Jim Crow Law History Paper

About a hundred years after the Civil War, almost all American lived under the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow Laws actually legalized segregation. These racially enforced rules dominated almost every aspect of life, not to mention directed the punishments for any infraction. The key reason for the Jim Crow Laws was to keep African Americans as close to their former status as slaves as was possible. The following paper will show you the trials and tribulations of African Americans from the beginning through to the 1940’s where segregation was at its peak.

“Jim Crow Laws were statutes and ordinances established between 1874 and 1975 to separate the white and black races in the American South. In theory, it was to create "separate but equal" treatment, but in practice Jim Crow Laws condemned black citizens to inferior treatment and facilities.” The Jim Crows Laws created tensions and disrespect towards blacks from whites. These laws separated blacks and whites from each other and shows how race determines how an individual is treated. The Jim Crow laws are laws that are targeted towards black people. These laws determine how an individual is treated by limiting their education, having specific places where blacks and whites could or could not go, and the punishments for the “crime”

So i’m going to be talking about the background and raise of America. So slavery was a big thing in America back then. Also hate crime against black raises that white people were never investigated. Many strategies were used to fight for the Civil Rights, and success and failure were experienced along the way to achieve their goals.

The State of Tennessee enacted 20 Jim Crow laws between 1866 and 1955, including six requiring school segregation, four which outlawed miscegenation, three which segregated railroads, two requiring segregation for public accommodations, and one which mandated segregation on streetcars. The 1869 law declared that no citizen could be excluded from the University of Tennessee because of race or color but then mandated that instructional facilities for black students be separate from those used by white students. As of 1954, segregation laws for miscegenation, transportation and public accommodation were still in effect. - See more at:

Segregation was in the work place too (Sharp 27). Black parents were seen as unfit parents by white authorities then their children given to white farmers. They were with these whit farmers until they were twenty-one (Sharp 13). Most of the farmhands in the south were blacks (George 50). Tenant farmers verbal agreements to work for nine years (George 50). Vagrancy codes governed the employment of blacks (Sharp 12). Black codes prohibited blacks from owning land, had curfews, punishments for gestures, acts, and behaviors (Sharp 12).

Comedy performer Thomas “Jim Crow” Rice coined the term “Jim Crow” through his derogatory minstrel shows in which danced and sang in an offensive way towards African Americans while covered in black shoe polish. Even though Rice was only trying to entertain his audience, his performances suggested that all African Americans were ignorant useless buffoons Rice’s performances were so derogatory towards African Americans that they removed signs of humanity from them and caused people to become less compassionate towards Negroes. As a “system of laws and customs that imposed racial segregation and discrimination on Africans”, Jim Crow Laws were ubiquitous in America from the 1860’s to the 1960’s (Jim Crow Movement). These Jim Crow Laws came

This “war on drugs,” which all subsequent presidents have embraced, has created a behemoth of courts, jails, and prisons that have done little to decrease the use of drugs while doing much to create confusion and hardship in families of color and urban communities.1,2Since 1972, the number of people incarcerated has increased 5-fold without a comparable decrease in crime or drug use.1,3 In fact, the decreased costs of opiates and stimulants and the increased potency of cannabis might lead one to an opposing conclusion.4 Given the politics of the war on drugs, skyrocketing incarceration rates are deemed a sign of success, not failure. I don’t totally agree with the book (I think linking crime and black struggle is even older than she does, for instance) but I think The New Jim Crow pursues the right line of questioning. “The prison boom is not the main cause of inequality between blacks and whites in America, but it did foreclose upward mobility

The whole research paper is over, “Have African Americans made significant progress since the end of the Civil War in 1865? Examine the challenges that African Americans faced during the Reconstruction Era through to the modern Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Look at the impact that legislation has had from the "Civil War Amendments" to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the rise of Jim Crow and the KKK, and the events and figures that helped shape the African American experience during that time span?”

Out of the many prompts I have written and gone over so far, I feel my best essay and favorite one would be the Jim crow Laws. The Jim Crow Laws interest me the most because to me personally learning about the law intrigues me and knowing how the people in the south had these very cruel laws made this assignment more exciting to be learning and writing about. I learned that many African Americans or people of color did not live in a world where freedom was free and we all had justice. Instead they lived in a world of segregation and cruelty. Using the Spring Board Book pages 196-198 written by Rick Edmonds gave me many visuals in my head of how the many colored people lived through the harsh laws they had to follow. I feel this resource was

Jim Crow racism was something that affected all colored people, but especially African Americans. It kept the white and the colored separate from 1877 to the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s, and kept the whites feeling superior to the colored. They could go to the same school, eat at the same table, sit in the same part of the bus, or do any of the things or have any of the rights that people can take for granted today. If one stood against Jim Crow, there would be severe consequences. Examples of these consequences were lynching, tar and feathering, and for white people, isolation and exclusion. These were enough to scare people away from fighting Jim Crow. One person could not effectively fight Jim Crow racism because the social forces and the fear of punishment from Jim Crow racism were strong.

The Jim Crow laws also started in the 1890’s followed by the Separate but Equal law. These laws affected almost every single aspect of daily life for colored citizens. To keep a constant reminder or racial order “Whites Only” and “Colored” signs were hung up all around. The Jim Crow laws also prevented many colored people from voting in the south because in order to vote you had to pass a test. This test was exceptionally hard for African Americans because many couldn’t read or write well causing them to not being able to vote. This lead to more racists governors taking office in the south. With racial tensions rising and no liberty in sight African Americans with the help of some White Americans decided enough was enough.

The Jim Crow laws from the 1930s were about power. Power of one race over another. These laws really highlight the flaws and weakness of human nature. Although the Jim Crow Laws from the 1930s and the various laws presented today have some of the same impacts, there are still many differences between the two on black rights.

Jim Crow Laws were enacted to oppress the colored however, despite the malicious intent could positive results have emerged from that bleak time period?

The topic that I chose for my research paper is the Jim Crow laws. I chose this topic because during this time period the Jim Crow laws were a huge obstacle that our country had to overcome in order to grow. The Jim Crow laws were created to separate whites and blacks in their everyday lives, allowing for no interaction between races. The Jim Crow Laws were enforced in the southern, United States. The laws existed between 1877 and the 1950’s, around the time the reconstruction period was ending and the civil rights movement was beginning.

The Jim Crow laws segregated black and white people because It would benefit white people such as white business owners may only want to hire white people so black people became unemployed very easily or they may only serve white peoples or how black people had to sit in the back of the bus.