(upbeat rock music)
- Regardless of what people tell you,
it's diversity that makes America great.
We've have had our growing pains
when it comes to how we view each other
and in many cases we're still growing.
Jim Crow laws, which were passed primarily in the South
following the Civil War and Reconstruction
were intended to disenfranchise
the newly freed African Americans.
It would take a Civil Rights movement over many years
full of boycotts and protests to end it.
So to give my students a taste of what it was like
to live in Jim Crow South, I'm going to segregate them,
but not based on their race, but by their grade.
So I'm going to convince them that our school's
going to pass some new policies that just so happen
to parallel a lot of the Jim Crow laws from the recent past.
The administration met with a few teachers
and they came up with new school policies for next year.
The board wants your feedback on these policies
before they approve them in two weeks.
So these are what we've all collectively come up with
to make the school better for you guys
to basically get rid of problems before they start.
- So the whole goal is we want everyone to enjoy the school.
There's no judgment, just be respectful.
Freshmen, sophomores will have all their classes
on the first floor while juniors and seniors
will be focused on the second floor.
- [Student] You know, that's better for the hallway traffic.
- What's your problem, Christine, with it?
- So who here thinks, and show hands,
we should separate the floors based on grade
to make it more efficient of a school?
Who here'd be against it?
OK, no juniors and seniors can use the bathroom
or water fountains on the first floor
if their classes will be on the second floor.
'Cause you can't just come downstairs,
to use the bathrooms and the water fountains
if we're going to limit you guys to the second floor.
Who has issues with that?
- [Mr. Ferroni] Why?
- You don't have to go into detail, we get the point.
(classroom laughing)
- By show of hands, who here thinks
that limiting people to a bathroom and water fountain
on their floor is a good idea?
Who here thinks it's a bad idea?
OK, juniors and seniors cannot date
or take any freshman, sophomore to any school event.
(classroom grumbling angrily)
- So why do you think it's a bad idea?
- I understand what you're saying,
but we're thinking as adults and parents.
(classroom murmuring)
- Again, once you step into the school,
you are our responsibility.
If you think freshman, sophomores should not be allowed
to interact with upperclassmen raise your hand.
If you think they should be able to interact,
raise your hands.
Yes.
Just so you know, these aren't really new school policies
for next year. (guitar music)
- Wow.
- Alright, does anybody know any time in history
when it was kind of OK to separate people?
In the fifties and sixties,
anybody know what that time was called?
We're getting into it now.
Jim Crow laws.
So just to give you an idea.
Freshman sophomores will have all their classes
on the first floor while juniors and seniors second floor.
That is literally, every major state in the South
had a segregation law in reference to private facilities.
No junior, senior can use a bathroom or water fountain
on the first floor, that is the equivalent of, again,
Jim Crow South, separate bathrooms and water fountains
were used throughout the South.
Juniors and seniors can't date freshman, sophomores
or take freshman, sophomore to any school dance.
- So interracial relationships
were not allowed up until 1967.
- Well, Mr. Ferroni asked a series of questions
based on new school policies and he related them
to the Jim Crow laws and I feel like it was really effective
in making us aware of what they were like.
- Back then we couldn't be able to interact with each other
but now we're mixed, we're just a mix
of different types of cultures.
- You have to be taught to not like a certain race.
Like if you weren't taught that thing,
you will get along with everyone.
- If you want something done, get up and do it.
Don't just stand there, you're just wasting more time.
- Something I would take away would be,
no matter what I believe in, I'd have to stand strongly
and firmly and do whatever it takes to get it.
- I'm gonna learn to be more fair
and be more outspoken towards it
and not let it happen as much as it usually does,
because as much as everybody wants to make a change,
the change starts with you.
- [Mr. Ferroni] So what do you think makes America great?
♫ SoulPancake
(upbeat electronic music)