The common misconception of Jim Crow that people have is that it refers only to the laws of segregation that were in place before the Civil Rights Movement, but that is only a fraction of what that term really means. Jim Crow was the time of extreme racism towards black Americans, the segregation of white and black people, and the mainly Southern mindset that blacks were not of equal status to whites. In order to beat that time, black Americans had various strategies for the Civil Rights Movement. Some of those strategies were to practice nonviolence, march peacefully, force integration by performing sit-ins, and to boycott what’s unjust. By using these strategies black Americans gained equal rights and America was changed forever. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, after the abolition of slavery in America, racism against African-Americans was still very much alive to the point where lynching black people was widely accepted by white people. Lynching is, “The illegal execution of an accused person by a mob” (Spartacus Educational). According to the Tuskegee Institute, between the years of 1882 and 1968, the total amount of black lynchings was 3,445 (Lynching, Whites & Negroes). Even though it’s illegal, it wasn’t viewed as a horrible crime like it is today. In that time, it was more of a source of entertainment and was a widely accepted form of punishment in America. People would even send postcards with pictures of lynchings on the front as if attending the event was something to be proud of. For example, the text on the back of a postcard with a picture taken at one of these lynchings reads, "Well John - This is a token of a great day we had in Dallas, March 3, a negro was hung for an assault on a three year old g... ... middle of paper ... ...u Shalt Stay out of Downtown Birmingham. Birmingham: n.p., n.d. PBSLearningMedia. Web. 14 May 2014. . “Race, Voting Rights, and Segregation Direct Disenfranchisement.” Techniques of Direct Disenfranchisement, 1880-1965. University of Michigan, n.d. Web. 14 May 2014. . “Season of Terror.” Free at Last. Ed. Sara Bullard. Montgomery, AL: Teaching Tolerance, 2005. 62-63. Print. Spartacus Educational. Spartacus Educational, n.d. Web. 18 May 2014. . State of Louisiana. Literacy Test. Baton Rouge: State of Louisiana, n.d. PBSLearningMedia. Web. 14 May 2014. . Without Sanctuary: Photographs and Postcards of Lynching in America. Dir. James Allen and John Littlefield. 2005. Without Sanctuary. Web. 14 May 2014. .
Jim Crow laws were a formal, codified system of racial apartheid that dominated the American South for three quarters of a century beginning in the 1890s. (Jim Crow Laws, PBS). Jim Crow laws had the same ideals that slave codes had. At this time slavery had been abolished, but because of Jim Crow, the newly freed black people were still looked at as inferior. One of the similarities between slave codes and Jim Crow laws was that both sets of laws did not allow equal education opportunities. The schools were separated, of course, which cause the white schools to be richer and more advanced in education than black schools. This relates to slave codes because slaves were not allowed to read which hindered their learning of when they were able to read and write. Another similarity is alcohol. In the Jim Crow era persons who sold beer or wine were not allowed to serve both white and colored people, so they had to sell to either one or the other. This is similar to slave codes because in most states slaves were not allowed to purchase whiskey at all, unless they had permission from their owners. Slaves did not eat with their white owners. In the Jim Crow era whites and blacks could not eat together at all, and if there was some odd circumstance that whites and blacks did eat together then the white person was served first and there was usually something in between them. This relates to slave codes because
One of the most appalling practices in history, lynching — the extrajudicial hanging of a person accused of a crime — was commonplace in American society less than 100 years ago. The word often conjures up horrifying images of African Americans hanging from lampposts or trees. However, what many do not know is that while African Americans certainly suffered enormously at the hands of a white majority, they were not the only victims of this practice. In fact, the victims of the largest mass lynching in American history were Chinese (Johnson). On October 24th, 1871, a white mob stormed into the Chinatown of Los Angeles.
Fire in a Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America by Laura Wexler, Scribner, January 13, 2004 288pp
By the end of the 19th century, lynching was clearly the most notorious and feared means of depriving Bl...
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.
Wexler, Laura. 2003. Fire in a Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America. Scribner; 2004. Print
In 1860-1960 there was lynching in the United States. When the confederates (south) lost the civil war the slaves got freedom and got rights of human beings. This was just to say because segregation wasn 't over in the South and didn 't go away for over 100 years. Any black person in the South accused but not convicted of any crime of looking at a white woman, whistling at a white woman, touching a white woman, talking back to a white person, refusing to step into the gutter when a white person passed on the sidewalk, or in some way upsetting the local people was liable to be dragged from their house or jail cell by lots of people crowds, mutilated in a terrible
Franklin Zimring (2003) examines the relationship between the history of lynching and current capital punishment in the United States argueing that the link between them is a vigilante tradition. He adequately shows an association between historical lynchings and modern executions, though this paper will show additional evidence that would help strengthen this argument, but other areas of Zimring’s argument are not as well supported. His attitudinal and behavioral measures of modern vigilantism are insufficient and could easily be interpreted as measuring other concepts. Also missing from Zimring’s analysis is an explanation for the transition of executions from representing government control in the past to executions as representing community control in the present. Finally, I argue that Zimring leaves out any meaningful discussion of the role of race in both past lynchings and modern executions. To support my argument, using recent research, I will show how race has played an important role in both past lynchings and modern executions and how the changing form of racial relations may explain the transition from lynchings to legal executions.
The main idea of the Jim Crow laws was to keep black people away from whites, to live separately but equally. Most often this did not happen, which the whites were expecting the “Negros” to be lower than themselves and unable to function without them, until a community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, was started by blacks in 1908. They lived in a community called Greenwood. With only fifteen thousand residents, the blacks built their own little country despite the adversity they had received. Their community was one of the richest in the USA. So, it seems the Jim Crow laws that was meant to leave them destitute, was the option for the blacks to thrive. Blacks had their own businesses, schools, movie theaters, churches, transportation system, and they even had their own airlines. They were their own doctors, teachers, architects, pastors, artists, and musicians. As a bonus they were also very oil rich as well.
Between 1882 and 1952 Mississippi was the home to 534 reported lynchings’ more than any other state in the nation (Mills, 1992, p. 18). Jim Crow Laws or ‘Black Codes’ allowed for the legalization of racism and enforced a ‘black way’ of life. Throughout the deep-south, especially in rural communities segr...
“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 southern states, where the black community mainly lived they were constantly rejected the right to vote. By 1910, racial segregation was ingrained legally in the North and South; after 1913 segregation had protracted to federal employees in the workplace. Through violence, white superiority was protected while blacks were harassed by white rioters. In Atlanta, Georgia, and Springfield, Illinois, in 1906 and 1908, an average of sixty-five blacks were lynched annually between 1910 and 1919.
Jim Crow was more than just a series of severe anti-Black laws, it became a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were positioned to the status of second class citizens. What Jim Crow did is represent the anti-Black racism. Further on, in the 1970’s the term “War on Drugs” was coined by President Richard Nixon. Later, President Ronald Reagan officially declared the current drug war.
Southern Horror s: Lynch Law in All Its Phases by Ida B. Wells took me on a journey through our nations violent past. This book voices how strong the practice of lynching is sewn into the fabric of America and expresses the elevated severity of this issue; she also includes pages of graphic stories detailing lynching in the South. Wells examined the many cases of lynching based on “rape of white women” and concluded that rape was just an excuse to shadow white’s real reasons for this type of execution. It was black’s economic progress that threatened white’s ideas about black inferiority. In the South Reconstruction laws often conflicted with real Southern racism. Before I give it to you straight, let me take you on a journey through Ida’s
...f execution by the state, blacks also faced vigilante justice by lynching. According to statistics given by the Tuskegee Institute, 3,446 blacks were lynched between 1882 and 1968 . Lynching was not court sanctioned execution, it was mob justice. Jefferson was accused of murder and robbery, and his fate was sealed.