith throw the race screen on the ground?
3. Compare and contrast the two quotations taken from Part II. One is from a white man, the
other from a black man.
Quote 1: Joe Giarusso, the white police chief in New Orleans during the late fifties and
early sixties, describes segregation this way: "We were not on the losing end, and so we took it
for granted."
Quote 2: Llewelyn Soniat, a black man and director of the New Orleans chapter of the
NAACP during the Civil Rights struggle, says this about segregation, "We felt that being
separated in this fashion was the way it should have been then."
How are the two statements similar?
In your opinion, what does Joe Giarusso mean by his comment?
In what ways do the statements reflect the period in which the two men grew up? Explain.
4. In the documentary, Avery Alexander recalls a situation he observed as a child involving his
elderly grandfather and a young white man.
How did each man address the other and why did this perplex the young Avery Alexander?
How did the grandfather answer when Avery Alexander asked him why he called Mr. Ginrich "Mr
Ginrich" and why Mr. Ginrich called him "Arthur"? In your opinion, why did he answer this way?
In your opinion, why does Avery Alexander say, "I then realized the difference between white and
black"?
In this instance, how did language uphold the rules of segregation?
5. In the documentary, Avery Alexander recounts an incident of police brutality that occurred
while a black family was conducting a wake for a deceased relative in the front room of a
home.
One police man shot and killed a mourner. Why?
What was the response of the family whose son had been shot and killed at the wake?
What was the purpose of white directed violence in the segregated South?
6. List two examples of segregation which become apparent in Part II of
the documentary.
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