Jim Crow Laws

The Civil Rights didn’t just involve one law, but multiple laws and amendments. These laws and supreme court rulings helped desegregate public places. There are laws that gave African Americans a chance to have more freedom. That freedom could have been a definite right to vote or being able to go to whatever school they wanted to go to, but there were laws that didn’t always help them. Those laws that went against it or found a way around the Civil Rights act of 1866. There have been laws, acts, and amendments to help end segregation and then there have also been laws to encourage segregation.
The Jim Crow laws have discriminated in so many ways since it was created. These laws often kept African Americans from going into certain public places
or an African American is being in any relationship with a Caucasian. In an article that is titled Jim Crow Laws: Tennessee, 1866-1955, it shows twenty laws enacted in between eighteen sixtysix to nineteen fifty five. In this article it has a law called and also says what the law did. This law says “1873: Education [Statute] "White and colored persons shall not be taught in the same school, but in separate schools under the same general regulations as to management, usefulness and efficiency."(Jim Crow laws 1866-1965) What this law is saying is that young Caucasian children or teenagers shall not go to school with young African American children or teenagers. This would lead to unfair education for African American children and teenagers. The Caucasian children weren’t affected in any way when it comes to education. In another article that talks about what some basic rules African Americans are to follow, it says “A black male could not offer his hand (to shake hands) with a white male because it implied being socially equal. Obviously, a black male could not offer his hand or any other part of his body to a white woman, because he risked being accused of rape.”(Pilgrim Sept, 2000). This rule is meant to keep them from touching each other, even if they weren’t trying to make a sexual gesture. Then the fact that a Caucasian didn’t want to shake an African American's hand out of friendliness shows how disrespectful they were trying to be to them. For some people, that could be like an insult to injury scenario, especially if they are trying to start a friendly conversation with someone and they just get rejected right off the bat. Overall, the Jim Crow laws were a way for states to say they were more powerful than the government and to keep the seperate out of separate but equal.
After the civil war ended, African Americans soon became free.
When they became free they were able to vote, but white supremacist kept them from voting at the local courthouse or wherever voting was taking place. To counteract this states made up laws and acts or even included something in their constitutions that made it hard for African Americans to vote. In an article called Disenfranchising African Americans, the writer says “The disenfranchisement of African Americans after the Reconstruction era was based on a series of laws, new constitutions, and practices that deliberately were used to prevent black citizens from registering to vote and voting.”(Boundless 20,Nov.2016.). Some of these practices included literacy tests that were hard for them to pass and often were very unfair. These literacy tests often had latin somewhere in it. They often failed the test to be able to vote. The people giving the test often did not know any latin or anything in latin. The African Americans were able to vote without this discrimination. The Voting Rights of 1965 was able to end this. The writer in An article named Voting Rights Act (1965) says, “It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting.”. This act was able to let African Americans vote with out discrimination from Caucasians or them stopping African Americans and other minorities from voting. They might have needed some
sort of federal agents to help enforce it, but African Americans could vote without the fear of getting hurt. That law enforcement was able to let them vote. African Americans had a voice in government as a result of this act. It was able to let them pick who would speak for them in government.
There were laws that often didn’t benefit African Americans in any ways. Some of these laws segregated schools and educational based places. As a result of these laws, schools or educational based places for African Americans were often in worse shape than Caucasian schools. In an article titled Jim Crow Laws: Tennessee, 1866-1965, says “1870: Education [Statute] Schools for white and colored children to be kept separate.”. These schools may have been separate, but the students going there weren’t equal to the Caucasians. They were often put in older schools or houses converted to schools in the smaller areas. So they weren’t treated equal and possibly didn’t get the same education, but one supreme court was able to end it. This supreme court case ended up being called Brown Versus Board of Education, but for some places this didn’t end it willingly, it became forced upon them to desegregate schools. In an article written by Ian Millhiser, he says in the title that “ ‘Brown v. Board of Education’ Didn’t End Segregation, Big Government Did”(MillHiser May 14, 2014). The government had to force some states and schools to desegregate through force. They could cry all about it how ever much they wanted to, but they wouldn’t be able to keep the schools segregated. In Alabama, their state governor even closed schools for about a year. This probably made students happy, but it took away their ability to a education offered by the state. In the end he would submit and desegregate schools. All though it did happen somewhat slow, but over time they were able to become desegregated schools. Even the state universities ended up becoming desegregated. African Americans were able to get a better education as a result.
The United States military was segregated for almost as long as the military existed in the United States of America. They often didn’t fight or were put on reserve type duties that weren’t on or close to the front lines. As time went on, African Americans were put into separate fightings units. These fighting units would see a good amount of combat. One of the first African American fighting units in the American Civil war is known as the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. These African American men and other units like it were placed under Caucasian officers commands. This infantry unit would fight plenty of battles and earn their worth among themselves, yet the Caucasian units didn’t always like them or support fighting alongside them. Then in the First World War, there was a African American unit nicknamed the “Hell Fighters From Harlem”(u-s-history.com 2017). The first African American to receive the medal of honor was in this group, but yet they still didn’t prove themselves to be integrated into caucasian units. It wasn’t until after the second world war that the military ended up being desegregated by President Truman. The act he passed was called “Executive Order 9981” (Truman July 26, 1948). This would effectively end the segregation in the United States military and combine African American units with Caucasian units. The Korean war or the Forgotten war will be the first time where African Americans fight alongside Caucasians. Soon this would spread into the American public mainstream and racism would die out in many other places.
The government would end government segregation by passing the last major and well known Civil Rights Act of 1964. In an article called the Civil Rights Act, it states that the Civil Rights Act “ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, is considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement.”(History.com Staff, 2010). This is true, this was able to end discrimination and unfair employment based on race, ethnicity, and many other things. This act helped to bring the Civil Rights movement to an end in the nineteen hundreds in America. It was able to give African Americans and many other groups a better chance at life.
There have been laws, acts, and amendments to help end segregation and then there have also been laws to encourage segregation in the United States.These laws were able to do what they were intended to do.
Some were able to progress towards the goals of what Civil Rights leaders wanted. Then there were others that didn’t help them whatsoever. Segregation wouldn’t have never happened or be as bad as it was if we actually could make laws that would be effectively forced. Instead we had laws that were useless and we had laws that were helpful. Those laws helped make America. Those laws helped to build up a strong race. A race that was determined to get equality. A race that continues to strive for equality for themselves and others. A race that was proud to end segregation through law and
government.

Learning, Lumen. "The Civil Rights Movement Marches On." The Civil Rights Movement Marches On | US History II (OS Collection). N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2017

Jim Crow Laws: Tennessee, 1866-1955 | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.

" What Was Jim Crow." Jim Crow Museum: Origins of Jim Crow. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.
Boundless. "Disenfranchising African Americans - Boundless Open Textbook." Boundless. Boundless, 20 Nov. 2016. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.
"Voting Rights Act (1965)." Our Documents - Voting Rights Act (1965). N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.
Millhiser, Ian. "'Brown v. Board of Education' Didn't End Segregation, Big Government Did."The Nation. N.p., 29 June 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.
History.com Staff. "Civil Rights Act." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 28 Apr. 2017.