Jim Crow Laws Essay

The segregation took place in churches, railroads, and schools, prisons, etc. There was also segregation in public housing, which caused the creation of “Nigger Hill,” “New Guinea,” and “Little Africa.” The more western north barred African American from coming into the state in same way. After the Civil war, the north had shown its position on white supremacy through its actions. Abraham Lincoln and the winning politic party also believed the same ideas of White Supremacy as shown by Lincoln’s speech,” I am not…in favor of brining about in any way the social and political equality of the black and white… I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.”

Jim Crow was a man who created laws, that affected many peoples lives during the 1960s. These laws made it much harder for blacks mainly in the South, but then it started to move upward in the United States. There were many purposes leading to creating these laws. During this era, blacks were excluded from many things and opportunities. These laws made many changes and changed how the things were after these laws were taken away. The Jim Crow Laws affected, harmed, excluded, and ruined many blacks and in some cases white peoples lives.

From the 1930s to the 1950s, African Americans were being severely persecuted and ostracized. The Jim Crow Laws allowed for legal segregation and continued control over blacks in the South. Those laws severely restricted the rights of the African American in the southern half of the United States and essentially continued to restrain them even though the United States Constitution forbid it. The North did not have such laws, but blacks still suffered. When African Americans migrated to the North, they were disillusioned by the fact that they were still not equal. The African Americans were instead delivered a subtler form of the discriminatory actions within the South. African Americans struggled for equality everywhere because of white

After the war, laws were passed that defended the rights of African Americans, but that all changed with the Klu Klux Klan. Originally, “The Constitutional amendments were passed, the laws for racial equality were passed, and the black man began to vote and to hold office,” but, “The violence mounted through the late 1860s and early 1870s as the Ku Klux Klan organized raids, lynchings, beatings, burnings… As white violence rose in the 1870s, the national government, even under President Grant, became less enthusiastic about defending blacks, and certainly not prepared to arm them” (Zinn Ch. 9). Africans Americans were granted the equal rights that they wanted, but with the actions of the Klu Klux Klan, a white supremacy group, the US government began to back off from supporting the African American due to fear of more attacks (possibly becoming more violent). The African American also lived in poverty, “The average wage of Negro farm laborers in the South was about fifty cents a day, Fortune said” (Zinn Ch. 9). Not only were the newly freed blacks being hunted down by white supremacy groups, but also they lived in poverty. Yes, they life of some approved greatly and they were able to receive an education, but for the majority of African Americans, they were still living in the shadow and fear of whites.

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

Imagine living in a world where you are harassed because of your skin color. Imagine knowing that is all you can look forward to. That is all your children and grandchildren can look forward to. Discrimination has been around for a long time, even before prehistory. Someone always thinks that they are better than others because of their skin color, sex, race, etc. Social classes and slavery are just two examples of discrimination. Even though our Constitution is based on freedom, our own Constitution allowed for discrimination of African Americans for around 100 years. It allowed White people to harass Black people. If we base our country on giving freedom to everybody, shouldn?t it include everyone? Discrimination against Blacks was

They thought that if they were to treat the Blacks as equals then this would encourage interracial relationships. They used violence to keep the Blacks in place and at the bottom of the racial chain. This caused several Jim Crow Laws to be set forth such as a black man could not shake hands with a white man because it meant that they were socially equal. A black man could not also extend a hand or other body part towards a White woman for the fear of being accused of raping her. Blacks and Whites were forbidden from eating together and if they did the

“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”

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.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you will go.” This is one of my favorite quotes, and not because it rhymes. The speaker, Dr. Seuss, relays a belief simple enough for a 6 year-old to understand. A belief that I strongly agree with which is to educate yourself. Answers to many questions lie between the bindings of a book. I recently came in contact with this belief this summer.

After the Civil War slaves got their freedom, blacks started their own churches and schools were able to purchase land, and by 1870 sent 22 representatives to congress that was a big difference for them going from slaves to having a vote and leading our government. Some of the Southerners were not happy with the decision for blacks to be free. White power started “Ku Klux Klan” they began burning down houses, schools, and churches that the African Americans lived in or went to, soon the south was run by white people again and the blacks were losing almost everything they had gained from the vote. Jim Crow Laws started as a derogatory word for African Americans the southern state legislatures started to pass laws requiring the separation of

Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states, between 1877 and the mid-1960s. Jim Crow was more than a series of rigid anti-black laws, it was a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second-class citizens. Some of the laws excluded blacks from public transport and facilities, juries, jobs, and neighborhoods, voting, holding public office, and school. Although the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution had granted blacks the same legal protections as whites. After 1877, and the election of Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, southern and border states began restricting the liberties of blacks.

Looking back in history, it could easily be argued that since the Constitution fell apart during Jim Crow legislation few to no rights were enforced for African Americans. During Jim Crow, Confederate and bordering states constructed legal laws aimed to allow white southerners reaffirm their supremacy by denying African Americans fundamental civil liberties stated in the Bill of Rights. African Americans struggled decades for justice after reconstruction. One of the few instances in which African Americans rights were enforced was during the Scottsboro trials.

Thus, in the Southern justice system, white people who committed lynching were not punished for their crimes. People began to see this as a problem as more people would get away with their crimes, and stated to call for a reform in the justice system. The call for a law that would help to prevent lynchings increased as more were performed. African Americans began a lobbying campaign to get Congress and the presidency to make lynching and mob murder a federal crime (Smith 2). Many people found it unfair that such a crime could be carried out without punishment, and wanted to create a law that could prevent lynchings and other hate crimes to be carried out.

Lynching became popular because of the ability for whites to feel justified for something that they felt harmed them. In their eyes, they were bringing their own justice towards their community. The forms of lynching likely evolved from traditional death penalties. Those events always attracted a large crowd as people typically see that as justice being served. This of course could be manipulated from actual crimes to anything that a group of people deem "wrong" such as being black was to whites at that time. Because of these factors, lynching was obviously popular and accepted to people who felt that being black was a crime. Instead of seeing it as murder, those people saw it as justice. This obviously was horrible but these people felt justified because of lynching.