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How Did Jim Crow Laws Affect African Americans

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Significant amounts of people today often do not comprehend how recently African-Americans truly gained the right to vote. About fifty-some years ago, less than one generation, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act; a landmark piece of federal legislation. The Voting Rights Act help African-Americans across the nation to overcome the legal barriers, such as the racially discriminatory Jim Crow Laws, that often prevented them from exercising their right to vote—which is guaranteed under the fifteen amendment, in national, state, and local elections. More specially, from the ratification of the fifteen amendment to the passage and signing of the Voting Rights Act, African-Americans, as well as other minority groups, endure countless …show more content…

However, Dr. King believed that filing lawsuits was a very inefficient way to help decrease the obstacles that African-Americans faced during the voting process, due to racial prejudice and bigotry—in order to increase the percentage of African-Americans that came out to vote. Dr. King stated that his experience has “been that it takes years to undo in the courts what segregationists do in a day in the legislative halls of the South.” Many states, such as Alabama and Mississippi, in the deep were largely unaffected by SCLC actions in the last 1950s and early 1960s. The number of African-Americans registered was tremendously low; therefore, the voter turnout was low. For example, in the 1960 Presidential election only 29.4 percent of all African-Americans were registered to vote (Beyerlein & Andrews). Likewise, 19.3 percent of eligible African-Americans were registered in Alabama and more shockingly less than half a percent of African-American voters were registered in Selma, Alabama. Dr. King believed the only way to put force the national government to truly enforce the law was through direct-action campaigns. Dr. King went down to the worst of the worst Selma, Alabama. SCLC, along with other African-American activist, planned a march. In March of 1965, led by Dr. King, protestors Marched from Selma to the state capital, Montgomery. During their March they were meet with deadly force by the local officials, police officers, and racist white power groups because of all the blood that was shed, during this march, many historians as well as other people, reference to this day as “Bloody Sunday” (Selma to Montgomery March). Despite the resist from racist white individuals, the marchers persevered and reach the

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Based on the book Give Us the Ballot by Ari Berman, the book focuses on the voting rights for African Americans and the struggle they had to go through to obtaining the right to vote in the United States. Berman also describes the difficulties African Americans faced even after the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. The voting Rights Act wanted to eliminate many obstacles that occurred when it came to voting, which included literacy tests, poll taxes or any racial discrimination that prevented African Americans or other minorities from voting. The voting Rights Act operated and increased democracy participation in the south after the 1960’s.

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These movements put into perspective how MANY Americans were unable to vote and ignored (Document J). Through the years, African American and

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“Laws passed after the Civil War to limit opportunities for African Americans” are widely expressed as Jim Crow Laws (“Jim Crow Laws”). These laws suppressed African Americans for about 77 years, affecting their lives in the worst way possible. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were “separate from white people in society” (“Jim Crow Laws”). Jim Crow Laws had a huge impact on lives of African Americans.

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After the march the right for African Americans to vote in the south was becoming possible for them. Later, August 6,1965. The president signed a law, Voting Rights Act of 1965, stating the southern states must stop their practice of discrimination and not allowing African Americans to vote. James Meredith’s March Against Fear affected the present and future non-segregation between blacks and

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In the mid 1960’s, nearly one hundred years after African Americans were legally granted the right to vote, problems were occurring regarding their voting rights. The Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964 and the Civil Rights march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama happened about a year apart from each other, but they had the same common goals. Surprisingly not only African Americans were involved in these projects, but the majority of people were white. The overall common goal was getting African Americans the right to vote in certain states while not being discriminated against, as well as showing them that they are not alone with their white supporters.

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They rode buses through Alabama, which was known for its extreme racism at the time, and ignored any laws that segregated the buses. A huge protest happened on March 7, 1965. It was the march from Selma to Montgomery. People marched the 54 miles between Selma and Montgomery to get more registered black voters. Even though the protestors followed their training from SNCC, they were still met with extreme violence from Alabama state troopers on Edmund Pettis Bridge.

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“The Jim Crow laws also led to the disenfranchisement of African American voters. States passed laws requiring literacy or history tests, background checks, proof of land ownership, or other complex processes just to register to vote,”(Source 1). Consequently most African American people did not get to vote because they did not get the right education to pass the tests. These were not the only oppressions african americans had to face. There was the Plessy vs. Ferguson Case that made it all the way to the Supreme Court even though all the courts sided against Plessy.

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Fleming’s article, ‘"We Shall Overcome": Tennessee and the Civil Rights Movement,’ was the right for blacks to vote. Even though the blacks had received the right to vote after WWII, many white Tennesseans had found reasons to stop the black people from being able to cast their votes. These included clauses, poll taxes, and even literacy testing. The threat of violence was also used to stop black citizens from voting. Some Tennesseans knew that the violence and unfair laws were something that needed to be changed.

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African Americans have been victims of voter suppression ever since they were given the right to vote by the fifteenth amendment in 1870. There were multiple efforts to suppress the African American vote such as literacy tests, poll taxes, and violence. These efforts continued until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. Before the law was signed for sure, the Senate and the House of Representatives had to vote to pass or deny the bill. On May 26, the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 77-19.

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In order to vote they had to pay a voting tax, pass reading tests, and many would risk losing their jobs if they tried to vote. These requirements made African American men stay away from the polls. Also, white primaries were held which allowed only white males to vote during primary elections and stopped African Americans from voting (“Race and Voting in the Segregated

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Washington and many other cities celebrated while more than 100,000 blacks paraded through Baltimore, but the victory did not last. While Republicans obtained African American voters in the North, the South was an entirely different situation; Ku Klux Klan and other violent racist groups intimidated black men into voting and those who did vote had their homes burned down, as well as churches and schools (“African Americans,” 2016). A few years later, Southern states required the blacks to pay voting taxes, pass literacy tests and undergo many other unfair restrictions. After 75 years, African American voting rights were once again enforced in the

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As a result of the reconstruction, the United States was trying to unite the country but still needed to gain equal rights. ​One turning point in history was The Voting Rights Act of 1965 because the legislation would finally secure the fifteenth amendment for African Americans that outlawed poll taxes and literacy tests.​ The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of treatment. (Amendment XV) ​Many activists arranged protests and campaigns but only led to even more segregation throughout the nation. All Americans needed to be treated with equality before the problem could be fixed.

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As the United States was being built as a country many years ago, specifically during the Reconstruction era, African Americans in the South were given the right to vote while they were constantly strayed away from voting. For many years the right to vote was not given to all American citizens. In 1870 the 15th Amendment was ratified so that the right to vote for any American citizen should not be denied or abridged. Although this amendment was put in place many times African Americans strayed away from voting due to poll taxes, literacy tests and other things that easily discouraged them. Not until 1965 was the “Voting Rights of 1965” established, by President Lyndon B. Johnson, which prohibited the racial discrimination of voting.

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Even though the government adopted the Voting Rights Act in 1965, African Americans’ suffrages were still restricted because of southern states’ obstructions. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was important for blacks to participate in political elections, but before this act was passed, there were several events led to its proposal. The government gave African Americans’ the right to vote by passing the 15th Amendment, but in the Southern States, blacks’ suffrages were limited by grandfather clauses, “poll taxes, literacy tests, and other bureaucratic restrictions” (ourdocuments.gov). As times went on, most African Americans couldn’t register their votes.

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King wrote to New York Times, “This is Selma, Alabama. There are more negroes in jail with me than they are on the voting rolls.” (Klein 1). The National Guard helped them on the last march. No police officers could turn them back, and they couldn 't beat them in front of the National Guard.

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