Jim Crow Laws In The 1950's

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.

Jim Crow laws dominated every aspect of African American life from its inception after Reconstruction up to the civil rights era and its affects can still be felt today. During this era of Jim Crow African Americans had different ways of coping with these oppressive laws. These ways of coping included these three methods, migration, agitation and accommodation. Out of these three methods the most effective at defying Jim Crow laws and fighting segregation was agitation.

“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.

I just discovered that between 1877 and the mid-1960’s, our country, especially the South, functioned under Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow Laws were used in order to relegate African Americans to the status of second class citizens, living in a society which taught them that whites were superior to blacks in all important ways. Through the Jim Crow Laws, white people justified their thoughts of being more intelligent, having more morals, and behaving in a more civilized way, than blacks. If a black person were to question one of these, the white person could use violence in order to make sure they understand, that blacks they are at the bottom of the hierarchy. A black person could risk losing their homes, their jobs, and even their lives in some cases, if they didn’t follow the Jim

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.

Enacted by lawmakers bitter about the loss against the North, Jim Crow Laws blatantly favored whites and repressed those of color as many refused to welcome blacks into civic-life, still believing them to be inferior. These laws were essentially a legalized legislative barrier to the freedom promised by our constitution, and the newly won war against the southern states to end slavery. This institutionalized form of inequality spread like a wildfire in the subsequent decades, separating the races in every way imaginable; in all walks of life. Although these laws varied from state to state, we see a common trend of laws keeping blacks and whites separated, particularly in social settings and social institutions. Some of these laws include but are not limited to marriage, hospitalization, restrooms, public transportation, and prisons; all of which isolating blacks from whites. We even find laws regarding liquor licensing such as a law in Georgia which required all persons licensed to sell alcohol, to serve exclusively whites or exclusively colored people; prohibiting sales to the two races simultaneously (NPS, 2015). Laws such as this were not few and far between. Segregation of blacks became a defining custom in nearly every aspect of life in the mid-nineteenth century well into the mid-twentieth century.

The Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. “The most common types of laws forbade intermarriage and ordered business owners and public institutions to keep their black and white clientele separated.”(1) A vast majority of the Southern States agreed upon the Jim Crow Laws, which were slave states. That left some of the Northern States free states which didn’t pass the Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow Laws prevented African Americans from doing a lot of things that white americans could do.

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

In the late 1800s to the early 1900s segregation was one of the biggest issues in the court of law. After slavery was finally abolished African Americans were able to have more freedom, but they were still treated different than any other race. The Jim Crow laws are an example of the law that affected everyday life in the African American community in the beginning of the 1890s. This law segregated schools, parks, libraries, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, trains, and restaurants. The struggle to achieve equality was made even more difficult by the legislation of racism in the Plessy v Ferguson case.

During the 1880s to the 1960s, many American states enforced the Jim Crow Laws that allowed for segregation. A few states affected by this were Delaware to California, and from North Dakota to Texas. Legal punishment could be inflicted if people were to consort with other races. The most common law was to ensure that people would not marry people outside their race and to separate business and public institutions by black and white.

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.

In the early 1800’s, derogatory minstrel shows were created to mimic African Americans; these led to the formation of the Jim Crow laws. The minstrel shows were popularly done in blackface, theatrical makeup used by a nonblack performer in the role of a Black person. The characters often had comedic roles that displayed stereotypes and negative qualities of Black people. The Jim Crow laws, established in the 1870’s, were named after one of the earlier minstrel shows, Jump Jim Crow, a song and dance routine first performed in 1828. The minstrel shows catalyzed racism in the South and reinforced the support the laws would later need to be successful.

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:

1. Jim crow laws were started and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the southern united states. Enacted after the reconstruction period, these laws contained in forces until 1966

Soon after slavery was abolished in 1865, all races could live freely without being controlled by anyone else...or so they thought. A new rule in the southern states in America divided whites and blacks amongst each other called “systematic discrimination” or as you may know it as, segregation or Jim Crow laws. However in 1975 civil right law meaning to prevent discrimination against other races, really didn’t work out too well. It was already too late, because the Jim Crow laws were already put in place. How did this all happen? Well we need to go back when Jim Crow laws were first thought of. In 1890, a group called “The citizen’s committee” plotted a protest against an early Jim Crow law. More specifically Louisiana’s separate car law. It abided by a rule known as “equal, but separate” idea. Other races could have the same rights as White people, however they had to be positioned differently in different