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Essay / Jim Crow Laws: A Historical Analysis of Segregation Laws and Their Effects
Jim Crow laws were put in place to make white people feel superior to black people and created even more segregation and racism to African Americans throughout the 1930s. Jim Crow laws were created to reinforce the belief that whites were superior to blacks in all respects. The impact of Jim Crow laws ensured segregation aimed at dehumanizing African Americans in everyday life, in everything from the use of public transportation to personal relationships. Throughout the Jim Crow era, many people risked big things to fight racist laws. Jim Crow laws were created in 1876 and allowed discrimination against African Americans by “superior” whites. Jim Crow laws were created by state legislators in the late 1800s, after the Reconstruction period. The origin of the laws' name comes from a live performance where white actors portrayed African Americans in a negative and mocking manner. This essay on Jim Crow laws analyzes the origin of the law and its impact in America. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an original essayAccording to the article Jim Crow, “Jim Crow was originally the name of a minstrel show character introduced in 1832 by a writer-performer. named Thomas Dartmouth “Papa” Rice” (Flashfocus 75). In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled that utilities and businesses could treat African Americans and whites differently; this is considered the first major legal step toward Jim Crow laws. Under these laws, African Americans were legally considered a lower class than whites and could be treated as such. After the passage of Jim Crow laws, the lives of black people became more difficult and humiliating, as they faced discrimination in every aspect of their lives. Segregation laws were passed to encourage lower-class whites to continue to think they were better than blacks, so that they would not form alliances with blacks to overtake upper-class whites. In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander said, "At the turn of the 20th century, every southern state had laws on the books that disenfranchised and discriminated against black people in virtually every area of life, punishing ostracism racial that extended to churches, housing, jobs, restrooms, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, orphanages, prisons, funeral homes, morgues, and cemeteries” (Alexander 35). African Americans had a set of etiquette rules that they were expected to follow when in company. “superior whites”. Some of these rules included never accusing a white person of lying, never swearing at or about a white person, never commenting on a white woman's appearance, and other expectations. Black people also had social rules for interacting with white people, which dictated how they were treated. These included sitting in the back of a vehicle and being forced to give up your seat to a white person. A black man could never shake the hand of a white man, nor offer any part of himself to a white woman. Black men also could not offer to light a white woman's cigarette, as this was considered intimate. Black people also couldn't show any form of public affection, because it offended white people. From its creation until its abolition in 1964, people of color and whites fought the)..