Jim Crow Laws
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Jim Crow laws took away African Americans rights, faith, & opportunities. American states enforced segregation through the “black codes”. These laws prohibited their chance of prosperity in America. Anti-black whites strengthen these laws as they soon came to take away many of blacks rights. The effects were devastating in both sides as violence became their solutions. Fortunately the laws finally came to a fall as the Civil Rights came in prohibiting racial oppression & segregation in the United States. Unfortunately the end of the Jim Crow laws didnt extinct the long term effects that upset many.
Prior to the Civil War, in the early 19th century, a white performer named Thomas “Daddy” Rice, created the dancing and singing character “Jim Crow.” The character mocked black people while entertaining whites by playing on white bigotry and racism. Following the Civil War and Reconstruction, after four million blacks became free, racism against blacks occurred in the United States. “Jim Crow became the official logo to this terrible situation.
A serious of reasons led up to Jim Crow laws, numerous mainly based of racism. It was more the south & boarder states that the rose these laws. On May 18, 1896, the United States Supreme Court considered the idea of “separate but equal” which basically were the Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow Laws also known as black codes, were laws that prohibited blacks to do activities or take certain actions next to whites. Most of these prohibitions were concerning to attendance in public places, the use of facilities, & in many states marriage between whites & African American people. If blacks were to break any of the laws they would be punished; spending time in jail or having to pay a fine. However, blacks werent the only ones that were prohibited to do many activities, but also whites were prohibited from interacting in any way with blacks, their consequences for doing so would be similar punishments. They believed that whites were superior & the chosen ones, unlike blacks which were considered second class cursed servants. The citizens in these states were the ones that took away blacks rights after the 13th 14th & 15th amendments by supporting these laws.
The effects were a serious of cruel events. Blacks were fed up with the absurdity of the laws as they grew resentment towards the whites. What was called their “rights” was no longer valid to them for they were being held back on numerous of them. Not only were several of their rights taken away, but also many whites exceeded authority or rights & abused blacks. Blacks didnt have much legal recourse against these assaults because Jim Crow criminal justice system was mainly white people. Many soon became desperately angry to claim justice on their own, & thats when the violence became highly present. Violence arose as lynching became public, & even murders carried out by mobs. At the beginning whites were a majority of the victims, later on blacks became the most frequent lynching victims. Most of the victims were hanged or shot, but some were burned to death, castrated, beaten with clubs, or dismembered. In 1866, some white people developed a group called the KKK (the Ku Klux Klan) which was a secret society that wanted