Jim Crow Laws In Uncle Tom's Children

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”

The first influence on Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws were a set of rules that perpetuated racism and segregation. These rules were sickening and appalling. The Jim Crow laws were made to keep Blacks from interacting with Whites. For example, if a white woman were to fall a black man could not offer her, his hand to help her up because it was considered rape (Pilgrim 2). Many scientists and religious leaders justified these laws. One reason was that scientist thought that black peoples brains were inferior to those of white people. Also, many religious leaders believed that Whites were the chosen people and Blacks were just there to serve them (Pilgrim 2). If you were not following these laws, there were sever consequences. People believed these punishments were necessary to “keep Blacks in their place”. One example is mass lynching. This punishment is when a mob of people would take a black person, accused of breaking a rule, and beat them, torture them, and kill them. The police didn’t just not stop these rampages, often they would participate. The Jim Crow laws can be seen in To Kill a Mockingbird in many ways. One of the laws was that a black person could not say that a white person was lying (Pilgrim). This is shown in the book when Tom is accused of calling Mayella a liar, by Mr. Gilmer (Lee 224).

Some whites living in the South ignored the racism as a form of protection against it while, some whites justified their oppression of African-Americans by believing that African-Americans were simpler beings and their social conditions did not need to be improved, therefore, whites did not need to feel guilt about their actions towards blacks. (Ellison par. 47) It is through this oppression by whites, that they are able to keep the black population in the south below whites, however, when African-Americans moved away from the south,

From the 1880’s to the mid 1960’s in North Carolina and other southern states, there was a law called Jim Crow Laws. The name Jim Crow comes from a character from a theatre production where the performer was white, but would have black face makeup on to mock the blacks. These laws were being enforced in North Carolina and many other towns and states. Jim Crow Laws forced racial inequalities towards black people. A black and a white person were forbidden to marry each other. White people were educated at a white school and black people went to a black school. If a black man went to the hospital he would have a black nurse, while a white person would have a white nurse. When boarding the bus a white person may sit anywhere in the front, while a black person was ordered to sit in the very back. Blacks were to drink at separate drinking fountains than the white people used. Black

“Jim Crow Laws” were enforced, basically relegating people of color to a lower status than everyone else.

Jim Crow laws started in the 1880s and lasted into the 1960s, a majority of American states enforced segregation through "Jim Crow" laws. From Delaware to California, and from North Dakota to Texas, many states could impose legal punishments on people for consorting with members of another race. The most common types of laws forbade intermarriage and ordered business owners and public institutions to keep their black and white clientele separated (Tischauser 57-68). The Jim Crow laws affected Tom Robinson’s life in many ways. He simply was segregated from the white population. Tom was discriminated by almost everyone in the community he lived in. During this time this was normal and blacks were thought to be inferior to whites. Some English Dictionaries define ‘Jim Crow’ as the name for an implement that can straighten or bend iron rails; or, along with ‘Jim Crowism’, systems or practices of racial discrimination or segregation. The American English Dictionary suggests that the name only emerged in dictionaries in 1904, but it was clearly used as early as 1876.

What do you think of when you hear ‘Jim Crow’? Do you think of something no one cares about? Well, back in the years of 1876 to 1965, everyone knew what the Jim Crow laws were. Following the Jim Crow laws, African Americans were downgraded to the position of second class citizens. Jim Crow represented the legitimization of anti-black racism. (Pilgrim, 1)

Jim Crow laws were laws that were in place from 1866 up until the 1960’s. These laws were meant to enforce the principle, “separate but equal” which was meant to bring equality to the races while minimizing the interactions between them. These laws created separate but unequal environments for the races. They supported the idea that the white race was superior to others and they created a constant state of fear in the lives of countless African Americans. (Pilgrim, Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memrobilia 2000)

Jim Crow laws were the act that legalized segregation between blacks and whites back in the late 1800’s. These laws were mainly enforced in the southern states. They were created to separate blacks and whites from having even the slightest bit of contact. Some JIm Crow laws were no interracial marriage, blacks and whites had to go to separate schools, and use different tools, and also go to different hospitals. Everything that went one between the blacks and the whites had to be different. This essay will go over what some of the specific Jim Crow laws were, and how it affected the people in the united states.

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new na-tion, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” a quote by America’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, directly recalling how equality was the catalyst for the conception of America. It’s a universal right that should be known by all, but it was barely an option in our country for the African American faction almost a century ago. Chained, chastised and condemned, the African American had to surpass through radical odds to get to a mediocre amount of respect. When World War I first began, many citizens of America saw it as a seemingly distant European conflict that they couldn’t be bothered with.

“Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men's skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact.”(Lyndon Johnson). For generations in the United Stated, ethnic minorities have been discriminated against and denied fair opportunity and equal rights. In the beginning there was slavery, and thereafter came an era of racism which directly impacted millions of minorities lives. This period called Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system up in till mid 1960s. Jim Crow was more than just a series of severe anti-Black laws, it became a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were positioned to the status of second class citizens. What Jim Crow

Throughout the war, African-Americans had to go through disrespect and not be able to do

According to the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, blacks had the same legal protection as whites. The Supreme Court contradicted this when they allowed so called “restrictions” in the South against blacks. Those who supported Jim Crow generally lived in the South. They believed that whites were above the blacks, in things ranging from intelligence to morality. They thought sexual relations between the two races would ruin the nation, and violence could be used on blacks if needed. So, hospitals, beaches, parks, prisons, public restrooms and even water fountains were separated by color of skin. In certain areas, there weren’t even facilities for colored people (Pilgrim). African Americans also had to treat whites with respect, whereas whites did not have to, and most of the time would not treat the blacks the same. Blacks had to use titles when speaking to whites, they could not eat with the whites, and black men could not offer to shake a white mans hand. Preachers did not help with the problem, but in some situations made it worse. They would preach that God supported segregation, “the whites were the chosen people, and Blacks were servants” (Pilgrim).

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.