Jim Crow Laws: Discrimination Against African Americans

Jim Crow was the name of a minstrel routine performed beginning in 1828. The term came to be a derogatory epiblast for African Americans and a designation for their segregated life. Southern state legislatures passed laws requiring the separation of whites from “persons with color”. The Jim Crow law was from 1877 to 1954. (Britannica.com)

The Jim Crow laws were everything but fair, and equal. Jim Crow is the name they used in the laws on separating the African Americans from the Caucasian men and women. These laws deprived African Americans from their civil rights because of the many things they were not allowed to experience due to these laws. Jim Crow laws oppressed the educational rights, voting rights, and social freedoms of American citizens, this essay will be discussing the oppression of these rights and freedoms.

Jim Crow law in U.S. history was any of the laws that enforced racial segregation in the South between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s. Jim Crow was the name of a minstrel routine performed beginning in 1828. The term came to be a derogatory epiblast for African Americans and a designation for their segregated life. Southern state legislatures passed laws requiring the separation of whites from “persons with color”. The Jim Crow law was from 1877 to 1954. (Britannica.com)

Jim Crow Laws were mainly found in the southern states of the the US, but could also sometimes be found in northern states. These laws were created around the time the 14th amendment was created in which all races had the right to vote. Jim Crow Laws were meant to limit the freedom of Africans-American. These laws included,”A black male could not offer his hand to a white man” and that blacks and whites were not suppose to eat together. An African-American couldn’t even look in the direction of a white person without being punished.

Jim Crow was not a person, yet affected the lives of many. Originally named after a 19th-century minstrel song that harshly stereotyped African Americans, Jim Crow laws were in place from around 1880 to the 1960s. Though this idea of separation may be hard to understand in today’s society, it was very relevant and thrived in America for a good eighty years! These laws and practices in the South were very successful because they were sanctioned by the national government ("The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow"). “The actions -- or, more frequently, inactions—of the three branches of the federal government were essential in defining the lifespan of Jim Crow” ("The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow"). From this support spurred extreme support from racial groups directed by white clergymen. One group, called the Klu Klux Klan—KKK for short—practiced cross burning and defacement of property in order to ridicule African-Americans. As hard to believe as it is, it “continues today

Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws passed that segregated African Americans from white Americans in all public places in the South. These laws prevented African Americans from attending the same schools as white people or sitting in the same section on a bus. These laws started after the Reconstruction period in the Southern United States and almost everything became segregated. They segregated bathrooms, restaurants, and even drinking fountains.

The Jim Crow laws were passed into law in 1965. The laws went down to even the local level. They caused Africans social, educational, and economic hardships and endeavors. The Jim Crow laws were very similar to the Black Codes passed in 1800-1866. The Black Codes and the Jim Crow Laws were similar which restrict civil rights and liberties. The slogan adopted for the Jim Crow laws was, ‘Separate but equal.” This was rarely the case though in many places the facilities were not equal.

After the Civil War, most Southern and Border States deprived the basic rights of African Americans. Jim Crow was a fictitious character created by a white entertainer to ridicule African Americans. The laws were made in an attempt to keep African Americans away from whites after slavery ended (“Examples of Jim Crow”). The Jim Crow laws affected education, health care, and social events. “From Delaware to California, and from North Dakota to Texas, many states (and cities, too) could impose legal punishments on people for consorting with members of another race” (“Jim Crow Laws”). These punishments could be brutal or sometimes fatal.

“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”

Some people may wonder what are the Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow Laws are laws that segregated everything. “ Separate but equal was a term used during the time. Everything that was shareable was segregated. Things that were separated was schools , pools , bathrooms , waterfountains , and restaurants. They were labeled as colored and white. The name Jim Crow came from a character in a popular minstrel song. The Jim Crow law became effective after the supreme court case Plessy v. Ferguson which was considered constitutional encouraged by the blacks and whites. There is a book out called “ The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. “ By looking at the title you can tell that it is racial related. African Americans have the largest incarceration rate in the United States. In

After the Civil War, the southern United States was in pieces. The land had been demolished, the economy was in the gutter, and plantation owners no longer had a source of cheap labor. In order to keep the newly freed African-Americans socially below white people, Jim Crow Laws were made. Jim Crow Laws were laws that segregated people of color and whites. These laws prevented African-Americans from using the same facilities as whites, completing daily tasks, and limited the exchange between African-Americans and whites. Jim Crow laws were in place for about 100 years. From the end of the Civil War, to the end of the Civil Rights Movement these laws had an effect on the

(https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law). “From the late 1870s, Southern state legislatures, no longer controlled by carpetbaggers and freedmen, passed laws requiring the separation of whites from “persons of colour”(https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law).

The Jim Crow laws were laws that kept people of color still under whites as well as separate them. Such has a white’s only restaurant, different baseball leagues based on colored, colored couldn’t show displays of affection, whites and color couldn’t dine together, and other laws that ridiculously limited colored folks. These laws were also dangerous or at least the punishments were brutal. Anyone who broke or defy these laws would be arrested or lynched.

The era of Jim Crow began after the end of Reconstruction in 1877, in which through the rebuilding of the South, whites established laws and customs that forced freed slaves to stay marginalized and targeted by Southern whites. The purpose of these Jim Crow ideas was to keep blacks and white separated, and to also keep blacks from progressing in society. For instance, Southern whites forced blacks to take literacy tests before they could be considered able to vote. From the start of this Jim Crow era, racial compromise was already occurring. One of the most obvious examples of this compromise comes from the real name of the era. “Jim Crow” was a name used in a

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