Map of the United States during the time of Jim Crow Laws



Image From: http://kcjohnson.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/jim-crow.jpg



The States that are red are the states that had Jim Crow Laws.

Background

            The laws that told the blacks what they could and couldn’t do weren’t outlawed until the mid 1950s. Before then, life for the blacks wasn’t just unfair, but you might say rough. To begin with, the word Jim Crow refers to the segregated lives that the blacks led. In some cases it might be the minstrel routine that was done in the late 1820s by the author Thomas Rice. To be precise, the Jim Crow Laws separated “persons of color” from the whites so if someone was suspected to have black ancestry, they wouldn’t be able to partake in activities designated to the whites. Things like parks, restaurants, and theatres were segregated so that the physical contact between the races would be prevented. If they were going to the same restaurant, that might perhaps mean that they were equal and, then, they weren’t. As stated in the U.S. Supreme Court decision Plessy vs. Ferguson, they were two group that were “separate but equal”. In 1954, the Plessy vs. the Board of Education, made segregation in all public facilities unconstitutional. Eventually, these laws became illegal and blacks regained the freedom they so greatly deserved.

Introduction

Have you ever heard of such a thing? Something one person can do another can’t. Somewhere one person can go, another person can’t. These foul laws kept the blacks and the whites separated in just about everything. From segregated drinking fountains to separate hospitals, the Jim Crow Laws impacted the lives of many blacks starting in the early 1950s. Follow their history by exploring this site.