A Deeper Analysis on the Aspect of Race as Local Color: Jim Crow Laws
Imagine you are a person of color in the early to mid 1900’s. You the mother of three young children. Despite your best intentions, your children are forced to grow up in poverty. When you direct them out of the house to go to school, they see the all the white boys and girls walking toward one school and all of the black boys and girls walking to another. Imagine being asked by your children why they don’t go to school with the other boys and girls and not being able to tell them that its because of the aspect of racism during the era. After you drop them off to school, you go to work so that you can provide for your family. You work long hours with unfair wages and
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A time where these laws were especially relevant was the period from 1890-1910 called the “Black Nadir.” The Black Nadir was considered to be, “the high point of institutionalized racism”(Brown), in which there were many unwritten laws to
preserve and reinforce “white supremacy” (Brown). Stetson Kennedy created a list of rules of which were not formally created, but blacks were to abide by while speaking to whites. This list includes:
“1. Never assert or even intimate that a white person is lying.
2. Never impute dishonorable intentions to a white person.
3. Never suggest that a white person is from an inferior class.
4. Never lay claim to, or overly demonstrate, superior knowledge or intelligence.
5. Never curse a white person.
6. Never laugh derisively at a white person.
7. Never comment upon the appearance of a white female” (Pilgrim).
These rules were all considered common etiquette that all blacks were expected to follow. If a black man were to violate the “Jim Crow norms” they jeopardized their homes, jobs, or even their lives (Pilgrim). Moreover, whites were able to beat blacks with no repercussions for their actions. Moreover, the entire “Jim Crow criminal justice system” was white. Whites truly had a “white supremacy” ideal. Which was obvious by all the injustice happening. For example, if a black male offered even his hand to a white woman, even if the white woman asked, he risked being accused of
Racism was a big problem during the 18 and 19’s century. White people always thought that they were at the higher level in the society and they treated black harshly. They could trade them in the markets. They also thought the deserved to have better life, better education, better house, etc. Why this happened? The government was the chief culprit. The government educated white people that they were above the blacks. Because of that, they taught their children in the same idea. Luckily, the growing number of people realized that it was unfair and they tried to make the government treated everyone equally. More than that, the government laid down the law of protecting all of the colored people; however, even the laws passed, the racism still happens today. Black people were classified as robbers, murders, or thieves and a lot of people judge them with this category.
There was also a lot of laws also known as jim crow laws. These laws were acted to “keep people in their place” and there intensions were to be separate but equal. In the article “Jim Crow Laws Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site” One law that seems fine today wasn't back then, you couldn’t marry someone with a different race, just because of the color on their skin and if you do so the marriage will be voided and illegal. Some of the laws were so silly and outrageous rules like African American amature baseball players had to be within two blocks away from each other. That law was so outrageous because all they want to do is have fun and do what they love but they have to remember to be be two blocks away from them. Manners is very important to the south, you would always say yes sir or mam. African American people especially had to speak a certain way which was called Jim Crow Etiquette. For example they had to call white males Boss or Master. Which was extremely unfair because they were called rude names like Boy and old man instead of being called something that means you're the boss or your master or you have a higher stature. It was the same for woman too they didn't have a good name like miss or Mrs they were called auntie or girl. You can definitely tell a difference how white or african american people were treated and talked
Growing up in the United States, racism is an issue one cannot help but hear about at one point or another. Racial inequality and discrimination is a topic that comes up every February with Black History Month, and is often talked about in high school history classes around the country. But that is what it is considered to the majority of people: history. Most students are taught that, while there are still and will always be individual cases of racial discrimination and racism, nationally the problem ended with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. People of color, however, will often tell you differently. At least that is what they told Tim Wise,
Starting in the 1890s, segregation laws known as the Jim Crow Laws dominated the United States, specifically in the South. These laws required schools, parks, libraries, forms of public transportation and even drinking fountains to be segregated into “Whites Only” and “Coloreds”. Although the Jim Crow Laws intended to treat blacks “separate but equal”, blacks received poorer conditions in their public facilities, were denied the right to vote and were treated with no respect from the whites (Jim Crow Laws). In Richard Wright’s essay, “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch”, Wright describes his first-hand experience with these laws and the negative encounters he has faced just because of the color of his skin.
Despite great progress in ensuring equal rights, it can be argued that racism, especially against African Americans, is as prevalent an issue today as ever. To truly understand the roots of this, one must look back to the Reconstruction period after the Civil War. Following the greatest conflict ever to occur on American soil, a period known as the Reconstruction began, aimed at piecing together the nation and integrating blacks into society. However, racially driven legislation, known as Black Codes, proved to be a major obstacle. Regardless of the measures taken to counteract these laws, the codes continued to impact African Americans for close to a century after the end of the Civil War.
White Southerners eagerly wanted to return blacks to their former status as slaves. In order to do this "legally" they began passing new "laws" that appeared to be neutral and fair. Of course in actuality they were specifically designed to repress blacks. Some examples of the Black Codes were (Codes are summarized not verbatim for a complete list see Mississippi Black Code website in citations): "Servants shall not be absent from
After the end of the most bloody war in American history, laws were passed that still didn’t give black men as many rights as white men. A document called the “Black Codes” was made for a small town in Virginia called Opelousas. This document prevents black men from having as many rights as white men. One section of the Codes states that African Americans were not allowed
Jim Crow laws were also known as “Black Codes” in many parts of the United States. C. Vann Woodward’s book The Strange Career of Jim Crow: A Commemorative Edition explains the history of racial segregation in America from the end of the Civil War until the mid-1960s. The system of slavery that existed before the Civil War “…made separation of the races for the most part impracticable.” Racial segregation was not encoded in law until after the Civil War. Woodward’s book is an effective history of race based laws in America.
After the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, a number of laws both restricting and enabling the rights of black Americans was passed in the United States. Segregation laws came after the civil war (George 10). First, in 1870, a Virginian law made it illegal for black and white children to attend the same school (David). In 1875, Congress passed an act prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations. (David)When Blacks American emigrated to the west after 1875, they were met with hostility from both whites and Native Americans (David). From 1890-1908, all Southern states adopted new constitutions and voting laws designed to disenfranchise black votes (David)
After these laws were abolished, caste oppression in the south, the decline of cotton agriculture (which was due to floods), and the shortage of labor in the Northern Factories created the conditions that incentivized African Americans to emigrate towards the North. Here they faced the ghetto. Although they had more freedom and opportunities, many African Americans were forced into a ‘Black Belt’ which became a community with the following attributes: overpopulation, underserved, crime, disease, and dilapidation. Beneath that facade of freedom was a ‘job ceiling’ - restricting Blacks to the most underpaid jobs - and a wall between them and White cliques, keeping them from true ‘social equality.’ Smiley & Fakunle state that overt racism is not
We are reminded of that history with every breath we take of injustice. The unfair treatment of blacks can mostly be attributed to lingering after effects of the end of the civil war and the bitter-sweet downfall of the confederacy. Violence that claims the pavement that we walk on and the lives of those who are our future. Poverty takes hold of the lives of the youth. The dehumanization of those who do not fit the social confines that have been drafted by those who try to crush the people they consider beneath them: It creates a new, invisible barrier that many choose to hold as the definitive disparity that cordially distinguishes the blacks from the
In addition to the Jim Crow system, there was Jim Crow etiquette, which was undergirded by beliefs or rationalizations, that whites were superior to blacks in all important ways, including but not limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior; sexual relations between blacks and whites would produce a mongrel race which would destroy America; treating blacks as equals would encourage interracial sexual unions; any activity which suggested social equality encouraged interracial sexual relations; if necessary, violence must be used to keep blacks at the bottom of the racial hierarchy.
Jim Crow was more than a series of rigid anti Black laws; it was a way of life. The Jim Crow laws made life extremely difficult for the African Americans to start a life in this harsh and cruel time. These laws were based on a set of social etiquette requirements and laws known as Black Codes, these laws reinforced legalized segregation. All places of social interaction had signs of dictating African Americans movement. Some examples of these include bathrooms, schools, hospitals, water fountains, jails, and funeral homes. A few examples of the etiquette laws are Blacks and whites were not supposed to eat together and also Blacks were not allowed to show public affection towards one another. Legalized segregation in the south lasted for over 140 years until things began to change in 1957 and continued through 1964 and 1968 with the Civil Rights
The Jim Crow law was seen as a form of society etiquette.
In order for someone to understand the Jim Crow Laws, one must know how and where it originated. The Jim Crow laws were created in order to keep dark-skinned people separate from light-skinned people. After the Civil War, slaves were set free from their “masters.” Soon afterwards in 1865, the 13th amendment was created in order to abolish slavery. However, the Confederate states found ‘loopholes’ that still kept Black people lesser than a White person. After the 13th amendment was created, the ‘Black Codes’ were also created in 1865-66. They were created because ex-Confederate leaders were voted into office, allowing them to create these laws. The Black Codes were designed to restrict freed Black slaves. Jim Crow originated from an actor named Thomas Dartmouth in the 1830’s. He was a famous actor--who was White and lived in the Southern states--who played as a stereotypical African-American slave named “Jim Crow.” He pulled this off by painting his