American History: Analysis of the Jim Crow Laws and Their Effects

This essay provides an overview of the Jim Crow laws in American history, focusing on their origins, implementation, and impact on African Americans. It discusses the legal and social context of racial segregation, including the Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which upheld the 'separate but equal' doctrine. The paper explores the discriminatory practices enforced by these laws, such as segregation in public spaces, transportation, and education, and the reasons behind their establishment, including the desire to maintain white supremacy. It examines the political and economic factors that contributed to the Jim Crow era, the impact of these laws on the lives of black people, and the challenges to these laws that ultimately led to their dismantling in the 1960s. The essay also references relevant literature and historical events, such as the Civil War and Reconstruction, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the Jim Crow system and its lasting effects.

Running head: AMERICAN HISTORY
American History
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1AMERICAN HISTORY
Jim Crow was an article in the constitution in America that was the basis of the racial
segregation within the American society. The cultural practices during those times were
completely based on the castes and prejudices. The anti-black laws had also been implemented
during these times. The reasons for legalizing and implementing such discriminatory act will be
discussed in this paper and original reasons for doing so will also be discussed. After the
legalization of this law, African American people were in deep jeopardy.
In the year 1896, the Supreme Court of America finalized to legalize this Jim Crow
Segregation Act in the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. During those times, the term ‘Jim Crow’ had
been used by people to signify the racial segregations properly (Fremon: 34). These anti-black
cultural practices had been completely dissatisfying among the black skinned African Americans
and they were afraid of being left out of the American society. These laws had been implemented
by the people of southern states and these laws continued till the 1960s. It was very evident from
the Jim Crow system that ‘whites only’ and ‘colored’ people would be allowed to use the
restrooms, bus stops, swimming pools, movie theaters, water fountains and other places (Moore:
28)
They were not even allowed in the public schools also. If the black skinned African
Americans violated these rules, they were threatened to be prosecuted violently and taken into
prisons. The purpose of inflicting these laws was to recreate the southern society in the proper
way and keeping their people only (Gilmore: 22). Three reconstruction plans had been
implemented under Johnson, Lincoln and the Congress. It was very commonplace from the
logicl point of view that segregation was illegal within the society. On the contrary, American
southerners wanted to legalize this system so they could gain all the benefits of being white
(Cook, Logan and Parman: 650).

2AMERICAN HISTORY
The situation became so panicky and vicious for the black people that they could be fired
by their employers if a black man did not step off from the sidewalk and make passage for a
white man to walk down. This kind of segregation was not at all justified for the American
society (Moore: 28). It became almost compulsory that black people had to be inferior to white
men even if they were superior in talent and skills. If a black man had a relationship with a white
woman or vice versa, they could even be hanged from the middle of the cities.
The main background reason to legalize this system was to forcibly acclaim that white
people were much superior to black people by all perspectives. There were some reasons for
naming these laws as Jim Crow. The primary reason behind it was to identify the black people as
crows which were black birds with harsh voice. Apart from that, the word crow had been used in
the fictions to denote stock black characters (Rothstein: 25). So, the only intention was to insult
and demean all the black skinned people in the society. Thus, Jim Crow was completely a
derogatory factor for the black African Americans within the society. The Civil War between the
north and southern states of the country and following Reconstruction, white people completely
segregated the black people by weapons like literacy test, poll tax and many more (Cook, Logan
and Parman: 650).
The political rights had been snatched away from the people since political rights would
allow them to vote and elect the government representatives. They were quite determined that
black people should not be allowed to vote at any costs (Graff: 19). They would not allow civil
equality rights among black people to maintain their supremacy in the society. The goals of
Reconstruction in America were to provide equal rights to all the people residing on the land.
However, it was quite evident from the practical scenario that this small window opportunity was
completely shut down by the events that occurred after the 1870s. A black African American

3AMERICAN HISTORY
person named Homer Plessy challenged the practice of segregation in the transportation in trains.
Once he boarded the train in the ‘whites only’ compartment and arrested because he refused to
move to the colored compartment (Cook, Logan and Parman: 650). All these measures had been
taken to establish the white supremacy in the country.
In concluding the paper, it can be said that the Jim Crow laws were completely
unjustified and they were only implemented through legalization as American whites did not
want to provide equal rights to the common people of the African American origin. These laws
had been challenged many times and ultimately culminated in 1960s.

4AMERICAN HISTORY
References
Cook, Lisa D., Trevon D. Logan, and John M. Parman. "Racial segregation and southern
lynching." Social Science History 42.4 (2018): 635-675.
Fremon, David K. The Jim Crow laws and racism in United States history. Enslow Publishing,
LLC, 2014.
Gilmore, Glenda Elizabeth. Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the politics of white supremacy
in North Carolina, 1896-1920. UNC Press Books, 2019.
Graff, Gilda. "Redesigning racial caste in America via mass incarceration." Journal of
psychohistory 43.2 (2015).
Moore, Ryan. The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. Macat
Library, 2017.
Rothstein, Richard. "The racial achievement gap, segregated schools, and segregated
neighborhoods: A constitutional insult." Race and social problems 7.1 (2015): 21-30.