Segregation Legalized Segregation

The South remained segregated for more than half the 20th century. The whites used to think they are superior to blacks and that slavery is beneficial to the white community. Black lives were much tougher in the South because of all the discrimination against them. Whites and blacks were not allowed to socialize. The Jim Crow affected the daily lives of blacks in the South because of legalized segregation, voting restrictions, and the Separate Car Act and the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision helped further segregation with supporting separate-but-equal laws, stated that the Separate Car Act was constitutional, and it made segregation legal.
The Jim Crow affected the daily lives of blacks in the South because of legalized segregation,
voting restrictions, and the Separate Car Act. First, the blacks got more rights because of the Reconstruction Era. The Southern power quickly reduced these rights and legalized segregation. Southern states legalized segregation so they could prevent poor whites and freed slaves from joining together and becoming powerful. Desegregated schools, free textbooks, and education regardless of race were disappeared by the late 1870’s. Next, part of the Jim Crow law was that blacks were not allowed to vote. In 1887, 49% of voters were black. This was during the reconstruction era. 3 years later, only 4% of voters were black. That is a humongous decrease of 120,000 blacks. Louisiana took away black votes, this was only unless they owned property or had literacy. To add on, the Separate Car act provides equal but separate accommodations on trains for the races. The blacks were not allowed in the white only cars and the whites were not allowed in the black only cars. Also, the accommodations were very poor in the section reserved for the colored, the black only car in the train is also known as Jim Crow bus. The Jim Crow bus was also for people who were drunk and smokers. For example, on June 7,1892, a 30 year-old-man named Homer Plessy was arrested because he sat in the white only section of a train, then he announced that he is a black man. He refused to go to the Jim Crow car. He took this case very far and even made it to the Supreme Court.
The Plessy v.
Ferguson Supreme Court decision helped further segregation with supportinging separate but equal laws, showed that the Separate Car Act was constitutional, and made segregation legal. The Supreme Court declared that the laws are separate but equal. This means that there must be accommodations provided for both races. But the blacks usually get the worse conditions. Such as, the bathrooms, water fountains, and sections of trains. The Supreme Court agreed that both races should be separate in order to prevent conflict that might happen if the 2 races are together. Also, the Supreme Court ruled that the Separate Car Act is constitutional. The defense team added that the law violated the 13th and 14th amendment. The Supreme Court informed that the 13th and 14th amendment did not determine social rights. The 13th and 14th amendment included equal rights only. So the final decision by the Supreme Court was that the Separate Car Act was constitutional. Lastly, the Supreme Court showed how segregation laws were accepted. There were segregated bathrooms, phone booths, water fountains, cemeteries, hospitals, and public schools. The blacks always had the one with the worst conditions. Through this decision by the Supreme Court, segregation became legal. This is how the Plessy v. Ferguson decision helped further
segregation. The Jim Crow affected the daily lives of blacks in the South with segregated public schools, voting restrictions, and separate sections for whites and blacks on trains and the Plessy v.
Ferguson Supreme Court decision helped further segregation with supportinging separate-but-equal laws, showed that the Separate Car Act was constitutional, and it made segregation legal. The Jim Crow had a terrible effect on the lives of blacks, they were treated horribly. The separate but equal laws were not fair towards them because they didn’t have “equal” conditions. Thankfully, we don’t have separate but equal laws or segregation today against blacks or any race in the
US.