Jim Crow Law 

Introduction 

I heard of Jim Crow Law long time ago. But I didn't learn about it in school or university. In fact in school I never heard of Jim Crow Law. I found a book in public library written on its cover page Jim crow law. I thought to myself that is a strange name for a law and I also wondered what that law is?  After reading about Jim Crow Law I was horrified. 

The history of Jim Crow and how it started and how it ended is a long one. In this blog I will do  short introduction to how it started and how it ended. 

Origin 

First let's define the term Jim Crow. Jim is short for Jimmy like I'm going to Jimmy a lock. Crowbar in 1800s was called a Jim or a Jimmy.  As early as 1700s crow was a term used for the black people.

Jim crow was a song written by a Caucasian comedian TD Daddy Rice who performed the dance on it as well in black face to make fun of black slaves. 

Beginning Of Jim Crow

After the civil war of 1865 a black code was passed to limit the rights and freedom of the black people. In 1865 the republican dominated congress mandated military occupation on the southern part of the United States. The good thing was that the black code between 1865-1867 was eliminated and there were black people who were able to find work in offices and in better positions than just doing labor work. But unfortunately in 1867 after an incident in Louisiana where an organization called white league was so open about Caucasian power and black slavery and attacked Colfax. 150 African American were murdered but the actual number is not known because there is no information on mass graves or dead bodies disposed in other ways such as throwing it in the water. 

Enforcement 

Jim Crow was the law which segregated the Caucasian people from the black people in public places. From taking transit to children attending school to eating in a restaurant, you name it. Black people were not allowed to be  next to a Caucasian person. 

The law started from local government mainly in the Southern part of the United States. Over the time it reached to the federal level which meant there was segregation of Caucasian and black people in federal work places and in army. 

Other than the segregation the law also put poll tax which meant to vote the black people had to pay tax. They also had to prove they can read and write. There were Caucasian people who were not able to read or writer but their grandfather voted so they were allowed to vote. Other than segregation there were private customs such as calling Caucasian person sir and/or making way for the Caucasian person if they are coming on the street the black person had to cross the street. 

How Did It Reach To The Federal Level?

Woodrow Wilson a democrat president who imposed the Jim Crow law on federal level. He was the first President to get elected from the Southern part of the United States. After becoming a president he segregated the workplaces and army. Even to apply in Wilson administration people had to send a picture of themselves to ensure it’s not a black person applying. 

How Did It End?

As mentioned earlier it is a long history and struggle and hard work of many heroes to bring it to the end. Some of the main events which brought it the end are following: 

The earliest fight against Jim Crow happened in 1946 on federal level. There was blinding of Isaac Woodward Jr. who was member of African American armed services. He was discharged from the army and beaten up by the sheriffs and was made blinded by the beating. This got nationwide attention. A musician named Woody Guthrie wrote a song about his blinding and the song got attention of the president Harry Truman. President Truman took action against the sheriffs and they were brought to the court however it was court of all Caucasian juries and the sheriffs were not found guilty. 

Truman then used a different approach and made speeches. He ended segregation law on federal level which was the first big step. Then started the civil rights movement, one of the leaders' of civil rights was Martin Luther king who delivered many many speeches. The civil rights movements achieved many goals and one of them was to end the Jim Crow Law.