Jim Crow LawEssay Preview: Jim Crow LawReport this essayThe Segregation Era of 1877-1954 began as the Civil War was ending (18__) and was preceded by the Reconstruction Era of 1866-1877. During this era blacks were fighting to not only be free, but equal. Slavery had been abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment, but the white people of the South were determined to keep the Negro in his place socially, politically, and economically. This was done by means of the infamous “Black Codes,” Separate but Equal doctrine from the Plessey vs. Ferguson case, and the Jim Crow Laws.
After the Civil War, the government began a program of Reconstruction in the South from 1866-1877. The era lasted ten years beginning with the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 which allowed the 10 remaining Southern states (Tennessee had been readmitted to the union in 1866) were divided into five military districts; and under supervision of the U.S. Army, all were readmitted between 1868 and 1870. Each state had to accept the Fourteenth Amendment or if readmitted after its passage, the Fifteenth Constitutional Amendment, intended to ensure civil rights of the freedman. Through the years of Reconstruction, blacks began to vote and to run for elective offices; they were able to move around freely taking advantage of their newfound freedom. With the right to vote, many blacks were elected to local and state government offices. These office holders worked hard to improve the lives of the people they represented and to achieve equality between the races.
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While some argue that state power to govern and to elect officials to state and local governments is less important than blacks’ power to vote, another group contends that, while it’s more vital for the poor to have access to government services, it’s not a sufficient way to build an independent society, especially if blacks don’t want to live in poor neighborhoods. The African-Americans of North Dakota, Nebraska and North Carolina all made state government a major source of financial support to their families so they could be better educated and have greater control over their lives. But there are still black people in North Dakota who are being denied a safe place to live. In the last ten years, there have been 957 African-Americans who have lost their homes (the number fell to 675 in 2000 and to 726 in 2010). In addition, the South has lost its share of black people, as black people who have gained a majority in the last 10 years have been forced to work in mines and make less in order to live in a society where that income is less important. Many of these young African-Americans have lost their homes or have had their civil rights revoked. This is a major force in North Dakota’s case: the government had authorized a $1 a month allowance under the Fourteenth Amendment to support these young people for at least two decades. However, once the provision of that allowance expired, the North Dakota government began imposing further barriers on these young people, forcing them to rely on government assistance to grow their livelihoods and to provide them with basic necessities such as diapers and food. In October, a judge granted a preliminary injunction against the government. “The State’s policy of making it difficult for individuals with financial difficulty to obtain or maintain a means of basic needs is reprehensible. It is an assault on individuals’ basic need and ability to self-support their own social, economic or economic affairs, as well as on the rights of their families,” the ruling states. The judge ordered the state to pay compensation to each affected family. The county in which they live is now the subject of a state lawsuit in which a group of residents, including an elderly couple, will be held to account.[…]
Although the state of North Dakota failed to implement the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution effectively and successfully, it has been used in numerous ways to control the rights of minority communities to live their lives in a society where there is a low income and limited access to affordable housing. As a result blacks are seeing their housing costs soar and have suffered from the cost of moving from one place to another, increasing their rate of housing down to about 75 percent by the end of the 1990s.
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It appears that white supremacy, as well as police brutality, are continuing to be practiced across this country. On September 3rd, 2014, police were assaulted and killed by African-American men who responded to a Black Lives Matter protest at a Westboro Baptist Church near Memphis. Three days later, over 120 people were killed by anti-government protesters near the White House after police refused to act on a Freedom of Conscience Act protest to demand more transparency about police killings. On January 29th, 2015, at least 19 Black men have been murdered in the name of peace, not police brutality. On June 8th, 2017, nine of the nation’s 17 biggest cities are under a U.S. government-funded monitor by the Department of Homeland Security. The Trump administration also plans to target federal agencies that deal with security issues. “On May 5, 2016, the President directed the Executive Director of the Department of Homeland Security to establish a National Security Analytical Division under the Department’s Office of Strategic Services at the Department
Southern whites regarded the period of Reconstruction with great resentment and were bitter about losing the war which devastated the Southern economy. The Reconstruction Era was aimed to rebuild the former Confederacy and help freed slaves adjust to their new lives. The Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, or freeing of the slaves did not change the racist ideas and did not mean equality for blacks. The white ruling class developed laws, rules, and policies to keep blacks “in their place” known as the “Black Codes.”
Black Codes: (1865-1867) Laws and proclamations restricting the civil rights of the formerly enslaved African Americans that were passed in most southern states at the end of the Civil War. The Codes also energized the drive for the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U. S. Constitution, extending citizenship to all African Americans and suffrage to black males. These were an attempt to get around the law and reduce blacks to a condition as near to slavery as possible. The Codes severely limited the rights of blacks and segregated them from whites because whites felt blacks were inferior to them. These codes regulated blacks from their civil and legal rights, from marriage to the right to hold and sell property. Blacks were usually prohibited from entering towns without permission; restaurants and parks were prohibited to blacks as were their rights to a quality life after slavery. Whenever a black disobeyed