Jim Crow Laws Dbq

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Could you imagine having to go to a separate bathroom or use a separate water fountain just because of your skin color? What about not being able to go to school and get the education you need to become successful just because your skin was not white? How would you feel if you were restricted to do many things just because of the way you look? Well in the late 1870's and early 1880s, Jim Crow laws were enforced in the south. This allowed segregation to be legal between African American people and white people. The Jim Crow laws restricted the rights of African Americans to use the same public facilities and schools as whites, to vote, and to find decent employment. These laws excluded African Americans from their rights as citizens of the United States. Even though Jim Crow laws aren’t enforced today, the impact tarnished the economic and political views of African Americans. (Drinking fountain on …show more content…

Reason being, it not only brought the decision of Brown v. Board of Education, but it brought the Civil Rights movement. It also brought a new anti-Jim Crow attitude in federal government. The U.S Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, in 1964. This act was a law that ended segregation in many public accommodations, outlawed employment discrimination, and anticipated further major civil rights legislation (Journal of Pan African). The year after, 1965, Congress passed the first Voting Rights Act. It removed the literacy tests as a voting requirement. Poll taxes were also declared unconstitutional because the court ruling in Harper v. Virginia. Even though all these great changes did not end all Jim Crow laws straightaway, they set the United States on a course that would lead to the ending of segregation and discrimination. All of these changes formed by the end of Jim Crow was great news for African Americans. Reason being, African Americans could finally become full participants in the American political process (Berman,

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