Jim Crow Laws and Segregation

This presentation was prepared by Fedor Babenko (10B Class)

An important topic in United States history (Slide 2)

For a long time, I went through the history of the 13 colonies in my class. We
learned a lot about the period in America when people used slaves and the Civil
War. Today I would like to address a very important topic that affected the
rights of afroamericans at that time, namely Jim Crow Laws and segregation.

Our goal for today (Slide 3)

We need to understand who Jim Crow was and what his laws did at that time.
We must understand how this was related to the segregation of blacks and
whites in the United States of America and why this is such an important
periodfor all black people.

Who is Jim Crow? (Slide 4)

This is quite an interesting name, which was very common in those days. You
might think that Jim Crow was a famous figure who created the segregation
laws that were later passed in the United States. In fact, this is not the case at all
and now we will find out why.

The Origins of Jim Crow (Slide 5)

Jim Crow was just a comic character that first appeared in the song "Jump Jim
Crow" that Thomas Rice liked to sing. Before the number, he painted his face
inblack paint, depicting a black slave. In the performance of the artist, the slave
was dumb, illiterate and lazy.

Definition of Jim Crow (Slide 6)

After some time, the name "Jim Crow" became a household name. This is how
they began to call any poorly dressed and illiterate black person.

System of discrimination (Slide 7)

It was in honor of this character that the era of systemic discrimination was
named, which deeply affected American society and left deep wounds that can
be felt every time we remember this period. Let's talk about it in more detail.

Hard way of life (Slide 8)

Jim Crow laws were heavily enforced in the South and border states during the
period from 1877 to the mid-1960s. Jim Crow was not just a harsh set of laws
against blacks, but their way of life. The laws officially placed blacks in the
category of second-class citizens.

A massive humiliation (Slide 9)

Believing Christians claimed that white people are the chosen ones, and black
people should be ordinary servants. At the same time, they also said that God
himself supports racial segregation. People advocated that the mixing of
different races was dangerous and should not happen. They said that blacks
were inferior in intelligence to white people.
Official racism (Slide 10)

White people did everything they could to show their hatred of blacks. Only
because of the color of their skin, they became people from whom you need to
separate yourself away. Various news outlets officially promoted such an
opinion and called blacks different offensive words. Now we can understand
how difficult it was for afroamericans in those days when humiliation was not
only allowed, but also right in the opinion of the states.

Jim Crow etiquette (Slide 11, 12)

A black man could not offer his hand or any other part of his body to a white
woman because he risked being accused of rape.

Black and white people were not supposed to eat together. If they ate together,
the white people had to be served first, and some kind of partition had to be
placed between them.

Under no circumstances should a black man offer to light a cigarette for a white
woman — a gesture that implied intimacy.

Black people were not allowed to publicly show affection to each other,
especially kissing, because it offended white people.

Jim Crow etiquette dictated that blacks meet whites, not whites meet blacks.

White people did not use polite honorific titles. Black people were called by
name.

If a black person was riding in a car driven by a white person, the black person
would sit in the back seat or bed of the truck.

White motorists had the right of way at all intersections.

Rule 1: Never assert or even intimate that a white person is lying.

Rule 2: Never impute dishonorable intentions to a white person.

Rule 3: Never suggest that a white person is from an inferior class.

Rule 4: Never lay claim to, or overly demonstrate superior knowledge or

Rule 5: Never curse a white person.

Rule 6: Never laugh derisively at a white person.

Rule 7: Never comment upon the appearance of a white female.

Separate, but equal (Slide 14)

The United States Supreme Court laid out its "separate but equal" legal doctrine
regarding institutions for afroamericans. The legal principle of "separate but
equal" racial segregation was extended to public facilities and transportation,
including intercity trains and buses. White people constantly tried to separate
blacks in order to show that they were better than blacks.

Jim Crow Signs (Slide 15)

Jim Crow stated that the laws passed strictly regulated social interactions
between races. Jim Crow signs were posted above water fountains, doorways
and exits, and in front of public facilities.
Places for black people (Slide 16)

There were separate hospitals for blacks and whites, prisons, public and private
schools, churches, separate public toilets and public facilities. In most cases, the
facilities for blacks were much worse - as a rule, they were old and kept in less
good condition.

Black people voting (Slide 17)

Blacks were not allowed to vote. Formally, there was no such ban, but in order
for a black person to vote, he had to pass a literacy test, which was stipulated
bythe legislation of each state. And you yourself understand that it was
impossible for an afroamerican to get a good education in the conditions of
segregated education and discrimination.

Violence against black people (Slide 18)

Jim Crow laws were backed up by violence, real and threatened. Black people
who violated Jim Crow norms, such as drinking from a white water fountain or
trying to vote, risked their homes, their jobs, and even their lives. White people
could physically beat blacks with impunity. Black people had little legal
recourse against these attacks because the Jim Crow criminal justice system
was all white: police, prosecutors, judges and prison officials. Violence was a
big part of Jim Crow.

Unreasonable segregation (Slide 19)

Just imagine that some 58 years ago in one of the most developed and most
democratic (according to the Americans themselves) countries, real racism was
legalized, which is impossible to explain. There is no reason to separate white
and non-white citizens from each other with walls and reservations.
Conclusion (Slide 20)

After reading all the information, we can understand how important this period
was. White Americans thought black people were inferior in everything for no
reason and decided to simply separate them using segregation and the harsh
laws of Jim Crow.

For a long time, all African Americans were officially subjected to racism and
humiliation. We will remember this for a long time, because it caused its
consequences in our present. I hope that in the future we will not do such cruel
things for no reason, so as notto harm each other. In my opinion, we should
judge each other by our actions, not by the color of our skin, origin or
appearance.