Jim Crow Laws

After watching presentations given by my classmates about the history of Jim Crow Laws in the United States, I gained an extensive amount of knowledge regarding the topic. Jim Crow Laws created racial caste system in the South following the freeing of slaves. These laws were extremely racist and created complete racial separation that inhibited blacks from progress. Jim Crow laws include "separate but equal" which was established by the Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson and states that racial separation was acceptable as long as there were "equal" provisions provided for blacks. Another example that was highlighted was Sundown Towns that were all white towns that had signs plastered saying that colored people had to leave by Sundown. If they did not leave, the members of the town would turn to violence and in the case of Carol Jenkins, murder. The politicians of the time used racist laws and restrictions to manipulate the electoral constituency. They used methods such as packing, cracking, and stacking to shift racial dynamics in certain districts to allow them dominate elections and control power. The most horrific topic of the Jim Crow era was lynching. Lynching was used in effort to maintain Jim Crow laws and racism in the South. Lynchings were public, violent acts such as hanging, torture, separation of limbs, and other horrific acts. Southern white families would watch these disgusting crimes as entertainment. Jim Crow laws were ended in 1954 when Brown vs. the Board of Education proved that "separate but equal" was in fact neither equal nor fair. While racism would persist, actual Jim Crow laws were dismantled.