Jim Crow Laws Analysis

During the mid-20th century there was much racial discrimination, specifically in home ownership. During this period there was mass immigration of Southern blacks to the north. In Lawndale Chicago, there was adverse reactions to this. As the

Before there were players such as Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball was strictly white players only. The color line of Major League Baseball excluded black players until the late 40’s. This didn’t stop the colored men of America from playing the beloved American sport. The creation of the Negro Leagues in 1920 by Rube Foster gave colored men a chance to play in their own professional league, similar to the Major Leagues, but for African-American men. The creation of the Negro Leagues was a result of the Jim Crow Laws, state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Enacted after the Reconstruction period in the U.S., these laws continued in force until 1965. These laws created

Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment which made segregation illegal. Eventually, the Supreme Court came to the conclusion that separate public facilities were “inherently unequal” (McBride 1). Brown vs. Board challenged and signaled the end of Jim Crow and “separate but equal” clause.

As he pointed out in the very early part of his article, for instance Clyde Ross, resident of North Lawndale Chicago, was denied when he first tried to get a legitimate mortgage; mortgages were effectively not available to black people (Coates, June 2014). Also, just like what we talked about in class last week, Ross and many other black families were forced to live in those redlined neighborhoods with “contract house.” Basically, Ross had not signed a normal mortgage. He’d bought “on contract”: a predatory agreement that combined all the responsibilities of homeownership with all the disadvantages of renting—while offering the benefits of neither (Coates, June 2014). This is a perfect example of how these ghetto-neighborhoods were created; it was created by white supremacists and people in the government who chose to ignore “the elephant in the room.” All these black families left with no choice. They ran from the South, thinking that they could finally go the land of the free. They quickly found out that, it was no different in the North, or even the West. They were forced to stuck with the

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

The article, “The Case for Reparations”, presents itself with a commendable representation on how the need for reparations is essential when combined with the brutal history of slavery and progression of blacks in American Society after slavery. Ta- Nehisi Coates argues that the relationship between racial identity and reparations is based upon America’s debt to blacks for the countless years of injustice. With this he demonstrates how white supremacy has ultimately used impractical measures to maintain what they consider social stability for those who were not African American.

“The Jim Crow era was one of struggle -- not only for the victims of violence, discrimination, and poverty, but by those who worked to challenge (or promote) segregation in the South” (“Jim Crow Stories”). It is important to know the history of this significant period where everyone was treated differently based on how they looked instead of their character. During the Jim Crow era, the lives of African Americans were severely restricted making it difficult for them to succeed in everyday life.

“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”

Why was it that the white race feels superior to other races, such as Hispanics, Asians, and African Americans? The problem with people is that many don’t like to see other ethical culture succeed. What people don’t know is that if that ethical group does not succeed then they together can not succeed as a racial community. The end of slavery but the rise of Jim Crow laws brought the acts of inequality, separation, and the mistreatment of the colored.

Jim Crow sets the guidelines for a violent mindset that will fabricate deadly culture norms. The Jim Crow laws did not directly address that a person of color like Emmett could not go into Bryants' store and supposedly "flirt" with her. It was not the law of division that allowed Carolyn's husband and brother-in-law to beat young Emmett to death, burn in his body and throw him in the river. It was the self-entitlement that white lives mattered more than blacks derived from Jim Crow laws saying the contradiction of separate but equal that allowed the killing of a 14-year-old boy on false accusations without legal implications for the murderers. There were unspoken rules and social standings that would not be tolerated anymore.

Jim Crow Laws were established during the end of reconstruction and lasted until the beginning of the civil rights movement. The purpose of the laws was to enforce racial segregation in the South, which would have an effect on African American lives for generations to come.

Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness goes into great detail on race related issues that were specific to black males, the mass incarceration, and how that lead to the development of institutionalized racism in the United States. She compares the Jim Crow with recent phenomenon of mass incarceration and points out that the mass incarceration is a network of laws, policies, customs and institutions that have been working together to warrant the subordinating status of black males. In this paper I will go into a brief examination of the range of issues that she mentions in her book that are surrounding the mass incarceration of black male populations.

Coates’s argument for the case of reparations stems not just solely from slavery, but from unfair housing practices that have furthered the income divide, systematic segregation perpetuated by the government, primarily through Jim Crow laws and the general disregard white America and its government has for the well being of blacks. Coates’s intensely addresses the unfair housing practices in the United States, telling the story of Clyde Ross, a black man from Mississippi taken advantage of by white “lenders” in the neighborhood of North Lawndale. Coates provides context of these “highwaymen”, people he calls “nefarious as any Clarksdale kleptocrat”, describing their practices of buying houses at extremely low values and selling them at reasonable

It bears no doubt that Coates builds quite a cumulative, comprehensive and legible claim, as to the reparations due to the minority community that befell a multitude of misery at the hands of white folk. However, the problem that I wish to bring to light, lies not so much with the point(s) brought forth, but rather with the issue of the practicality and feasibility of the implementation of reparations. Moreover, I would also like to dwell with the future repercussions of going forth with such an idea. Even so, I wish to provide for a framework under which such circumstances, though not justifiable, can easily be explained, as far as their occurrence and the remnants of which occur in today’s society (is in concern.)

Courage cannot effectively fight against Jim Crow racism. According to vocabulary.com, Jim Crow Racism is “A series of racist laws and measures that discriminated against African Americans…. These laws were enacted from 1876 to 1965” . Jim Crow racism influenced every aspect of life. If you tried to speak up against Jim Crow Racism, and you were black you had a high chance of getting lynched which is when someone is brutally killed to usually set an example. If you wear white you would be the lowest “class” a white person could be. This is just one example showing that people can’t stand up to Jim Crow racism without being oppressed. An individual’s courage cannot effectively fight against Jim Crow racism because there is too much “social pressure” that will either force them to not stand up to Jim Crow racism, or simply pressure them into not standing up to Jim Crow Racism.