You are not good enough to read this paper. That is how African Americans were treated every day when the Jim Crow laws were around, with an extreme amount of prejudice and abhorrence that was learned from the generation before them. The laws were vastly racist and were meant to keep the African Americans a minority in the South, which was theoretically illegal in many ways. Many politicians and most Caucasians, or upper class citizens, didn’t care whether African Americans were being treated equally or not. These laws prevented minorities from enjoying everyday life or even exhibiting manners, such as not being allowed to try to shake a white woman’s hand, because that was considered an erotic advance (www.nps.gov). Also, other laws consisted laws that prohibited blacks from partaking in certain actions as a way to keep them as the lower substandard class. These laws consisted of laws such as: “Separate schools shall be maintained for the children of the white and colored races,” “Any person...who shall be guilty of printing, publishing or circulating printed, typewritten or written matter urging or presenting for public acceptance or general information, arguments or suggestions in favor of social equality or of intermarriage between whites and negroes, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to fine or not exceeding five hundred (500.00) dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six (6) months or both,” and, “The marriage of a white person with a negro or mulatto or person who shall have one-eighth or more of negro blood, shall be unlawful and void.” These laws were all separately defined as constitutional in separate court cases, but were considered illegal under federal law, but wouldn’t be overturned until 1964 and 1965 (w... ... middle of paper ... ...ack if he possesses intrinsic, individual merit," and it really rang true (www.shmoop.com). Many years into the future W.E.B.’s wish came true with racial equality reached and even an African American president in the present day. After racial equality was reached many different prejudices became the minorities that are still fighting for the same laws and equalities that racial minorities took decades to receive. Works Cited Educational Broadcasting Corporation. www.pbs.org. 2002. 28 April 2014 . Jim Crow Museum. What was Jim Crow. 2012. 21 april 2014 . Morril, Dan L. cmhpf.org. n.d. 29 April 2014 . www.nps.gov. n.d. 21 April 2014 . www.shmoop.com. n.d. 14 May 2014 .
Jim Crow Laws, enforced in 1877 in the south, were still being imposed during the 1930s and throughout. These laws created segregation between the two races and created a barrier for the Blacks. For example, even though African Americans were allowed to vote, southern states created a literary test exclusively for them that was quite difficult to pass, since most Blacks were uneducated. However, if they passed the reading test, they were threatened with death. Also, they had to pay a special tax to vote, which many African Americans could not afford.
The book, the Strange Career of Jim Crow is a wonderful piece of history. C. Vann Woodard crafts a book that explains the history of Jim Crow and segregation in simple terms. It is a book that presents more than just the facts and figures, it presents a clear and a very accurate portrayal of the rise and fall of Jim Crow and segregation. The book has become one of the most influential of its time earning the praise of great figures in Twentieth Century American History. It is a book that holds up to its weighty praise of being “the historical Bible of the civil rights movement.” The book is present in a light that is free from petty bias and that is shaped by a clear point of view that considers all facts equally. It is a book that will remain one of the best explanations of this time period.
Assumptions from the beginning, presumed the Jim Crow laws went hand in hand with slavery. Slavery, though, contained an intimacy between the races that the Jim Crow South did not possess. Woodward used another historian’s quote to illustrate the familiarity of blacks and whites in the South during slavery, “In every city in Dixie,’ writes Wade, ‘blacks and whites lived side by side, sharing the same premises if not equal facilities and living constantly in each other’s presence.” (14) Slavery brought about horrible consequences for blacks, but also showed a white tolerance towards blacks. Woodward explained the effect created from the proximity between white owners and slaves was, “an overlapping of freedom and bondage that menaced the institution of slavery and promoted a familiarity and association between black and white that challenged caste taboos.” (15) The lifestyle between slaves and white owners were familiar, because of the permissiveness of their relationship. His quote displayed how interlocked blacks...
...ty and their survival as a group in society because of restraint from the federal government in the ability to litigate their plight in Court. The Author transitions the past and present signatures of Jim Crow and the New Jim Crow with the suggestion that the New Jim Crow, by mass incarceration and racism as a whole, is marginalizes and relegates Blacks to residential, educational and constitutionally endowed service to Country.
The Strange Career of Jim Crow, by C. Van Woodward, traces the history of race relations in the United States from the mid and late nineteenth century through the twentieth century. In doing so Woodward brings to light significant aspects of Reconstruction that remain unknown to many today. He argues that the races were not as separate many people believe until the Jim Crow laws. To set up such an argument, Woodward first outlines the relationship between Southern and Northern whites, and African Americans during the nineteenth century. He then breaks down the details of the injustice brought about by the Jim Crow laws, and outlines the transformation in American society from discrimination to Civil Rights. Woodward’s argument is very persuasive because he uses specific evidence to support his opinions and to connect his ideas. Considering the time period in which the book and its editions were written, it should be praised for its insight into and analysis of the most important social issue in American history.
In 1863 to 1877 Reconstruction brought an end to slavery, it paved the way for the former slaves to become citizens. The African Americans wanted complete freedom. However, that right became a setback and were seen as second class citizens. Before the end of the Reconstruction, a legislation was passed called the Jim Crow law. The law enforced the segregation of people of African descent. The legislation was a system to ensure the exclusion of racial groups in the Southern States. For example, separate transportation law, school division, different waiting rooms both at the bus terminals and hospitals, separate accommodations, marriage law and voting rights. The Jim Crow law was supposed to help in racial segregation in the South. Instead,
Lasting hatred from the civil war, and anger towards minorities because they took jobs in the north probably set the foundation for these laws, but it has become difficult to prove. In this essay, I will explain how the Separate but Equal Laws of twentieth century America crippled minorities of that time period forever. Separate but Equal doctrine existed long before the Supreme Court accepted it into law, and on multiple occasions it arose as an issue before then. In 1865, southern states passed laws called “Black Codes,” which created restrictions on the freed African Americans in the South. This became the start of legal segregation as juries couldn’t have African Americans, public schools became segregated, and African Americans had restrictions on testifying against majorities.
Beginning in the 1890’s Jim Crow laws or also known as the color-line was put into effect in the Southern states. These laws restricted the rights of blacks and segregation from the white population. These laws were put into effect as partially a result of the reaction of the whites to blacks not submitting to segregation of railroads, streetcars, and other public facilities. African Americans Ids B. Wells, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B Dubois had differing opinions on the color-line. Wells and Dubois felt the color-line created prejudice toward blacks and that the black population could not become equal with the whites under such conditions. On the other hand, Booker T. Washington thought the laws were a good compromise between the parties at the time.
Blacks were discriminated almost every aspect of life. The Jim Crow laws helped in this discrimination. The Jim Crow laws were laws using racial segregation from 1876 – 1965 at both a social and at a state level.
“Jim Crow was more than a series of rigid anti-black laws. It was a way of life.” (“What was Jim Crow?”). The laws created a divided America and made the United States a cruel place for over 70 years. The Jim Crow Laws caused segregation in the education system, social segregation, and limited job opportunities for African Americans.
In 1877, President Rutherford Hayes disengaged troops from the South and slave owners took back their power. With new control these southern white politicians passed the Black Codes. These codes/laws were written to oversee the behavior of African Americans after the Civil War, model after the slave codes that were enforced before the Civil War. These codes are just a different kind of slavery. Black people of that era had to watch everything they did. They couldn’t do just anything and what is really sad they still had to serve white people in one way or another. This still was no way to live. White men could serve as police until police could get to the scene. White people still had control over black people. This codes were very extreme too. Only a black man that was in the army would be allowed to carry a firearm but they could not preach. These codes where emplaced out of the white man’s ignorance and fear. Even with the Fourteenth Amendment, escaping state governments from treating citizens otherwise. In 1892, Plessy v. Ferguson, while riding a train passenger Homer Plessy sat in the “whites only” car and declined to sit in the Jim Crow car. The decision was for Ferguson
The laws known as “Jim Crow” were laws presented to basically establish racial apartheid in the United States. These laws were more than in effect for “for three centuries of a century beginning in the 1800s” according to a Jim Crow Law article on PBS. Many try to say these laws didn’t have that big of an effect on African American lives but in affected almost everything in their daily life from segregation of things: such as schools, parks, restrooms, libraries, bus seatings, and also restaurants. The government got away with this because of the legal theory “separate but equal” but none of the blacks establishments were to the same standards of the whites. Signs that read “Whites Only” and “Colored” were seen at places all arounds cities.
In the article it says, “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” This evidence shows how colored people are segregated from other colored people. Based on the evidence, these colored people doesn’t have the right to be equal to the white people. Another evidence it shows in the article is, “...would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This shows how people doesn’t have the rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. The quality of life for people who don’t have the rights is very
A common misconception is that all white citizens hated and disrespected black citizens; however, “Even when the Jim Crow laws were being enacted, many people (including white people) felt that they were not fair. They believed that blacks and whites should have equal access to opportunity” (The Impact of Jim Crow Laws on Education 1). The Jim Crow Laws legally separated black citizens and white citizens with segregation in schools, public bathrooms, water fountains, and many more public places. Signs that read “Colored Only” or “White Only” were visible everywhere during that time period (Racial Segregation in the American South: Jim Crow Laws 1). Shockingly, in South Carolina, black textile workers could not even enter through the same door as a white man, let alone work in the same room (A Brief History of Jim Crow 1). Black citizens had a hard time earning money because of this, especially because many unions passed laws that disabled African-americans from working there (A Brief History of Jim Crow
“The ‘Jim Crow’ laws got their name from one of the stock characters in the minstrel shows that were a mainstay of popular entertainment throughout the nineteenth century. Such shows popularized and reinforced the pervasive stereotypes of blacks as lazy, stupid, somehow less human, and inferior to whites” (Annenberg, 2014). These laws exalted the superiority of the whites over the blacks. Although equally created, and affirmed by the Supreme Court, and because of the Civil War officially free, African Americans were still treated with less respect than many household pets. The notorious Jim Crow laws mandated segregation and provided for severe legal retribution for consortium between races (National, 2014). Richard Wright writes about this, his life.