The Importance Of Jim Crow Laws

Starting in the 1890s, segregation laws known as the Jim Crow Laws dominated the United States, specifically in the South. These laws required schools, parks, libraries, forms of public transportation and even drinking fountains to be segregated into “Whites Only” and “Coloreds”. Although the Jim Crow Laws intended to treat blacks “separate but equal”, blacks received poorer conditions in their public facilities, were denied the right to vote and were treated with no respect from the whites (Jim Crow Laws). In Richard Wright’s essay, “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch”, Wright describes his first-hand experience with these laws and the negative encounters he has faced just because of the color of his skin.

Martin Luther King Jr., was a civil rights activist who spoke freely about civil disobedience in the Letter from Birmingham Jail while he was locked up for civilly disobeying the law. He was writing to eight white clergymen that also felt that many of the laws were unjust, however they showed agreement with Socrates by stating that he should not disobey the laws. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “one has a moral responsibility to disobey just laws because if we did not disobey them then unjust acts would continue to occur, causing our country to be harmed”. He also stated that “an unjust law is no law at all”. Martin Luther King Jr. did believe that laws were setup and enforced to assist and support the residents of the state however, if a law was unfair or unconstitutional, then the law would

My fourth resource is an article listing many of the infamous Jim Crow laws that suppressed many African Americans in the southern united states, until they were abolished in 1965. The purpose of this article is to show just how absurd and disgraceful these laws actually were. This fits well in my essay, because it shows multiple examples of how Jim Crow laws were racist, and can be used as a good basis for the case of referencing past racist events that have a conclusion. Jim Crow laws are good for referencing when making sure new racist laws are not allowed to be passed into law, but shouldn’t be used as a reason to say racism exists in today’s world.

Martin Luther King’s “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” addresses the issue of individual civil rights. In the context of the racially segregated south, Martin Luther King argues that civil rights are not being protected for the power minority. An oppressed group has their civil rights unprotected and thus are marginalized; an oppressed individual does not have equal civil rights to an oppressed individual and it is this difference that creates the distinction between the oppressed and unoppressed. King mentions examples of how the black minority is being oppressed and not given equal civil rights, such as police brutality and unfair prosecution, racial humiliation, and restricted economic and social opportunities. In order to protect individual civil rights for all the oppressed group, which lacks equal civil rights, must strongly and unwaveringly pursue these rights. Like how the black civil rights movement pursued equal civil rights, an oppressed group must repeatedly actively pursue equality from their oppressors and thus restore individual civil rights. Laws that impede these rights are unjust according to King. An unjust law is an immoral law. King uses religious reasoning as well as objective reasoning in order to determine what is just versus unjust. In terms of religion, an unjust law is a law that corrupts the soul by preventing people from feeling as equals and thus goes against the religious idea that all people are equal under god. In terms of objective

Use your imagination to picture the following scene. You’re a black male walking down the street, just minding your own business when you see a white woman walking with her husband. You forget to look away as all the Jim Crow laws but one race through your head; you accidentally looked right at her for too long. The husband is yelling at you, he calls the sheriff and you end up in trial and arrested--accused of rape. With the laws in place today, that wouldn’t happen. The differences between Jim Crow laws and the laws we have now are enormous, and they deserve recognition. Which is why I am making this.

The Jim Crow laws were pretty black and white. Legalized throughout twenty-six states (Tischauser), segregation mandated separate schools, transportation, and public facilities—such as water fountains, restrooms, and playgrounds—from 1881-1964 (Hansan). However, due to the frequent bias of the period, black treatment had often been inferior to the supremacy of whites; whites “had all the power, wealth, and privilege” while blacks “faced seemingly endless incidents of terror and humiliation with hardly any freedom” (Tischauser). The Jim Crow laws, the impetus of racial tensions in the Southern United States, mandated the controversial “separate but equal” segregation of the white populace from that of the colored, demonstrated through inferior black social status and political affairs (Hansan).

“Jim Crow” in reference to the History of African Americans can be simply described as a derisive slang term for a black man. (Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2015) It is often used to describe the segregation laws, rules, and customs.

To deprive blacks of their rights, state legislatures wrote a series of laws designed to enforce segregation. These laws were called Jim Crow Laws , named after a minstrel song. These laws were passed in Tennessee in 1881. The first of the laws required separate railway cars for the blacks and whites.The Supreme Court ruling Plessy v. Ferguson that separate public buildings for whites and blacks encouraged the passage of discrimination laws that wiped out the wealth made by blacks during Reconstruction. Railways and streetcars, public waiting rooms, restaurants, boarding houses, theaters, and public parks, schools, hospitals, and other public buildings were all segregated , and they were designated for blacks. It was not until after World

The Whites were always superior over the blacks during this period. No matter what Jim Crow did, he can never overdo unless being told to or he will be scold or blame being an ego. He can never trespass the boundaries in social hierarchy of the society which the blacks were placed at the bottom of the hierarchy and the whites were at the top. Even if the Whites were wrong, blacks don’t have the right to correct the Whites or else their job will be threatened or even putting their life on risk. The way Jim Crow address his boss got him into trouble as well. Even if the blacks have older than whites, still the blacks will be addressed as boy where the whites will be addressed as Sir. Jim Crow accidentally addresses his boss by his first name

Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his letter from a Birmingham jail, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Laws he peacefully protested against were signed with pens of hypocrisy. Jim Crow laws segregated many. King peacefully opposed laws created entirely for the discrimination of people for their skin tones.

“A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law, or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.” (3) In 1963 in this particular statement made by Martin Luther King Jr. in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, he explained how man-made (white men) laws were created to persecute the black race, and how it is his duty to fight against such laws. He was the one who articulated the progressive hope of many African Americans along with other “colored” Americans to have civil rights. At that time, African Americans were battling against racial segregation and discrimination and they fought it continually and solely until they achieve the freedom they want. His main goal was to achieve justice and peace amongst “colored” people, including white Americans. The civil rights movement in 1964 has led to remarkable forward advances for individuals rights for African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans. Today in this country, individual rights are highly valued and this was because of the four racial groups who had fought and faced the different struggles for this movement. However, African Americans suffered more than the other groups in terms of political, social, and economic roles while making progress for the advancement of the civil rights movement.

In 1875 Congress passed the 3rd Civil Rights Act prohibiting racial discrimination and guaranteed equal access to public accommodations regardless of race or color. However, Jim Crow laws were still in effect in many states. An example is the 1890 Louisiana statute mandating segregated but “equal” railroad cars. The push for the Civil Rights Movement was an organized fight against these Jim Crow laws that allowed states to racially discriminate. Rosa Parks would be the famous activist to stand against Jim Crow laws in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Martin Luther King Jr. would become a key speaker for the movement. The most important achievement, while many were made, was the right to vote as this allowed African Americans to have a voice within government.

The discrimination of blacks is often misunderstood when people remember the past in comparison with now, when African Americans use discrimination as an excuse, and when the media uses it to hype up the readers. When was the last time people saw an African American get offended over a racist comment? African Americans or “blacks” often claim to be very sensitive to racist comments. Even if they have not experienced any sort of discrimination in their lifetime. Most of African American society has not experienced racial discrimination and so they cannot be fully offended by racial slurs. The discrimination of blacks is often misunderstood when people remember the past in comparison with now, when African Americans use discrimination as an excuse,

Through 1877 and 1954, many African Americans suffered to gain their rights completely after the end of slavery. This hard, wicked time was the beginning of the start of a new law, known as the Jim Crow Laws, that erased the rights for former slaves all across the south. The phrase Jim Crow originated from Thomas Rice, who created a stage play about an African American named Jim who was owned by a man name Mr. Crow. In the Play, Rice was in costume as a Jim and danced around singing a song saying “Jump Jim Crow” which became very popular in the south thus creating the name for the law that segregated blacks from whites. Jim Crow Laws was one of the most wicked laws that the U.S. supreme court had passed.

The Jim Crow laws has had a major influence on the United States based on how much harm than good it did during its time. The Jim Crow laws were in favor of white people more than black, in state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. This in turn caused more harm than good because black people had so many restrictions on what the can do while living in the US. The Jim Crow laws were based on segregation of public schools, public places, and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains for whites and blacks. The U.S. military was also segregated. The Jim Crow laws caused white to feel superior to black while black thought they were inferior.