Jim Crow Laws Facts

Jim Crow was not a person! Jim Crow were state and locals
laws used to enforce racial segregation in the southern
states of the United States. These laws were enacted
during the Reconstruction Era and continued on until 1965.
The laws affected the lives of millions.
● Reconstruction Era/Reconstruction Period – this era
covers two senses within the context of America’s
history:
● First Sense – this focuses on the complete history of
the country right after the American Civil War; from
1865 to 1877.
 Jim Crow Laws Facts
● Second Sense – this focuses on the attempted
rehabilitations made in the Southern United States
from 1863 to 1877, as directed by the Congress. These
rehabilitations were made to reconstruct the states
and society in general.
● Origin - The name ‘Jim Crow’ was said to have come
from a minstrel song: a song-and-dance caricature of
black people titled ‘Jump Jim Crow’ performed by
Thomas D. Rice, a white actor who did the act in
blackface. It first came out in 1832 to mock the
democratic policies of the then US President, Andrew
Jackson. Because Rice was famous, the caricature he
did became popular. By 1838, the name turned into a
derogatory nickname for African Americans. Calling a
person ‘Jim Crow’ was similar to calling him a ‘Negro’.
● At the end of the 19th century, when southern states
passed laws of racial segregation aimed against
blacks, these laws were collectively called the Jim
Crow Laws.
 Jim Crow Laws Facts
● Jim Crow became the personification of the system
that encouraged racial oppression and segregation
within the United States, a system that was allowed
and approved by the government.
● The phrase Jim Crow Law was used as early as 1892.
One of the first publications to use the phrase was the
New York Times. It appeared in the title of an article
about voting laws in the South.
● The Jim Crow Laws enforced racial segregation in the
Southern United States [the former Confederate
States of America] as mandated by policies approved
by state legislature. This is termed ‘de jure racial
segregation’.
● In the North, de facto racial segregation happened. De
facto means there were no laws that mandated it, but
racial segregation between White Americans and Black
Americans was practiced in private dealings, bank
lending practices and even in jobs.
● While racial segregation started between European
Americans and African Americans, it eventually
spread to include other ethnicities and nationalities.
 Jim Crow Laws Facts
Origin
● During the Reconstruction Era, federal laws protected
the civil rights of the freedmen – former Black
American slaves and former free Blacks – in the
south, in states that were part of the Confederate.
● When the 1870s rolled in, the Democrats slowly
regained power in legislature by employing rebellious
paramilitary groups like the Red Shirts, White League
and even the Ku Klux Klan [KKK].
● After the Democrats gained power, they put into place
the Jim Crow Laws which officially separated the Black
Americans from the white population.
● The laws mandated segregation in public places like
restrooms, transportation, schools and restaurants
among many others. The Jim Crow Laws also made it
difficult for the blacks to exercise their right to vote.
● Segregation means there are restaurants that are for
“blacks only” and ones where only white customers are
allowed. On public transport, African Americans were
given different tickets from their white counterparts
 Jim Crow Laws Facts
● Black people also had to wait in a different waiting
room. Schools, public libraries and the like worked the
same — there were separate facilities for the blacks
and the white. And, most often, the facilities for
European Americans [the whites] were better and more
superior compared to those available for the African
Americans. There were even times that facilities for
the latter were non-existent.
● After WWII ended, African Americans increasingly
questioned and challenged racial segregation as they
believed that they earned full citizenship in the
country due to the services and sacrifices they made
during the war. They thought that it was only fair that
they be treated as full Americans with all the rights
and privileges afforded to a citizen.
● This move was called the Civil Rights Movement. It was
fuelled by many events, including the blinding of Isaac
Woodard in 1946 while he was still in his US Army
uniform.
 Jim Crow Laws Facts
Some examples of Jim Crow Laws:
● “All railroads carrying passengers in the state (other
than street railroads) shall provide equal but separate
accommodations for the white and colored races, by
providing two or more passenger cars for each
passenger train, or by dividing the cars by a partition,
so as to secure separate accommodations.”
—Tennessee, 1891
● “Marriages are void when one party is a white person
and the other is possessed of one-eighth or more
negro, Japanese, or Chinese blood.”
—Nebraska, 1911
● “Separate free schools shall be established for the
education of children of African descent; and it shall
be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white
school, or any white child to attend a colored school.”
—Missouri, 1929
● The eventual end of the Jim Crow Laws came when the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of
1965 were mandated and followed.
 Jim Crow Laws Facts
Interesting facts about the Jim Crow Laws:
● The US Army was not safe from segregation. It
remained segregated until 1948 when US President,
Harry Truman, desegregated the army through
Executive Order 9981.
● The Great Migration was the result of heavy segregation
in the south. Some 6 million Black Americans relocated
to the north and west just so they could get away from
the heavy Jim Crow Laws implemented in the southern
states of the country.
● The phrase ‘separate but equal’ was commonly used to
justify the Jim Crow Laws.
● Not all Jim Crow Laws focused on African Americans.
Some dealt with other nationalities, like one California
law which made selling alcohol to Indians illegal.
● There’s a museum dedicated to showing memorabilia
connected with racial segregation and racial
stereotyping, focusing on African Americans, for the
purpose of education and academic research. This is the
Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia and is located
in Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan.
 Jim Crow Laws Facts
● The Civil Rights Act of 1964 legally ended all of the
Jim Crow Laws. It was signed by President Lyndon B.
Johnson, America’s 36th president.