Discriminatory is the best way to describe Jim Crow Laws. Though Jim Crow Laws originally proposed separate, but equal, communities for people of different skin tones, they instead turned into “a system of laws and customs that imposed racial segregation and discrimination on African Americans from the end of the Civil War until the 1950s” (“Jim Crow Movement”). Jim Crow Laws were more commonly enforced in the South as opposed to the North. One aspect of the Laws was used to prevent colored men from using the same bus, restaurant, and even bathroom as white men. Another aspect was to stop colored men from voting, often beating them and harassing them if they attempted. The term ‘Jim Crow’ originated from “a white minstrel dance show entitled …show more content…
While Thomas Rice’s performance had sparked a more intense hatred for colored men, laws similar to Jim Crow Laws were common “following the end of Reconstruction, about 1877” (“Jim Crow Movement”). Jim Crow Laws were unconstitutional because they violated the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.
To begin, Jim Crow Laws violated the Fourteenth Amendment because they prevented all citizens of the United States from receiving equal rights. One of the most prominent Jim Crow Laws “required that public schools, public facilities, … and public transportation, like trains and buses, have separate facilities for whites and blacks. These laws meant that black people were legally required to use public bathrooms marked ‘for colored only’ and sit in the rear of a bus” (Hansan). Colored men were denied their given rights of using equal facilities and transportation, often receiving …show more content…
Many colored men were discriminated against because of their darker skin color, race, or previous occupation as a slave. In many Southern states, “laws… required voters to read or provide ‘a reasonable interpretation’ of parts of the state constitution” (Fremon 103). While it seemed to be a reasonable condition to vote, many colored men, as aforementioned, were censored from reading both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence because of their skin color and race. Unfortunately, “whites were allowed to vote… while blacks could not, even if they understood literacy tests more than the whites” (Brooker). It was reality that anything white men said was reasonable while anything colored men said was false (Fremon 103). This fact prevented all, if not, most, colored men from voting, no matter how intelligent they actually were. Furthermore, another method used to prevent colored men from voting was to harass and intimidate them from even attempting. Many “blacks who tried to vote were threatened, beaten, and killed. Their families were also harmed. Sometimes their homes were burned down. Often, they lost their jobs or were thrown off their farms” (Brooker). Colored men were discriminated and and harassed because of something they couldn’t control- their skin