“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.
Jim Crow Laws provided “a systematic legal basis for segregating and discriminating against African-Americans” (“Jim Crow Laws”). These laws withheld blacks from getting the same education, pay, and jobs as whites, keeping blacks from growing in society. The name Jim Crow came from “the song Jump Jim Crow which was performed by a white man, Thomas Rice, in minstrel shows during the 1830s and 1840s” (“Jim Crow Laws”). This shows how even before Jim Crow Laws were in place discrimination was very strong and was accepted in society. Knowing Jim Crow Laws came from a racist play foreshadowed how blacks would be treated through Jim Crow Laws. Although Congress created new amendments to “protect blacks’ rights…’ these amendments quickly ended and “the era of Jim Crow
…show more content…
Blacks were eager to build churches not only for spiritual reasons but to use church as a social, political, and educational center as well. During Jim Crow, segregation spread rapidly and “some states even prohibited black employees from working in the same rooms as white employees” (“Jim Crow Laws”). This shows the escalation of Jim Crow and the weight blacks had to carry. There were huge consequences waiting for blacks “who violated Jim Crow Laws, such acts as drinking from the ‘white’ water fountain or trying to vote, risked their homes their jobs, even their lives” (“Jim Crow Laws”) These simple tasks came with huge consequences for blacks insuring that the laws stay