How Did Jim Crow Laws Affect African Americans

30 years after slavery had ended, African Americans had lived a harsh life. Many looked for a way out of the South. They began to migrate to the west and north in the 1890’s. This was known as The Great Migration. African Americans were segregated by the Jim Crow laws. Their lives were controlled at all times by these laws. The Jim Crow laws made African Americans as second class citizens. Lynching became a big way to enforce Jim Crow laws. The lynchings were advertised. Groups of people would gather around to watch an African American get lynched. It was like a show that was being put on for the whites amusement.
Thomas Moss, owner of the people's grocery, had a mob heading his way to take him out of business. He defended himself
from the mob and was thrown into jail while his attackers laid wounded. He was taken out of his jail and was lynched. Before he was lynched, they asked him what would he like to say before dying, he told his people to go west because there was no justice there. Ida B.
Wells had wrote about Thomas Moss being lynched. She later became a leader in anti-lynching crusaders. Her white neighbors teared down her office and threatened her with lynching if she returned to Memphis. She defined lynching as an unjustifiable act of economic jealousy and an instrument of terror and control. Thousands of colored people had began to leave the south. This was bad for the south because they had depended on colored people to do the hard work that the whites made them do. Some influential voices like Booker T Washington, encouraged blacks to stay in the south. He believed that the south would eventually realize the value of African Americans at some point. Education, businesses, churches, and other African American owned things became to emerge. The horrific characteristics of blacks began to emerge as well.
1900’s world fair had an American negro exhibit with 500 images of well dressed and proper African Americans in Europe. Instead of the horrific images of African Americans that Americans had shown, there were good and well taken
pictures.
WEB Dubois was the leader of the African American Elite. He got his first bachelor's degree from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, and was the first African American to get a doctoral degree in Harvard. He was one of the talented tenth, a group of educated leaders for the African Americans. WEB also cofounded the NAACP, which is the oldest, largest civil rights movement in America. He believed that slaves in the south could and would not be freed while uneducated. He said that literature was the way to freedom.
New York was a place for success for African Americans.
Harlem became popular for its arts. Every race went to Harlem to enjoy themselves. There were secret codes for clubs. African AMerican artist began to become known. The African American Elite did not like the thought of jazz because the thought it was uneducated. Many Artist came out of Harlem, such as Oscar Micheaux, the first black film maker.
A Birth of a Nation was the first movie to be made. It pushed the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) to revive itself. The movie portrayed blacks to be monstrous and evil.
Dick Rowland, a black teenage male, was accused of attacking Sarah Page, a white teenage female in the elevator. He was taken to jail because of this false accusation. A white mob had been headed to the jail that he was held at to lynch him, but a bunch of African Americans had gotten guns to protect Rowland. 36 sq. blocks were wiped out in less than a day after the fight was over. Property damage was at two million dollars, which is equivalent to 26 million dollars today.
Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant, believed in unity of black people around the world. He owned a shipping company namd “Black Star Line”. He created it to bring his followers back to Africa if they wanted to return. He share ads for ships that weren't his and the FBI arrested him for fraud. He was charged with three years and deported back to
Jamaica.
Charles Hamilton Houston went out to expose the unfairness of the Jim Crow laws. He filmed the unfair treatment between black and white people. In black schools, there were cracks on the wall and it was crowded while the white schools had two story buildings and a basketball court. He used this to help and encourage blacks fight. He entered law school and began an assault of the Jim Crow laws. He didn't live to see the end result of the Brown vs Board of Education case. He had won the case, but that did not stop segregation.
The Negro Motorist Green book, which was created by Victor Green showed African American how not to be arrested on the road. It was also like a over ground railroad because it helped them to get to safety. The bible was always with them on their journey because it brought them strength to continue on.