Jim Crow Laws
Loisa Abag, Jasmin Sarkaria, Janice Wong, Winnie
Liu, Nancy Zhou
What were the Jim Crow Laws?
● Racial segregation of African-Americans
from Caucasians
History
● Between 1876-1965
● Passed by the Louisiana General Assembly (despite the
16 Black people)
● Mainly applied to the Southern United States
● Followed the Black Codes (restrictions for coloured
people)
● Named after a song that stereotyped African Americans;
“Jim Crow” generalized term for coloured people
History
A minstrel show portraying a generic “Jim Crow” figure.
Who was Jim Crow?
● people had different views on Jim Crow
-he was an old black slave who walked with difficulty
-he was a ragged black stable boy
● Jim Crow is a fictional character from Thomas Dartmouth’s
song and dance
● Rice portrayed him as an exaggerated stereotypical black
character
● Rice’s performance became a big hit and Jim Crow became
a stock character
Who was Jim Crow?
Jim Crow the Minstrel Character
Jump Jim Crow
● written by Thomas Dartmouth Rice in 1828
● Rice covered his skin with burnt cork
● Rice’s performance and imitators, helped popularize the
beliefs against African Americans
-Lazy
-Stupid
-Inherently less human
-Unworthy of integration
● http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5FpKAxQNKU
Purpose of the Laws
● To create two groups that are “separate equals”
● In actuality a legalization of anti-black racism
● To show that Whites are the chosen people by
God
● Ensured prevention of abominable mixed race
by criminalizing sexual relations between two
groups
Purpose of the Laws
A sign depicting “separate
but equal”
The Laws in Action
● The coloured people separated from the white people:
○
○
○
○
○
at work
at waiting booths at bus stations
at restaurants
toilet facilities
in apartments at mental hospitals
● Intermarriage wasn’t allowed
● African barbers weren’t allowed to assist white women or
girls
● White female nurses were not allowed to be in the same
rooms as African Americans were
The End of the Laws
●
World War II
-Wanted equal treatment for their military service
●
1954: Brown v. Board of Education Case
-Supreme Court made segregation of schools and other public
facilities illegal
●
Protests: brought attention to the Jim Crow Laws
-Montgomery Bus Boycott
-Birmingham Campaign
-The Great March on Washington
Abolishment
● Civil Rights Act of 1964
-Ended racial segregation
● Voting Rights Act of 1965
-Right to vote was not denied to anyone based on
race
● Fair Housing Act of 1968
-Equal housing opportunities, regardless of racial
background
References
● http://www.britannica.
com/EBchecked/topic/303897/Jim-Crow-law
● http://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-month/a-briefhistory-of-jim-crow
● http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/who.htm
● http://www.nps.gov/malu/forteachers/jim_crow_laws.htm
● http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/segregation.html
● http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples/examplesof-jim-crow-laws.html