The Law That Seperates Them All

697 Words2 Pages

It was dark that night. The actor danced and performed in the city square. He wore black facial make-up, a colorful costume and was making his audience laugh as he pretended to be unintelligent. His character was meant to appear senseless and dumb. His character’s name was Jim Crow. At the end of the 1800’s, several anti-black laws were nicknamed, “the Jim Crow laws”. These laws stated that black and white Americans must be separated in every aspect of life. Ac-cording these laws, it was legal for African Americans to be treated worse than everyone else. The Jim Crow laws were unfair to the African Americans because they replaced slavery with racial segregation, little attention was given to the groups against these laws, and they received unjust punishments. In the place of slavery came racial segregation. “The Jim Crow laws governed almost every aspect of life for African Americans living below the Mason-Dixon Line.” (Carson and Bonk) Slavery made an African American’s life controlled by his/her owner. The Jim Crow laws make the government their owner; therefore, the government controlled the African Americans. “Jim Crow laws allowed African Americans to be legally segregated. From that point on, African Americans were treated worse than ever before.” Some historians say that African Americans were treated better in slavery (in the 1800’s) than under the Jim Crow laws. Before the Jim Crow laws, there was slavery. They were both backed by the idea of black inferiority; both were also dominated mainly by the belief of white superiority. But not everyone believed in white superiority, but in equality. There were multiple groups for and against this type of segregation. “The National Association for the Advancement of Colored... ... middle of paper ... ...rnment cared about the deaths and segregation that was currently happening at that time. As the years went on, African Americans were cared about less and less, and hated more and more. The Jim Crow laws were discriminating to African Americans because they received unfair punishments, no one cared about the African American’s opinions, and they replaced slavery with laws that encouraged racial inequality. The Jim Crow laws were established because people wanted to segregate the African Americans and it allowed them to live happier lives and only allowed their lifestyle to become more content. They were treated like they were less than other people, couldn’t get a job, and they couldn’t sit where they wanted to on a bus. Racist groups did this because they believed in a lie: they believed African Americans were nothing. But they were utterly and ignorantly wrong.

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