Jim Crow Laws Research Paper

440 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of the Jim Crow laws

While there were many ways blacks and whites were segregated and in no way, shape or form equal, after the passing of the 13th amendment, Black and white people were more segregated than ever. After the passing of the 13th amendment, the southern states enacted "black codes" which were then followed by Jim Crow laws. Black codes and Jim Crow laws restricting black peoples freedom, wages and to ensure that they were available for labor force. Black codes were enacted right after the civil war, each of these codes varied from state to state. The new set of laws were intended to continue cheap labor, and the inadequacy of black people. There was also something known as vagrancy laws, that declares a black person vagrant if they were not employed and didn’t have a permanent resident. Some southern states even limited property that blacks could own. These laws were then repealed in 1866 after the reconstruction period, which was the period after the civil war which lasted 1865-1877). The first vagrancy law was enacted on November 22, 1865 and it was made to civil officer to hire orphaned blacks and it forbade orphans from leaving there jobs for any reason. The workers were compensated …show more content…

The laws effected black’s everyday life and enforced racial segregation in the south. Jim Crow was the name of a minstrel routine (actually Jump Jim Crow) performed beginning in 1828 by its author, Thomas Dartmouth (“Daddy”) Rice, and by many imitators, including actor Joseph Jefferson. The term came to be a derogatory term for African Americans and a designation for their segregated life. This segregation principle was used for parks, cemeteries, theatres, and restaurants in an effort to prevent any contact between blacks and whites as equals. It was classified on local and state levels and most famously with the “separate but equal” decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy vs. Ferguson

Show More
Related

  • Reforms Introduced in the American South between 1865 and 1877

    363 Words  | 1 Pages

    Groups of people soon received new rights. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. It gave black Americans full citizenship and guaranteed them equal treatment. Also, it passed the Fourteenth Amendment to make sure that the Supreme Court couldn’t declare the Civil Rights Act unconstitutional. The amendment made blacks citizens of the United States and the states in which they lived. Also, states were forbidden to deprive blacks of life, liberty, or property without due process. Additionally, blacks could not be discriminated by the law. If a state would deprive blacks of their rights as citizens, it’s number of congressional representatives would be reduced. The Civil Rights Act as well as the Fourteenth Amendment affected both the North and the South.

    Read More

  • Analysis of the Black Codes 1865-66

    558 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Black Codes were legal statutes and constitutional amendments enacted by the ex Confederate states following the Civil War that sought to restrict the liberties of newly free slaves, to ensure a supply of inexpensive agricultural labor, and maintain a white dominated hierachy. (paragraph 1) In southern states, prior to the Civil War they enacted Slave Codes to regulate the institution of slavery. And northern non-slave holding states enacted laws to limit the black political power and social mobility. (paragraph 2) Black Codes were adopted after the Civil War and borrowed points from the antebellum slave laws as well as laws in the northern states used to regulate free blacks. (paragraph 3) Eventually, the Black Codes were extinguished when Radical Republican Reconstruction efforts began in 1866-67 along with the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment and civil rights legislation. The lives of the Black Codes did not have longevity but were significant. (paragraph 3)

    Read More

  • Jim Crowe Blues Summary

    440 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the article Jim Crowe Blues by Leon F Litwack, he discussed society during the reconstruction era. Litwack discusses a lot about the origin of Jim Crowe. He speaks of black codes as well. The unjust laws and treatment begins to be extreme, and went on for way to long. Blacks understood that is was not okay for treatment like they were given. Unconstitutional laws were passed, forcing African Americans to fight for their rights.

    Read More

  • Analysis of the Documentary: The Freedom Riders

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    After the end of American Civil War in 1865, The Thirteenth Amendment was added to the constitution of the United States that stated “Neither slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have duly convicted, shall exist in the United States, nor any place subject to their jurisdiction.” By this no black people could be owned by the whites. In spite of this, blacks were severely segregated in the South. This resulted in the formation of anti-radical movement in the South called Ku Klux Klan organization which represented white supremacy by whipping ...

    Read More

  • Jim Crow Era: A Nightmare of Racial Discrimination

    2275 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Jim Crow era was a racial status system used primarily in the south between the years of 1877 and the mid 1960’s. Jim Crow was a series of anti-black rules and conditions that were never right. The social conditions and legal discrimination of the Jim Crow era denied African Americans democratic rights and freedoms frequently. There were numerous ways in which African Americans were denied social and political equality under Jim Crow. Along with that, lynching occurred quite frequently, thousands being done over the era.

    Read More

  • Sundown Towns in America

    1884 Words  | 4 Pages

    On December 6, 1865, the thirteenth amendment to the United States constitution was ratified (Archives). This amendment effectively abolished slavery with the exception of a punishment for a crime (Archives). This was a great victory for blacks, who had been the preferred target for slaves. For many, however, the passage of the amendment failed to change the attitudes of white Americans. Blacks were clearly not welcome in many cities across the nation, with laws allowing blacks to work within a city’s limits, but requiring them to leave before sundown.

    Read More

  • Black Codes

    523 Words  | 2 Pages

    the Civil War, in 1865, the southern plantation owners were left with minimal labor. They were bitter over the outcome of the war and wanted to keep African Americans under their control. Black Codes were unique to the southern states, and each state had its own variation of them. In general, the codes compelled the freedmen to work. Any unemployed black could be arrested and charged with vagrancy.

    Read More

  • The Civil War: Reconstruction

    1148 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the time of reconstruction, the 13th amendment abolished slavery. As the Nation was attempting to pick up their broken pieces and mend the brokenness of the states, former slaves were getting the opportunity to start their new, free lives. This however, created tension between the Northerners and the Southerners once again. The Southerners hated the fact that their slaves were being freed and did not belong to them anymore. The plantations were suffering without the slaves laboring and the owners were running out of solutions. This created tension between the Southern planation owners and the now freed African Americans. There were many laws throughout the North and the South that were made purposely to discriminate the African Americans.

    Read More

  • black code

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    Black Codes was a name given to laws passed by southern governments established during the presidency of Andrew Johnson. These laws imposed severe restrictions on freed slaves such as prohibiting their right to vote, forbidding them to sit on juries, limiting their right to testify against white men, carrying weapons in public places and working in certain occupations.

    Read More

  • Why Is Reconstruction A Turning Point For Reconstruction

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the reconstruction period, African Americans benefited from the civil rights act of March 1866 and the 13th, 14th and 15th amendment. However, for African Americans in the former confederacy, opportunities were limited as in1865 and 1866 the former confederacy states passed black codes’ a replacement of the former slave codes, which once again forcibly cemented the second-class status of African Americans. The most oppressive of the codes was against vagrancy, ...

    Read More

  • Jim Crow Laws

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although the 13th Amendment ended slavery, it did not solve the problem of unjust treatment towards African Americans. “Jim Crow Laws were laws in the South based on race. They enforced segregation between white people and black people in public places such as schools, transportation, restrooms, and restaurants. They also made it difficult for black people to vote” (“Civil Rights for Kids”). These laws promoted the idea of “separate but equal”. “The name "Jim Crow" comes from an African-American character in a song from 1832. After the song came out, the term "Jim Crow" was often used to refer to African-Americans and soon the segregation laws became known as "Jim Crow" Laws” (“Civil Rights for Kids”). These laws created segregation and made white Americans superior to all other races. The laws were in place for 77 years, but the harsh effects lasted for many years to come.

    Read More

  • Revolution during Reconstruction

    1024 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1860, blacks were enslaved in the south. By 1877, blacks were legally allowed to vote and have all the rights afforded to any white man. The first major change to blacks’ rights was made by the thirteenth amendment. It abolished slavery in the United States; however it left blacks in a limbo between slaves and citizens. Some government officials, such as Gideon Welles, disagreed with the federal government dealing with civil rights. Contrary to their wishes, the next change came from the fourteenth amendment, which established blacks as full citizens. This was much to the delight of blacks who fought for the Un...

    Read More

  • The Causes And Effects Of The New Jim Crow Laws

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    The laws known as “Jim Crow” were laws presented to basically establish racial apartheid in the United States. These laws were more than in effect for “for three centuries of a century beginning in the 1800s” according to a Jim Crow Law article on PBS. Many try to say these laws didn’t have that big of an effect on African American lives but in affected almost everything in their daily life from segregation of things: such as schools, parks, restrooms, libraries, bus seatings, and also restaurants. The government got away with this because of the legal theory “separate but equal” but none of the blacks establishments were to the same standards of the whites. Signs that read “Whites Only” and “Colored” were seen at places all arounds cities.

    Read More

  • 13th Amendment Essay

    1609 Words  | 4 Pages

    The 13th amendment was adopted speedily in the aftermath of the Civil War, with the simple direct purpose of forbidding slavery anywhere in the United States. The 13th Amendment took authority away from the states, so that no state could institute slavery, and it attempted to constitutional grant the natural right of liberty. Think that this amendment would suffice, Congressional Republicans pushed the amendment through. To counter the amendment, a series of laws called the Black Codes were enacted by the former Confederate states, which

    Read More

  • Black Codes Effect

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the 13th amendment was passed, there was a severe shortage of workers on plantations and they needed help. The black codes were partially created because of economic worries of not having labor in the south. They helped reconstruction because it ensured that wealthy southern landowners would have a cheap and steady workforce they needed, because some of the codes forced African Americans to sign contracts that required them to work for meager wages. The government was also scared that the freed slaves would try to get revenge on their owners. The black codes helped regain control and inhibit the freedoms over the freed slaves, prevent black uprisings, ensure the continued and steady supply of cheap labor, and maintain segregation and white supremacy. Also, without the black codes, many amendments granting African Americans equal rights wouldn’t have been passed. The black codes forced congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th amendment. The northerners reaction to black codes helped produce radical reconstruction and the 14th and 15th

    Read More

More about Jim Crow Laws Research Paper

Open Document