The Jim Crow laws were a set of federal laws that allowed racial discrimination and segregation. “The United States Supreme Court found in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that “separate but equal” services for African Americans did not dispute the Fourteenth Amendment, despite suggestions that the facilities were superior to those designed for whites’ (Urofsky). Furthermore, “From the post-Civil War period until 1968, Jim Crow laws were in effect” (History.Com Editors).
The name Jim Crow was originated by a group of white entertainers that did blackface named “Jump Jim Crow”. They mostly illustrated Jim Crow as an unintelligent clown, promoting and amplifying stereotypical perceptions of African Americans. The word “Jim Crow” became negative for African Americans as well as a portrayal of their unequal lifestyle. It was used in the late 1800s to describe the regulations that established racial inequality in the Southern United States after Renovation. Since the nineteenth century, Southern states also introduced laws that forced whites and blacks to be separated in public transportation and schools. Next, the laws of segregation “extended to parks, cemeteries, theaters, and restaurants” in an effort to keep Blacks and whites apart on an equal level” (Urofsky).
“States would approve segregated establishments not only for schools, but also for hospitals and clinics, sporting activities, barbershops, train and bus stations, restrooms, beaches, public parks, and a variety of other locations under Jim Crow laws” (Britannica). More about the fact that the United States Constitution prohibits systematic racial prejudice, any state in the confederate States took steps to oppress African Americans by enacting racist reading criteria, strict land standards, or complicated poll taxes” (Urofsky). In the 1950s and 1960s, Black People in the south started the civil rights movement to end the segregation that existed at the time.
Jim Crow Laws are a significant event in history because this event was an extremely hard time for African-Americans and as an African American it makes you realize how much we shouldn’t take things for granted because our ancestors died for us to be treated equally. I think that the era of Jim Crow Laws can help everyone to see that the things that happened to people of color were very wrong and that no one should be discriminated against simply because their skin looks different. African-Americans are still human beings just like everyone else, we don’t deserve to be treated as less than others because we look different. “
Jim Crow laws made it very difficult or impossible for black people to vote, run for office, work on juries, or engage in the economic and social life of their communities on an equal level” (Britannica). I think that the Jim Crow laws affected the black culture extremely because it was like we couldn’t catch a break. We came out of slavery for 400 years and now we have to battle another 100 years of segregation and racial discrimination against us. It’s like there was just always a weight on African-Americans’ backs that they couldn’t get to go away. I think that some people may still have PTSD from those times because that\’s something extremely hard to go through. Jim Crow Laws are a very traumatic event in history that I think no one should or will ever forget.
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