Jim Crow Laws

　

The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965.

The term "Jim Crow" originated in an 1830s song performed by a white minstrel show actor, "Daddy Rice."  In a racist portrayal of African Americans, Rice painted his face black then sang and danced in an exaggerated, stereotypical caricature. 

Jim Crow laws existed to keep the races separated (segregation) and relegate minorities to a second class status.  The separation in practice led to conditions for African Americans that tended to be inferior to those provided for white Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages.  Thus, creating unequal access to opportunity, success and the "American Dream." 

By the 1900s, the name Jim Crow was used to identify racist laws and expectations in southern America that deprived African Americans and other minorities of their civil rights.

 

Throughout these years, African Americans were forced to use separate restrooms, water fountains, restaurants, waiting rooms, parks and swimming pools, libraries, hospitals, bus seats, cemeteries, and more.

 

Beyond the unfair laws, there was equally oppressive etiquette and behavior expected of African Americans, based on the misconception that Blacks were intellectually and culturally inferior to Whites.