Jim Crow Laws in the 20th Century

 As the 20th century progressed, Jim Crow laws flourished within an oppressive society marked by
violence.
 Following World War I, the NAACP noted that lynchings had become so prevalent that it sent investigator
Walter White to the South. White had lighter skin and could infiltrate white hate groups.
 As lynchings increased, so did race riots, with at least 25 across the United States over several months in
1919, a period sometimes referred to as “Red Summer.” In retaliation, white authorities charged Black
communities with conspiring to conquer white America.
 With Jim Crow dominating the landscape, education increasingly under attack and few opportunities for
Black college graduates, the Great Migration of the 1920s saw a significant migration of educated Black
people out of the South, spurred on by publications like The Chicago Defender, which encouraged Black
Americans to move north.
 Read by millions of Southern Black people, white people attempted to ban the newspaper and
threatened violence against any caught reading or distributing it.
 The poverty of the Great Depression only deepened resentment, with a rise in lynchings, and after
World War II, even Black veterans returning home met with segregation and violence.
 African American Life During The Great Depression

 The nation’s most devastating economic downturn, the Great Depression, affected blacks
more adversely than any other group of Americans. The Great Depression of the 1930s
worsened the already bleak economic situation of African Americans. They were the first to
be laid off from their jobs . In early public assistance programs African Americans often
received substantially less aid than whites, and some charitable organizations even
excluded Blacks from their soup kitchens. Throughout this economic crisis unemployment
rates were considerably higher for blacks than for whites.
 For example, among male workers in thirteen large cities in 1931 the rate was 31.7 percent
for whites and 52 percent for blacks. And in spring 1933 while the general unemployment
rate was 25 percent, for blacks it was 50 percent. Also, the percentage of African Americans
receiving welfare was higher than that of whites. In 1935, 25 percent of the black
population was receiving welfare as opposed to 15 percent of whites.

 Great Depression: workers at a canning plant Workers, many of them migrants, grading beans at a
canning plant in Florida in 1937. The economic hardships of the Great Depression hit African American
workers especially hard.
 The reasons for greater black suffering during the Great Depression are linked to racial discrimination. For example,
because African Americans were concentrated in those jobs and industries most sensitive to economic cycles and were
the “last hired and first fired,” they became jobless in disproportionate numbers.
 Black unemployment was also aided by the racist attitude that whites should not be without work while blacks were
employed; this resulted in whites moving blacks out of jobs they had traditionally occupied (such as porters, elevator
operators, trash collectors). Further, racial wage differentials (wages for blacks averaged 30 percent less than for whites)
caused African Americans to experience the Great Depression in harsher terms than whites.
 Economic Oppression
The practice of forced labor, low wages, employment discrimination and denial of equal opportunity
based on sex, nationality, race, or religion.
Then
• Jim Crow restricted economic possibilities and success for African-American families. In order for the
ruling middle and upper-class whites to maintain power, they created laws that prevented poor
African-Americans and whites from working together and forming unions. The more desirable jobs
were reserved for whites and African-Americans were given the worst jobs for the lowest pay.
• According to Douglas A. Blackmon, under the Black Codes and subsequently Jim Crow, tens of
thousands of African-Americans were arrested, incurring outrageous fines, and were accountable for
the costs associated with their own arrests. Unable to pay these debts, prisoners were sold as forced
laborers to coal mines, lumber camps, brickyards, railroads, and farm plantations. Thousands of
other African Americans were simply seized by southern landowners and forced into years of
involuntary servitude. Government officials also leased falsely imprisoned blacks to small-town
entrepreneurs, farmers, and corporations for cheap labor. Unlikely slavery, employers had little
invested in these leased convicts so they were treated poorly.
Fear, intimidation and even death were used against African-
Americans for attempting to secure any type of socioeconomic
success for themselves and their families. In addition to limited and
restrictive work opportunities, not having access to good
neighborhoods, schools and hospitals that were white only widened
the economic gap over several generations.
With the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it became illegal to
discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. “It
ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and
racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and by facilities that
served the general public.” Many barriers that crippled minorities
were beginning to change.
Now
 Throughout American history the opportunities for people of color to be employed and homeowners
have been severely crippled due to racial restrictions. The disparities shown in wealth and income are
a reflection of discrimination, inequality, and unfair biases that still continue today.
 An article on workplacefairness.org notes that there has not been significant progress made by
African-Americans, “African-Americans have faced the stiffest opposition in their attempts to obtain
fair and nondiscriminatory treatment in the workplace. Overt discrimination, reliance on false and
negative stereotypes, and subconscious bias pervasively limit the ability of African-Americans to
obtain fair treatment in hiring, evaluations, promotions, and other aspects of employment.
 Members of other racial and national origin groups, especially those identifiable by facial features or
skin color, face persistent discrimination similar to that faced by African-Americans.” For example,
employers are more like to hire a white person with a criminal record than African-American without
a criminal record. Studies have also shown that employers are 50% more likely to follow up on similar
resumes and college applications with a “white-sounding” name than “black-sounding” name.
 In 1963, the average wealth of white families was $117,000 higher than the average wealth of African
Americans compared to $500,000, seven times the wealth by 2013. The biggest factors that
contribute to the growing racial wealth gap length of homeownership, household income,
unemployment, education level and financial support from family, and preexisting wealth. Even when
African-Americans obtain equal achievement compared to whites the results are unequal.
Wealth is important to create economic security for future generations as
well provide a financial cushion during a difficult time. Wealth enables
families to live in safer and better neighborhoods, invest in businesses,
saving for retirement and supporting your children's higher education. In
2013, a representative survey of American households revealed that the
median wealth of white families was $134,230 compared with $11,030 for
African-American families.
 Political Oppression
THE PERSECUTION OF AN INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP FOR POLITICAL REASONS, IN PARTICULAR FOR THE
PURPOSE OF RESTRICTING OR PREVENTING THEIR ABILITY TO TAKE PART IN THE POLITICAL LIFE OF A
SOCIETY.
Then
 "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." - Fifteenth
Amendment
 But in order to prevent African-Americans from becoming a political threat, they were not allowed
to vote. As a result, they had no say in what officials were elected. When discriminatory laws were
approved by the Supreme Court, such as Williams v. Mississippi, in which African-Americans were
barred from voting, these laws spread through the South quickly.
 According to the Civil Rights Foundation, Given the green light, Southern states began to limit the
voting right to those who owned property or could pass a literacy test, to those whose
grandfathers had been able to vote, to those with ‘good characters,’ to those who paid poll taxes.
In 1896, Louisiana had 130,334 registered black voters. Eight years later, only 1,342, one percent,
could pass the state’s new rules.
This left white voters in control, which was essential for them to maintain white political dominance. There were
several ways that prevented African-Americans from being able to vote.
 Former prisoners: Individuals who had gone to prison were not able to vote. During this time African-American’s
were often arrested falsely, or on minor offenses. Prisons provided cheap labor to keep the Southern states
economy afloat.
 Grandfather clause: People who could not read and owned no property were exempt from educational, property,
or tax requirements for voting if their fathers or grandfathers had voted before 1867. Of course, practically no
blacks could vote before 1867, just two years after slaves were freed.
 Literacy test: Most illiterate people were not allowed to vote. A few were allowed if they could understand what
was read to them. The literacy tests varied from state to state. But they often included trivia questions related to
civic procedure and citizenship and sometimes even trick questions. Even if an African-American was able to pass
the test, they still were not able to vote.
 Poll taxes: In Southern states, people had to pay a tax in order to vote. Many people had low incomes and could
not afford this tax. In some southern states poor southern whites could bypass the poll taxes due to the
Grandfather clause.
 Property: Many states only allowed property owners to vote. During this time many African-Americans did not
own property, some states even restricted the type of property that African-Americans can own.
 Purges: Some white officials removed names off of the official lists of registered voters.
 Violence: African-American’s who tried to vote were threatened, arrested, attacked, and some were even killed.
Some of their families were harmed, their homes were burned down, and their jobs were threatened if they tried
to vote.
Now
• Still, former felons, which account for 6.1 million people in 2016, are
not allowed to vote in most states. 1 of every 13 African Americans of
voting age is disenfranchised, a rate more than four times greater
than non-African Americans. There are also restrictions on those who
are currently serving sentences or on parole or probation. Purging is
also another method still used today that affect people of color. Any
registered voter in the state can challenge another voter’s
registration. These voters are notified via mail and must appear at a
county board of elections or return a notarized form in order to
maintain their ability to vote.
 Although most the methods that were used to prevent African-Americans to vote are no
longer in place there are now news laws that still put a burden on eligible voters. Cuts to
early voting, voter ID laws and purges of voter rolls make it harder for African-Americans, as
well as students, people with disabilities and the elderly to vote.
 The voter ID laws are similar to the poll tax laws that were in place. Many people of color,
especially those of fixed incomes do not have transportation needed to travel to special
offices where they can get a government-issued ID. A birth certificate, which can cost
anywhere from $10 to $45 is also another additional expense. The housing crisis also left
many minorities and poor families unable to claim permanent residency to get a voter ID. In
the 2016 presidential election up to 17 states that are home to over 110 million people and
account for 189 out of the 270 electoral votes have restrictive voting laws in place.
 Legal Oppression
Then
THE INSTITUTIONALIZED EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY IN SUBORDINATION OF A GIVEN GROUP OR
SOCIAL CATEGORY BY UNJUST USE OF FORCE OR AUTHORITY IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THE
EFFECTS OF SYSTEMATIC OPPRESSION APPROVED BY A LEGAL SYSTEM.
 African-Americans had a very difficult time in court, especially with the segregation laws
implemented that varied from place to place. Being arrested for a minor offense, and facing
an all white jury and judge led to many convictions, often with inflated charges. In addition to
this African-American witnesses were not allowed to testify against whites. It was not about
whether or not someone was innocent, it was about being black and making an example out
of them to further enforce white superiority.

 "White and colored prisoners shall not be confined or shackled together in the same
room of any building or tent, either in the State prison or at any State or county convict
camp, during the eating or sleeping hours, and at all other times the separation of the
races shall be as complete as practicable. Any officer or employee of either the State or
any county in the State having charge of convicts or prisoners who shall violate or permit
the violation of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be
fined not more than fifty dollars [$50.00] or imprisoned not more than thirty [30] days." -
North Carolina, 1909
Now
• An article on www.civilrights.org states, “Our civil rights laws abolished Jim Crow laws and
other vestiges of segregation, and guaranteed minority citizens the right to travel and utilize
public accommodations freely. Yet today, racial profiling and police brutality make such travel
hazardous to the dignity and health of law-abiding black and Hispanic citizens. Today, our
criminal justice system strays far from this ideal. Unequal treatment of minorities characterizes
every stage of the process.
• Black and Hispanic Americans, and other minority groups as well, are victimized by
disproportionate targeting and unfair treatment by police and other front-line law enforcement
officials; by racially skewed charging and plea bargaining decisions of prosecutors; by
discriminatory sentencing practices; and by the failure of judges, elected officials and other
criminal justice policymakers to redress the inequities that become more glaring every day.”
• More African-Americans are in prison or jail, on probation or parole—than were enslaved in
1850, a decade before the Civil War began. The proportion of African-American prisoners
incarcerated relative to whites has more than doubled in that same period. African-Americans
men receive prison sentences 19.5 percent longer than those of white men who committed
similar crimes, a 2013 report by the U.S. Sentencing Commission found.
  The focus from non violent and petty crimes in the past have turned into one
focused on drug possession and sales. With the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986
there are mandatory minimums for drug offenses. There are also monetary
incentives for state and local police agencies to implement the war on drugs.
Similarly to convict leasing private companies have a cheap, easy labor market,
"Federal funding has flowed to state and local law enforcement agencies who
boost the sheer numbers of drug arrests.

State and local law enforcement agencies have been rewarded in cash
for the sheer numbers of people swept into the system for drug
offenses, thus giving law enforcement agencies an incentive to go out
and look for the so-called 'low-hanging fruit': stopping, frisking,
searching as many people as possible, pulling over as many cars as
possible, in order to boost their numbers up and ensure the funding
stream will continue or increase."
 Prison labor by private corporations such as IBM, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Macy’s and Target is legal in 37
states. Under the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), these employers receive a tax credit of $2,400 for every
work release inmate they employ as a reward for hiring “risky target groups” and they can "earn back up to 40
percent of the wages they pay annually to target group workers." Most prisoners in state penitentiaries generally
receive minimum wage for their work, those in private prisons make as little as 17 cents per hour. With such
cheap labor in 1980 profits were $392 million, by 1994 it rose to $1.31 billion. In 2010, the two largest private
prison companies alone received nearly $3 billion dollars in revenue.

 Another ongoing issue is systematic exclusion of blacks from juries. Even

though the exclusion of jurors on the basis of race has been illegal since
1880, today defendants face a similar situation. A formal prohibition against
race-based peremptory strikes does exist, the Court has tolerated the
systematic exclusion of blacks from juries by allowing lower courts to accept
“silly” and even “superstitious” reasons for removing black jurors. In
addition, about 30 percent of black men (about) are automatically excluded
from jury service because they have been labeled felons.
 Social Oppression
Then
THE RELATIONSHIP OF DOMINANCE AND SUBORDINATION THAT IS SOCIALLY
SUPPORTED BETWEEN CATEGORIES OF PEOPLE IN WHICH ONE BENEFITS FROM THE
SYSTEMATIC MISTREATMENT, EXPLOITATION, AND INJUSTICE DIRECTED TOWARD
THE OTHER.
One of Jim Crow's main goals was to keep African-Americans and whites separate
and restrict interaction in order to reinforce the notion of African-American
inferiority. With laws in place and further reinforcement through social customs
they were kept separate in both public and private locations.
These places included restrooms, water fountains, waiting rooms, hospitals,
prisons, churches, cemeteries, movie theaters, restaurants, transportation, parks,
libraries, and public events such as county fairs. The resources and spaces that
were allocated to African-Americans were substandard to what white’s had
available. In some instances there were no facilities available for African-
Americans.
• Jim Crow laws mandated residential segregation, and African-Americans were
relegated to the worst parts of town. Roads stopped at the border of many
African-American neighborhoods, shifting from pavement to dirt. Water, sewer
systems, and other public services that supported the white areas of town
frequently did not extend to the black areas.
• “African Americans have been the subject of racialized and discursive discourse
that has socially constructed them as criminals and amoral human beings,
which challenges their humanity and their right to a legitimate social and racial
identity. Such racialized discourse has its roots in slavery, was reproduced
during the Jim Crow era, and is maintained today through systemic racism to
keep them from having a healthy identity, one that the world can appreciate
and respect.” - African Americans’ Social & Racial Identity Under Attack
Comparison between African-American and White Schoolrooms in the 1930's.
African-American schools were overcrowded, with too many students per teacher.
More black schools than white had only one teacher to handle students from
toddlers to 8th graders. Black schools were more likely to have all grades together
in one room.
"It shall also be the duty of said board of education to make arrangements for the
instruction of the children of the white and colored races in separate schools. They
shall, as far as practicable, provide the same facilities for both races in respect to
attainments and abilities of teachers but the children of the white and colored
races shall not be taught together in any common or public school ..." - Georgia,
1919
Now
Despite discrimination in employment, housing, education, public benefits even
successful people of color continue to face disparities. Still, separate translates to
unequal even for the most successful black and Hispanic minorities who are are
more likely to live in poorer neighborhoods than white people who have
comparable incomes.
Income is not the main factor when it comes to segregation, on average, African-
American and Hispanic households live in neighborhoods with more than one
and a half times the poverty rate of neighborhoods where the average white
lives. Neighborhood poverty is associated with inequalities in jobs, public schools,
safety, environmental quality, lack of grocery stores, hospitals and public health.
 According to the National Association for Advancement for Colored People, “The promise of a quality
education is an important civil and human right that has yet to be fully realized in the American public
education system. African Americans are more likely to attend high-poverty schools, that is, public
schools where more than 75 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and are
less likely to graduate from high school. They subsequently attend college at rates lower than any other
racial group.”
 One policy that is particularly harmful to students of color is the zero-tolerance policy. This policy
criminalize minor infractions of school rules and pushes a large number of kids into the juvenile and
criminal justice systems where they face adult consequences instead of getting the support they need
from school counselors and their communities.
 While black students represent 16% of student enrollment, they represent 27% of students referred to
law enforcement and 31% of students subjected to a school-related arrest. In comparison, white
students represent 51% of enrollment, 41% of students referred to law enforcement, and 39% of those
arrested. Many of these children have learning disabilities or histories of poverty, abuse, or neglect.
• The Great Depression hit the rural South hardest, where To Kill A Mockingbird is set.
Throughout the 1920s, natural disasters, including a boll weevil infestation and widespread
flooding devastated southern fields and with them, the region’s economy. The Great
Depression only exacerbated these miserable conditions. Cotton prices fell from 18 cents per
pound in 1929 to only six cents per pound in 1932. In To Kill A Mockingbird, we see two types
of farmers that were deeply affected by the Depression: the Cunninghams, a family of white
subsistence farmers, and the Robinsons, an African American family who worked as seasonal
farm hands (probably sharecroppers).
• In the novel’s second chapter, Atticus explains to Jem and Scout that the crash hit folks like the
Cunninghams hardest, and that their hardship had ripple effects on the whole town’s
economy. The novel’s narrator, an adult Scout looking back on her childhood, recalls her father
Atticus explaining that “professional people were poor because the farmers were poor. As
Maycomb County was farm country, nickels and dimes were hard to come by for doctors and
dentists and lawyers.” Instead of nickels or dimes, the Cunninghams pay Atticus in crops.”
Setting of the novel
Southern United States
1930’s
Great Depression
Prejudice and legal segregation
Ignorance
Maycomb, AL
• 1933-1935
• During the Great Depression
• Deep South
• Segregation and Racism
Jim Crow Laws in the 21th Century
• In these current times there have been many incidences of racism
occurring.
• One good example of this is the death of George Floyd.
• A demonstrator kneels during a march in response to
George Floyd's death on June 2, 2020 in Los Angeles,
California

• Demonstrators gather in front of U.S. Secret Service uniformed

division officers during a protests against the death in Minneapolis
custody of George Floyd, near the White House in Washington,
D.C., U.S., June 1, 2020
As protests rock the US following the death of African-American George Floyd in police custody,
Kenyan journalist Larry Madowo writes about the racism he has experienced in the country.
 In my first week in New York City last summer, I was invited to dinner at a friend's penthouse
on the wealthy Upper West Side.
 I picked up some fruit for her and arrived at her building carrying a plastic bag.
 The front desk sent me through an open courtyard to the back of the building, past residents'
garbage bags and into a surprisingly dirty lift.
 When I got off upstairs, my host opened the door mortified, all the colour drained from her
face.
 "My racist doorman thought you're a delivery guy and made you use the service elevator,"
she explained as she apologized.
 I have worked in the complicated racial hierarchies of South Africa and the UK and have
travelled around the world, but it still stung that an American butler did not think
accomplished white people like my friend and her husband could have a black dinner guest.
That early micro-aggression forewarned me that America may be the land of opportunity
for many, but it would still reduce me to the colour of my skin and find me unworthy.
It did not matter that I am from a black majority African nation, people who look like me
here have to negotiate for their humanity with a system that constantly alienates, erases
and punishes them.
In Kenya, I may disappear into the crowd, but in America I always have a target on my
back for being black.
“The incident forewarned me that America may be the land of opportunity for many, but
it would still reduce me to the colour of my skin and find me unworthy."
Larry Madowo
Kenyan journalist
• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52895490
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/African-American/African-America
n-life-during-the-Great-Depression-and-the-New-Deal
• https://cibonayrae.github.io/jimcrow
Works cited
• “CP politics.” Christian Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
• “Jim Crow.” Jim Crow. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
• “Jim Crow Laws.” Jim Crow Laws. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.
• Lee, Harper. To kill a mockingbird. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960. Print.
• “Racial Segregation in the South.” Jim Crow. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
• “Religion and the Rise of Jim Crow in New Orleans James B. Bennett.” Bennett, J.B.: Religion and the Rise
of Jim Crow in New Orleans (Hardcover).. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
• “To Kill a Mockingbird By Harper Lee Critical Essays Racial Relations in the Southern United States.” To Kill
a Mockingbird: Critical Essays. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.
• United States. National Park Service. “Jim Crow Laws.” National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the
Interior, 13 Mar. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
• “Using the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ discuss the way the author, Harper Lee, deals with issues
of racism..” — WriteWork. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
• “What are ‘Jim Crow’ laws, and how do they relate to To Kill a Mockingbird? — Homework Help —
eNotes.com.” enotes.com. enotes.com, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
• https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws
• https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-jim-crow-laws-2533
01
• https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/quotes-regarding-justice-i
njustice-kill-387502
• https://www.aresearchguide.com/kill-a-mockingbird-quotes.html
• https://mt15000219.schoolwires.net/cms/lib/MT15000219/Centricit
y/Domain/97/TKMB%20Power%20Point%20Web.pdf
• https://literatureessaysamples.com/examples-of-jim-crow-laws-in-to-
kill-a-mockingbird