On December 15th, Tink Hill presented “JC and Me,” a first installment. JC refers to Jim Crow, a term used to refer to the segregation laws in the Southern US. Actually Jim Crow is a legendary character from the African slave culture, a trickster who caused all kinds of trouble and also inspired a song. As early as the 1820’s, entertainers used black face and sang the song about Jim Crow, a practice that gave rise to the minstrel shows. After the Civil War and the peace agreements that gave blacks the vote, and federal troops maintained law and order, much progress was made by the freed slaves. Then in 1877, the US President ended the period on Reconstruction and removed the troops and all returned “to normal.” That resulted in the realignment of local power to white control and the persecution and suppression of black civil rights. In 1896, as a result of the Plessy vs. Ferguson case taking four years to work its way through the legal system, the US Supreme Court established the “separate but equal” policy. Then that policy of legal segregation spread to the entire US. Not until 1954 with Brown vs. Board of Education, was segregation to be abolished by the order to integrate with all due speed. With the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, there was an actual legal end of Jim Crow. Yes, on paper it was gone, but the hints and scents of it still remained. Separate but equal practice had spread to all aspects of national life: education, residence, travel, religion, social interaction, commerce, etc. Several members shared their personal experiences here in Austin with Jim Crow practices and in a later meeting, Tink will share stories of growing up in Austin under Jim Crow.