ipl-logo

Effects Of Jim Crow Laws On African Americans

1246 Words5 Pages

The struggle for acceptance among the African American population has been a long and tedious journey. From their enforced enslavement, to “emancipation” in 1863, African Americans have not only fought to gain their rights, but to keep them. Since the end of Reconstruction, African Americans have fought for rights equal to those of their white counterparts. This fight intensified following World War II when black soldiers returned home to the irony of having fought for freedom in Europe, while having few freedoms of their own in the United States. Although there has been extreme progression due in part to the Civil Rights movement, there still remains a strong and persistent disadvantage for African Americans. Most notably, African American …show more content…

These laws sought to reinstitute the economic, political, and social norms of slavery by limiting the freedoms of and opportunities for African Americans. Many used the policy of “separate but equal” facilities to justify segregation, but few, if any facilities for blacks were equal to those of whites. In theory, it was to create "separate but equal" treatment, but in practice Jim Crow Laws condemned black citizens to inferior treatment and facilities, such as segregated educational institutions, water fountains, restaurants, hotels, and military units. Today, African American males are still socially crippled by society. Continuing to uphold the mantra that black men are lazy, incompetent, and uneducated, the theory that “prison is the black man’s university” or better known as the “New Jim Crow,” this analogy describes the true nature of statics regarding the ratio of black men in school versus behind bars. Making up approximately 13 percent of the population in the United States, African-American males are leading the when it comes down to incarceration, …show more content…

Due in part to the previous discussion on imprisonment and the African American male, criminal records deny voting rights and lead to job, education and housing discrimination. Across the country, 13 percent of black men have lost the right to

Show More
Related
590 Words | 3 Pages

In Invisible Men, Becky Pettit introduces the theory that many Americans are seemingly “invisible” due to the fact that most national surveys, such as the Current Population Survey do not include incarcerated persons which lead to skewed statistics that are misrepresentative of the United States population. Pettit argues that the exclusion of inmates from national surveys creates discrepancies in United States economic, political, and social conditions. Further, Pettit argues that mass incarceration has hidden racial inequalities for many years. Throughout Invisible Men, Pettit develops her argument by presenting numerous examples that show how the rising incarceration rate has lead to the invisibility of African-American men in our current society.

Read More
1580 Words | 7 Pages

Today mass incarceration defines the meaning of blackness in America: black people, especially black men, are criminals. That is what it means to be black.” We must change the

Read More
893 Words | 4 Pages

Did you know that with all that Black Louisianians had to endure with the Jim Crow Segregation, they managed to resist and get the rights they deserve?Black Louisianians gained many things during Reconstruction, the end of Reconstruction, and in the introduction of Jim Crow laws in Louisiana. The things they gained during reconstruction, African Americans were given the right to vote, and some even held political office. At the end of Reconstruction, Southern Blacks were then treated as second-class. Then, in the introduction of Jim Crow laws, many accepted the fact that separated facilities for white and blacks were necessary. Black Louisianians Resisted Jim Crow laws in several ways.

Read More
1343 Words | 6 Pages

African American now are nearly 1 million of 2.3 million incarcerated population. They are being incarcerated six times the rate of whites. Together, with Hispanics, they are covering prisons by 58 percent as of

Read More
383 Words | 2 Pages

Jim crow laws were laws that separated the colored people from the non colored. The Jim crow laws stripped the colored people of their humanity and placed them below the colored people. In this essay i will be talking about how the treatment towards the colored people was highly unfair and inhumane. The colored people were treated unfairly and specifically judged on their appearance and their appearance only.

Read More
389 Words | 2 Pages

Felon disenfranchisement is not only unconstitutional but also further institutionalizes racism. For example, in communities consisting of minorities like African Americans and Hispanics felony disenfranchisement unlawfully create a disadvantage for freedom of speech. As stated by Eric H. Holder, JD a US Attorney General “although well over a century has passed since post-Reconstruction …the impact of felony disenfranchisement on modern communities of color remains both disproportionate and unacceptable.” The act of taking away someone’s right to vote notably mirrors the act of forbidding African Americans to vote during the post-Reconstruction Era. Holder refers to the fact that taking away the right to vote essentially withdraws any opinions that minorities

Read More
1656 Words | 7 Pages

US. History Essay Before the Civil War, Black people were treated as Slaves to serve and live with their masters. Slaves were under the Alabama Laws Governing Slaves or Slave Code established in 1833. After the bloody Civil War, buildings in the Southern United States were severely damaged by the Civil War action.

Read More
983 Words | 4 Pages

In her book, The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander who was a civil rights lawyer and legal scholar, reveals many of America’s harsh truths regarding race within the criminal justice system. Though the Jim Crow laws have long been abolished, a new form has surfaced, a contemporary system of racial control through mass incarceration. In this book, mass incarceration not only refers to the criminal justice system, but also a bigger picture, which controls criminals both in and out of prison through laws, rules, policies and customs. The New Jim Crow that Alexander speaks of has redesigned the racial caste system, by putting millions of mainly blacks, as well as Hispanics and some whites, behind bars

Read More
1236 Words | 5 Pages

African Americans face a struggle with racism which has been present in our country before the Civil War began in 1861. America still faces racism today however, around the 1920’s the daily life of an African American slowly began to improve. Thus, this time period was known by many, as the “Negro Fad” (O’Neill). The quality of life and freedom of African Americans that lived in the United States was constantly evolving and never completely considered ‘equal’. From being enslaved, to fighting for their freedom, African Americans were greatly changing the status quo and beginning to make their mark in the United States.

Read More
1721 Words | 7 Pages

Michelle Alexander, similarly, points out the same truth that African American men are targeted substantially by the criminal justice system due to the long history leading to racial bias and mass incarceration within her text “The New Jim Crow”. Both Martin Luther King Jr.’s and Michelle Alexander’s text exhibit the brutality and social injustice that the African American community experiences, which ultimately expedites the mass incarceration of African American men, reflecting the current flawed prison system in the U.S. The American prison system is flawed in numerous ways as both King and Alexander points out. A significant flaw that was identified is the injustice of specifically targeting African American men for crimes due to the racial stereotypes formed as a result of racial formation. Racial formation is the accumulation of racial identities and categories that are formed, reconstructed, and abrogated throughout history.

Read More
562 Words | 3 Pages

This lecture changed my way of thinking about Black Imprisonment. My beliefs were before, that blacks do things that put themselves in the position there in. From the lecture showed that it’s not really the black’s fault that they are imprisoned a lot. From the lecture it was stated that there are more African Americans that are incarcerated then in college and most of them are young African American men. Also that African American men make up more than 50 percent of the prisons in America and most are incarcerated for drug charges.

Read More
800 Words | 4 Pages

“African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population.” The majority group of this statistic are people who come from african american backgrounds. The fact that black people are to make up nearly half of the prison population alone, really conveys the rate at which they are being arrested. Black men are often victims of racial profiling by police. They are targeted by police officers, and security guards, and are accused of crimes unrelated to them, simply on the basis of their skin color.

Read More
643 Words | 3 Pages

Over the decades, mass incarceration has become an important topic that people want to discuss due to the increasing number of mass incarceration. However, most of the people who are incarceration are people of color. This eventually leads to scholars concluding that there is a relationship between mass incarceration and the legacy of slavery. The reason is that people of color are the individuals who are overrepresented in prison compared to whites. If you think about it, slavery is over and African Americans are no longer mistreated; however, that is not the case as African Americans continue to face oppression from the government and police force.

Read More
908 Words | 4 Pages

Only 75 percent of blacks have received post-high school education, compared to 85 percent of whites. Not surprisingly, blacks on average also make less money than whites” (Philip M. Deutsch). It’s unjust that people of color are treated as inferior to white people, and it is that kind of social issue that interferes with the liberties of all Americans of

Read More
189 Words | 1 Pages

According to, WHO, “If current trends continue, 1 of every 3 African American males born today can expect to go to prison in his lifetime, as can 1 of every 6 Latino males, compared to 1 in 17 White males” (p.88). According to WHO, “Most of us don’t know

Read More

More about Effects Of Jim Crow Laws On African Americans

Related Topics

Open Document