Jim Crow laws

Overview
Jim Crow was a racist term for a black-looking person. Black people were usually treated worse than white people. This segregation was also done in the armed forces, schools, restaurants, on buses and in what jobs blacks got. In 1954, the US Supreme Court ruled that such segregation in state-run schools was against the US Constitution. The decision is known as Brown v. Board of Education. The other Jim Crow laws were abolished by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) fought against the Jim Crow laws.

Background

After the Civil War, the U.S. government tried to enforce the rights of ex-slaves in the South through a process called Reconstruction. However, in 1876, Reconstruction ended. By the 1890s, the Southern states' legislatures were all-white again. Southern Democrats, who did not support civil rights for blacks, completely ruled the South. This gave them a lot of power in the United States Congress. For example, Southern Democrats were able to make sure that laws against lynching did not pass.
Laws against Black Americans
Starting in 1890, Southern Democrats began to pass state laws that took away the rights African Americans had gained. These racist laws became known as Jim Crow laws. For example, they included:
 Laws that made it impossible for blacks to vote (this is called disenfranchisement). Since they could not vote, blacks also could not be on juries.Perman, Michael (2001). Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888–1908. University of North Carolina Press. Koussecr, J. Morgan (1974). The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South. Yale University Press. 
 Laws that required racial segregation – separation of blacks and whites. For example, blacks could not:
 Go to the same schools, restaurants, or hospitals as whites
 Use the same bathrooms as whites or drink from the same water fountain

In 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled in a case called Plessy v. Ferguson that these laws were legal. They said that having things be "separate but equal" was fine. In the South, everything was separate. However, places like black schools and libraries got much less money and were not as good as places for whites.Logan, Rayford W. (1997). The Betrayal of the Negro from Rutherford B. Hayes to Woodrow Wilson. Da Capo Press. pp. 97-98.  Things were separate, but not equal.

Photo gallery

References

 "Jim Crow Laws". Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. History: Government and Politics. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Student Resources In Context. Web. November 7, 2013.

Category:African-American history
Category:Racism in North America
Category:United States law