Jim Crow Laws: the origins, the laws and the fight back

As it is Black History Month, I decided to research more into the Jim Crow Laws. As a student, I had heard the term and the very basics of what they were, but I realize that I didn’t know anything beyond that. Named for a black minstrel character, Jim Crow Laws were a collection of state and local statutes which legalized racial segregation. These laws existed for about 100 years from the post-Civil War until 1968. What was the origins of the Jim Crow Laws? How were they expanded across the South and the nation? What helped bring the end of Jim Crow? And what type of Jim Crow laws were enforced in my home state of California?

Jim Crow Laws started as Black Codes as early as 1865 (Editors, 2018), which were strict laws detailing where and how the newly freed slaves could work and for how much. It was a legal way to put blacks back into an indentured servitude as their voting rights were essentially taken away, they were told where to live and how to travel. And since former Confederate soldiers were now serving as police officers and judges, there was no real legal recourse for the blacks to fight back (Editors, 2018). Jim Crow Laws started with restricting blacks from voting. They included literacy tests, poll taxes and a grandfather clause (Urofsky, 2019). The grandfather clause stated that men who were entitled to vote before 1867 and their lineal descendants were exempted from the literacy and other qualifications. Segregation didn’t begin immediately. Until 1877, New Orleans had fully integrated schools and North Carolina had blacks and whites serving on juries together (Urofsky, 2019). It didn’t truly begin until the Plessy v Ferguson (1896) which created the “separate but equal” standard.  From very early on, people were fighting back against Jim Crow Laws. Notably, Ida B Wells, who refused to leave a first-class train car designated for whites only (Editors, 2018). As well as Isaiah Montgomery who founded a black only town, Mound Bayou, Mississippi, in 1887. The town still is predominately black residents (Editors, 2018).

Jim Crow Laws would expand across the nation. Public parks would be forbidden for blacks to visit. Theaters, restaurants, waiting rooms, water fountains, restrooms, building entrances, even cemeteries would all become segregated (Editors, 2018). Some states would even require different textbooks for white and blacks students and different Bibles would be used to swear on in court (Editors, 2018). After WWI, lynchings and violence was on the rise. For several months in 1919, there were widespread race riots in the country. As black WWI vets were returning home and fighting back. “Between April and November of 1919, there would be approximately 25 riots and instances of mob violence, 97 recorded lynchings, and a three day long massacre in Elaine, Arkansas during which over 200 black men, women, and children were killed after black sharecroppers tried to organize for better working conditions” (Higgins, 2019). The Great Migration of the 1920s, as blacks were leaving the South, found Jim Crow Laws spreading to the North and Western states. In the North, suburban developments would not allow blacks to obtain mortgages for certain “red-lined” neighborhoods (Editors, 2018). As the country would fall into the Great Depression, racial tensions would only deepen.

The end of the Jim Crow Laws began with post-WWII and the Civil Rights Movement (late 1940s- late 1960s). In 1948, President Harry Truman would integrate the military. In 1954, the Supreme Court would rule in Brown v the Board of Education that the “separate but equal” standard was unconstitutional and would begin the national integration of schools. In 1964, President Johnson would sign the Civil Rights Act which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act would be passed, banning the use of literacy tests. In 1967, Loving v Virginia would end bans on interracial marriages. In 1968, the Fair Housing Acts ended discrimination in renting and housing sales (Editors, 2018). In 1971, the Supreme Court would uphold busing to insure integration of schools in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

California had many laws which restricted people based on race. California produced more legislation against Chinese and other Asian descents due to the massive Asian immigration. In 1850, California passed a statute which stated that “no black, mulatto person, or Indian, shall be allowed to give evidence in favor or, or against, a white man.” In 1854, the California Supreme Court would rule that this statute also included individuals of Chinese descent. Between 1866-1947, California would pass 17 Jim Crow laws including anti-miscegenation (interracial marriages), education and employment. In 1891, all Chinese people would be required to carry a “certificate of residency.” If they were caught without it, they could be arrested and jailed. It would be illegal for whites to marry blacks, mulattos or Asian descents. It is interesting to note Hispanics were not included in the anti-miscegenation laws because they were considered white due to their Spanish heritage. Anti-miscegenation laws would be overturned in California with Perez v Sharp (1948) in which Andrea Perez (a Mexican American woman) and Sylvester Davis (a black man) were denied a marriage license in Los Angeles County. This case was the first in the 20^th century to overturn anti-miscegenation laws. Chief Justice Warren would use this case as the basis for the Loving v Virginia decision.

In conclusion, Jim Crow Laws were a massive systemic discrimination against blacks and, by extension, other minorities. They were implicated slowly and gained prominence by the turn of the 20^th century as the denials of basic rights like voting, housing and education were ways to keep prominent powerful white majority in positions of authority. The fight against them had been early on but didn’t gain momentum until after WWII as black vets returned home and said enough is enough. The history of Jim Crow Laws and other laws should not be ignored or forgotten. As we celebrate Black History Month, let us remember these horrible laws as we try to find a balance and harmony among ourselves.

References

Editors (February 28, 2018). Jim Crow Laws. History.com. https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws. Retrieved February 11, 2020.

Higgins, Abigail. (July 26, 2019). Red Summer of 1919: How Black WWI Vets Fought Back Against Racist Mobs. History.com. https://www.history.com/news/red-summer-1919-riots-chicago-dc-great-migration. Retrieved February 19, 2020.

Urofsky, Melvin I. (August 21, 2019). Jim Crow law UNITED STATES [1877-1954]. Britanncia.com. https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law. Retrieved February 19, 2020.