Jim Crow laws

• PRINT
• EMAIL

Jim Crow laws, named for an antebellum minstrel show character, were late-19th-century statutes passed by the legislatures of the Southern states that created a racial caste system in the American South. Although slavery had been abolished, many whites at this time believed that nonwhites were inherently inferior and to support this belief sought rationalizations through religion and science. The U.S. Supreme Court was inclined to agree with the white-supremacist judgment and in 1883 began to strike down the foundations of the post-Civil War Reconstruction, declaring the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional. In 1896 it legitimized the principle of "separate but equal" in its ruling Plessy v. Ferguson.

 

The high court rulings led to a profusion of Jim Crow laws. By 1914 every Southern state had passed laws that created two separate societies — one black, the other white. This artificial structure was maintained by denying the franchise to blacks through the use of devices such as grandfather clauses, poll taxes, and literacy tests. It was further strengthened by the creation of separate facilities in every part of society, including schools, restaurants, streetcars, health-care institutions, and cemeteries.

The first major blow against the Jim Crow system of racial segregation was struck in 1954 by the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, which declared segregation in the public schools unconstitutional. In the following decade the system slowly crumbled under the onslaught of the civil rights movement. The legal structure of segregation was finally ended by the civil rights legislation of 1964–68.

Ronald L. Lewis

The Age of Jim CrowTrouble in Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim CrowBoston Confronts Jim Crow, 1890–1920The Strange Career of Jim CrowBibliography: (1957; 3d rev. ed., 1974). (1996); Woodward, C. Vann, (1997); Shaw, S. J., (1990); Schneider, M. R., (1998); McMillen, N. R., (1990); Litwack, Leon F., (1992); Kennedy, S., (1982); Finkelman, P., ed., Cell, John W., The Highest Stage of White SupremacyJim Crow Guide: The Way It WasDark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim CrowWhat a Woman Ought to Be and to Do: Black Professional Women Workers during the Jim Crow EraThe Highest Stage of White SupremacyJim Crow Guide: The Way It WasDark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim CrowWhat a Woman Ought to Be and to Do: Black Professional Women Workers during the Jim Crow Era

Black Beauty: Millionaire C. J. Walker
America's first self-made woman millionaire, Madame C. J. Walker, helped style the Harlem Renaissance.

A Conflict in Black and White
Brief history of the civil rights movement in America from 1955 to 1968.

“I Have a Dream”
Martin Luther King Jr. proved his leadership during the year-long bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, the start of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

LESSON PLAN	Breaking Barriers with Melba Pattillo Students learn about instrumental figures in the civil rights movement, such as Melba Pattillo.
UNIT PLAN	Black History in America Students learn about the African-American experience through interviews, historical sketches, interactives, and lessons.
ONLINE ACTIVITY	Culture & Change: Black History in America Learn about African-American history with our collection of online activities that explore the lives of Rosa Parks, Melba Beals Pattillo, and...