The Jim Crow Laws and African Americans

The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enacted that mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in southern states of the former confederacy. The blacks were said to be “separate but equal” and this separation led to conditions for the blacks that tended to be inferior to those provided for whites. Law-enforced segregation mainly applied to the southern United States whereas northern segregation had patterns of segregation in housing that was enforced by the covenants, bank lending practices, and job discrimination. For decades, this included discriminatory union practices for decades. The Jim Crow laws segregated public schools, public places, public transportation, restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains. Therefore, it did nothing to bring about social or economic equality.

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 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 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.

Let me start by explaining what the Jim Crow Law is, under the Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second class citizens. Jim Crow represented the legitimization of anti-black racism. Many Christian ministers and theologians taught that whites were the Chosen people, blacks were cursed to be servants, and God

Before there were players such as Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball was strictly white players only. The color line of Major League Baseball excluded black players until the late 40’s. This didn’t stop the colored men of America from playing the beloved American sport. The creation of the Negro Leagues in 1920 by Rube Foster gave colored men a chance to play in their own professional league, similar to the Major Leagues, but for African-American men. The creation of the Negro Leagues was a result of the Jim Crow Laws, state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Enacted after the Reconstruction period in the U.S., these laws continued in force until 1965. These laws created

There were many forms of discrimination in America. Discrimination was everywhere in the 20th century, and the population most affected by this were African Americans. Two of the most critical injustices committed in America during the 20th century were the development of the Jim Crow laws and school segregation. However, these injustices have been rectified as a result of the Civil Rights Movement and the decision of the supreme court of Brown v. Board of Education which brought important changes to African Americans.

Michelle Alexander writes and speaks about the 3 caste systems slavery, Jim Crow Laws, and mass incarceration. She asserts that racial separation has not gone away but rather morphed into present mass incarceration. Racial segregation has taken a new form and exists in prison systems and in socio-economic ways Caste system locks people up literally virtually. Alexander writes, “Jim Crow and mass incarceration have similar political origins. As described in chapter 1, both caste systems were born, in part, due to a desire among white elites to exploit the resentments, vulnerabilities, and racial biases of poor and working-class whites for political or economic gain. Segregation laws were proposed as part of a deliberate and strategic effort to deflect anger and hostility that had been brewing against the white elite away from them and toward African Americans.” ( Page 191) The largest incarceration rate in the world. 6 to 10 times greater than that of other industrialized nations, and the US has the largest incarceration rates . The war on drugs began at a time when drug use was actually on the decline, but government begins targeting black men through war on drugs as a system of social control.

Another cause of the conflict Jim Crow Laws, was that many white southerners didn’t believe African Americans should have equal rights as them, which then leaded to segregation in public places. Many public places were labeled with signs above them that said, “Colored Only” or “White Only.” An article I read had said, “Jim Crow Laws extended to restaurants, hotels, theaters, bus stations, parks, public restrooms, drinking fountains, public schools, and the United States Military.” Meanwhile in buses, many black people had to sit in the back of buses, use different water fountains, and different restrooms as well. In 1955, in Montgomery Alabama, a black woman named Rosa Parks was

Although laws promoting equality were passed, they were merely considered nothing to the people who carried animosity toward the blacks. Living their daily lives under the policy of “Separate but Equal” (Kallen 37), the blacks were treated terribly by their fellow white neighbors. The “Separate but Equal” law, passed in 1896 by the Supreme Court, stated that blacks could be segregated from whites in all public facilities as long as other facilities that were equal in quality were provided (Kallen 37). Prohibited from performing in theatres, attending performances, riding in streetcars, using the restrooms, going to school, playing at the park, and eating at restaurants, blacks were completely segregated from their community by the enforcement of laws known as the Jim Crow Laws (Kallen 38). During this time, the blacks were tired of the oppression and the derision of their natural rights that they were receiving and it motivated many to make a change in society and to have a voice.

One of the laws includes “Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school. Although African Americans were given what whites had it was often of poor quality. For example white schools got better education, better teachers and opportunities than black schools. Sometimes signs were put up just to humiliate African Americans. Trying to “Keep them in their place.” The separate but equal laws were proven unequal in many situations. Voting was affected in a huge way there were many

Jim crow laws were a complex system of laws and regulations set for the separation of races. Jim Crow laws were set on boundaries with the phrase “separate but equal”, however they not only were discriminatory but they also were used in many ways that abused the freedom of American rights. One example for this is, “The schools for white children and the schools for negro children shall be conducted separately (Florida, MLK, jr. National Historic Site SB 197).” Schools for African American students were provided with low quality supplies and and teachers were often not qualified, while white children received high education with quality resources. I can’t Imagine living in a world where you were discriminated and put down in every way,

“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 Jim Crow Laws were any set of laws that enforced racial segregation in the South. These laws were established and followed “during the end of reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the civil rights movement in the 1950’s”

The Jim Crow laws perpetuated segregation. This set of rules to show the dominance of the white race were absolutely appalling. They were mainly operated in the southern portion of the United States, but not exclusively. The Jim Crow laws “were in place from the late 1870’s until the civil rights movement began in the 1950’s” (“Jim Crow Laws”). Blacks and whites could not use the same drinking fountains, restrooms, or attend the same restaurants, churches, and schools. It was considered rape or an unwanted advance for a black man to offer his hand to a white woman. Another law was that african-american couples could not show affection towards each other in a public area because it “offended whites” (Pilgrim) along with countless more. There