Impact Of Jim Crow Laws On African Americans

The United States first began to deal with the issue of voter suppression during the Reconstruction. During Reconstruction freed slaves earned their right to vote and hold office through the fifteenth amendment in 1870. In 1877, Democrats, known as Dixiecrats, began to impose laws that were designed to suppress the African American vote or better known as Jim Crow Laws. The Jim Crow voting laws required the freedmen to pass literacy tests that they were unable to pass because of no formal education because of their status of slaves. Many states created poll taxes, which many poor Americans, white and black, were unable to pay. Many precincts made their voting precincts “white only” so that blacks would have nowhere to cast their votes. The Jim Crow voter suppression tactics were so successful that only three percent of African Americans in the south were registered to vote in 1940. Although African American males were given the right to vote in

Jim Crow was a man who created laws, that affected many peoples lives during the 1960s. These laws made it much harder for blacks mainly in the South, but then it started to move upward in the United States. There were many purposes leading to creating these laws. During this era, blacks were excluded from many things and opportunities. These laws made many changes and changed how the things were after these laws were taken away. The Jim Crow Laws affected, harmed, excluded, and ruined many blacks and in some cases white peoples lives.

Before there were players such as Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball was strictly white players only. The color line of Major League Baseball excluded black players until the late 40’s. This didn’t stop the colored men of America from playing the beloved American sport. The creation of the Negro Leagues in 1920 by Rube Foster gave colored men a chance to play in their own professional league, similar to the Major Leagues, but for African-American men. The creation of the Negro Leagues was a result of the Jim Crow Laws, state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Enacted after the Reconstruction period in the U.S., these laws continued in force until 1965. These laws created

From the 1930s to the 1950s, African Americans were being severely persecuted and ostracized. The Jim Crow Laws allowed for legal segregation and continued control over blacks in the South. Those laws severely restricted the rights of the African American in the southern half of the United States and essentially continued to restrain them even though the United States Constitution forbid it. The North did not have such laws, but blacks still suffered. When African Americans migrated to the North, they were disillusioned by the fact that they were still not equal. The African Americans were instead delivered a subtler form of the discriminatory actions within the South. African Americans struggled for equality everywhere because of white

Especially considering the Civil Rights Movement was over 50 years ago. “IT IS NO ACCIDENT that the pivotal Supreme Court decision launching the modern civil rights movement was an education case -- the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling.” (Leadership Conference)

Slavery was not a word that was unknown in the United States of America; the word was at the tip of almost everyone’s tongue, only it came with many names. After the civil war, slavery became more pronounced for the black people. The south then thought something ought to be done and passed laws called the black codes which begun the limitation of blacks’ rights and separated them from the whites; white supremacy began. Before, these laws would have been unnecessary because most of the black people were slaves and they were already segregated in public places like schools and theatres. In 1866, Congress did not like this and they responded to these laws by putting a stop to it. Republicans had managed to begin reconstruction on the society and understand the black community. But in 1877 things took a turn for the worse when the Democratic parties recovered control and stopped the progress of reconstruction. This in turn caused the reverse of all the progress made in the past few years to understand the black community; they lost their rights to hold political seats, vote and generally participate as though they were members of the community. Slowly but surely, the south started to restore their racially unfair laws. The aim of the laws? To ensure segregation and alienation of the black community. One of the main powers taken away was the right to vote and they did this by imposing poll taxes, having expensive fees to be paid at the voting booths and

First of all, African Americans had to pay taxes in order to vote. For example, they had to pay poll taxes. Poll taxes are taxes assessed on an individual in order for them to vote. These poll taxes were

The poll tax was a regulation that charged people to vote and used to prevent blacks from voting, which was unfair since some could not afford the poll taxes. This demonstrates that African-Americans ability to vote was made more difficult for whites to prevent them from being able to participate in

The Fifteenth Amendment granted black men to vote. Put emphasis on men because at this time women still couldn't vote.This amendment would not be fully followed until almost a century. What the government did was that they made a literacy test so difficult that no slave could pass because they had no education. So no blacks could vote really for a long time. So to loop their loophole that made a rule called the Grandfather Clause. This made if your grandfather could vote you did not have to take the literacy test. So every white person's grandfather could vote since they lived in england. So this rule did not apply to blacks since their grandfathers were black and could not vote. One of the main reasons that they made this rule is because

What if you woke up one day and everything became separate? School, sports, and even parks; would you be able to cope with Jim Crow laws? Though many whites opposed the idea of integration and supported Jim Crow laws, many citizens of color fought for the right to use the same restroom, water fountain, go to the same schools, and even to intermarry. Jim Crow laws were instituted to separate those of color and whites, because of this, many blacks were discriminated against in social areas and job and school opportunities.

But assuming one wasn’t, the Grandfather Clause was established. The Grandfather Clause stated that if your grandfather was able to vote you automatically could too. No African American had a grandfather who voted, they were all still slaves. Because the South kept on segregating African Americans with Black Codes and disenfranchisement, the Civil Rights Act had to be put into action during Reconstruction.

The Black codes were designed post Civil War by new southern governments as a way of limiting the freedom and power of freed slaves. The codes differed slightly between southern states but they all were ultimately designed for the same intent. These codes accomplished their objectives by limiting freed slaves ability to use the court and bare arms. The codes denied freed slaves the ability to testify against whites, to serve on juries, and the ability to vote. They also denied freed slaves the right to join in state militias. To add to these insults freed black slaves were required to sign yearly labor contracts. The southern governments believed that the freed slaves would become stagnant and refuse to work. The codes stated that any freed

In 1868, Black codes came to an end when the 14th Amendment was ratified. Even though the 14th Amendment stated that African Americans were citizens and the 14th Amendment ended the Black codes, it did not stop the white Americans and their discrimination against African Americans. At the end of the 19th century, the Jim Crow Laws emerged. Even though their were granted freedom and equal rights in 1868, some African Americans did not want to be apart of the White American community or social group. Some African Americans did not want to object to the segregation laws and they wanted to build their own black community. So, over time African Americans were

Black Codes: were passed by the south, they were made to limit the freedom of blacks so they would not be considered slaves however they were still treated like slaves due to the amount of restrictions made by these laws. If they quit before their contracts ended they would be subject to penalty and punishments. Black codes also restricted many of their civil rights not allowing them to be equal in the eyes of the government such as interracial marriages or being allowed to serve on a jury. These codes ultimately invalidated their freedom from slavery.

Even after slaves were freed they faced many problems such as radical groups who would kill them if they weren’t intimidated by them, Laws purposely discriminating against them, and loopholes in laws forcing them into unofficial slavery.