Jim Crow Research Paper
Now, the question that lingers in everyone’s mind, how was Jim Crow even legal? Jim Crow laws directly negate principles stated in the “highest law of the land”, the United States Constitution. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, made African Americans full citizens of the United States. It also prohibited states from denying them equal protection or due process of law. Even the Declaration of Independence reinforces this notion of equality with five famous words, “all men are created equal”. In 1870, the Republican Party in Washington achieved the enactment of the Fifteenth Amendment which guaranteed the right to vote regardless of race. Yet, at the same time the first segregation law was passed in Tennessee.
A huge step forward was taken …show more content…
Each case involved the denial service due to skin color. The defendants in each case argued the same thing: that Congress did not have the power to dictate businesses.These five Supreme Court cases, later dubbed the Civil Rights Cases, resulted in the 8-1 verdict that neither the Thirteenth Amendment nor the Fourteenth Amendment was infringed upon by the existence of “uncodified” racism. Therefore meaning segregation could not be constitutionally prohibited. This decision nullified the Civil Rights Act and took much of meaning from the two Amendments. It also established the state-action doctrine, which only solidified the “legality” of segregation and discrimination by private actors. In response, African American activist leader Frederick Douglass argued that the Supreme Court had effectively left his people “naked and defenseless against . . . malignant, vulgar, and pitiless prejudice.”
With the Jim Crow era cemented by the Civil Rights Cases, racism became ingrained in society. African Americans, like Homer Plessy, still attempted to change the heinous system but were often overruled in court. Homer Plessy argued against a Louisiana law, which upheld segregation in public places, before the Supreme Court. As expected, he lost his case. The significant piece of this case in particular is that fact that in his loss, Jim Crow received yet another gain. Plessy v. Ferguson established the “separate but equal” doctrine essentially saying that segregation was fair and discrimination did not
A huge step forward was taken …show more content…
Each case involved the denial service due to skin color. The defendants in each case argued the same thing: that Congress did not have the power to dictate businesses.These five Supreme Court cases, later dubbed the Civil Rights Cases, resulted in the 8-1 verdict that neither the Thirteenth Amendment nor the Fourteenth Amendment was infringed upon by the existence of “uncodified” racism. Therefore meaning segregation could not be constitutionally prohibited. This decision nullified the Civil Rights Act and took much of meaning from the two Amendments. It also established the state-action doctrine, which only solidified the “legality” of segregation and discrimination by private actors. In response, African American activist leader Frederick Douglass argued that the Supreme Court had effectively left his people “naked and defenseless against . . . malignant, vulgar, and pitiless prejudice.”
With the Jim Crow era cemented by the Civil Rights Cases, racism became ingrained in society. African Americans, like Homer Plessy, still attempted to change the heinous system but were often overruled in court. Homer Plessy argued against a Louisiana law, which upheld segregation in public places, before the Supreme Court. As expected, he lost his case. The significant piece of this case in particular is that fact that in his loss, Jim Crow received yet another gain. Plessy v. Ferguson established the “separate but equal” doctrine essentially saying that segregation was fair and discrimination did not