The Rise And Fall Of Jim Crow Laws

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Racial tensions have existed since the concept of racial superiority, but the blossoming of tension occurred with the growing opposition of whiteness and blackness. Whiteness is described as a parasitic identity that cannot survive without the denial of humanity to the Other. The Other is defined as any person not bearing the phenotypic characteristics of a white person. In this case, the Other is specifically alluding to black people. (Birt 58). Blackness, however, is the complete opposite of whiteness.
Both of these entities are also symbolic of characteristics that cannot be drawn from race. Whiteness in its’ human form is symbolic of purity, goodness, intelligence and wealth. Generally, whiteness is the ideal of what humanity should strive to. Being that blackness is the antithesis of whiteness, blackness symbolizes savagery, stupidity, licentiousness and a host of characteristics one would associate with a non-domesticated animal. …show more content…

The animosity between those creating a fixed reality and those living through that absurdity made a hostile America where Jim Crow laws were a possibility. Jim Crow laws were enacted in the south to prevent black people from receiving their full rights as a citizen of the United States. These laws included, but were not limited to, voting, segregation and incarceration laws. (Video: The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow). Jim Crow laws further divided the nation and inflamed the tensions between

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