Jim Crow Laws Case Study

In an attempt to put slavery in our past, America faced new obligations to help incorporate African Americans into society. Discrimination peaked during this time as Caucasians were forced to free previous slaves. Jim Crow laws were created to segregate African Americans as an inferior race (Schaefer, p. 171, 2015). Jim Crow the term originated in a dance number starring a white person with a blackened face and depicted African Americans as uneducated and poor (“Racial Segregation in the American South: Jim Crow Laws,” 2007). Jim Crow laws gave Caucasians the ultimate authority to undermine African American’s (Schaefer, 2015). These laws enforced public racial segregation in finding houses, transportation, and restaurants (“Racial Segregation in the American South: Jim Crow Laws,” 2007).

During Plessy versus Ferguson trial state laws requiring “separate but equal” were deemed a reasonable act of authority (Schaefer, p. 171, 2015). The term “separate but equal” defined many of these laws as ethical under jurisdiction but in fact were far from equal (“Racial Segregation in the American South: Jim Crow Laws,” 2007). The restrooms and public facilities for African Americans were usually disgusting, crowded, and limited (“Racial Segregation in the American South: Jim Crow Laws,” 2007). Transportation also created segregation by forcing these individuals to the back of the bus, in the most crowded areas; when the front of the bus was completely empty or open (“Racial Segregation in the American South: Jim Crow Laws,” 2007). African Americans could not nurse Caucasians, play at the same parks, or attend the same schools. Signs indicating segregation of the two races could be seen everywhere. Labels read, “colored waiting room” or “whites only” (“Racial Segregation in the American South: Jim Crow Laws,”