Jim Crow Laws

1540 Words4 Pages

“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” committed.

What are the Jim Crow Laws? They are a series of rules and precautions that are directed towards blacks and do not always mean that black people agree with the Jim Crow Laws. First passed in the North, long before the Civil War, such laws were based on the theory of white supremacy. In the depression-racked 1890s, racism appealed to whites who feared losing their jobs to blacks. (A Brief History of the Jim Crow Laws). The Supreme Court decided that public facilities would be separated by black and white soon to be called “separate but equal”, 1896. Then two years later the court would determine that black men could not vote, the Southern states began to limit the voting right to those who owned property or could read well, to those whose grandfathers had been able to vote, to those with “good characters,” to those who paid poll taxes. Guess what, this meant that only one percent could pass these new laws. These laws touched everyone. Blacks and whites could not work in the same ro...

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...ks Cited

“A Brief History of Jim Crow” 30 April 2014

http://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-month/a-brief-history-of-jim-crow

“Jim Crow Laws” 1 May. 2014

http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/jim-crow-laws.cfm

“Jim Crow Laws.” 23 April. 2014. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1559.html

“Jim Crow Laws-Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.” 22 April. 2014. http://www.nps.gov/malu/forteachers/jim_crow_laws.htm

“National Council of Negro Women.” 28. April 2014 http://www.ncnw.org/about/bethune.htm

“Separate is Not Equal.” 24 April. 2014. http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/jim-crow.html

“The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow.” 22 April. 2014 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow

“What was Jim Crow” 1 May. 2014 http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm

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