Jim Crow Laws

• Jim Crow laws - USA


  1. Legalized racial segregation

  2. Denied African Americans the right to vote, hold jobs, get an education or other opportunities

  3. Those who attempted to defy Jim Crow laws often faced arrest, fines, jail sentences, violence and death
• President Harry Truman ordered integration in the military


  1948
• Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that educational segregation was unconstitutional


  1954
• President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which legally ended the segregation that had been institutionalised by Jim Crow laws


  1964
• Voting Rights Act halted efforts to keep minorities from voting


  1965
• Fair Housing Act ended discrimination in renting and selling homes


  1968
• Jim Crow Laws


  A collection of state and local statutes that legalised racial segregation
• Jim Crow Laws


  • Existed post-Civil War till 1968, so about 100 years
  • Existed to marginalise African Americans by denying them the right of voting, having jobs, an education, and other opportunities
  • African Americans who tried to disobey the laws were either arrested, fined, jailed, abused or died
• Institutionalised Racism


  The Jim Crow Laws
• Ku Klux Klan


  Emerged during the Jim Crow laws period, in order to marginalise and attack African Americans by conducting state sanctioned violence, division and racism
• Ku Klux Klan


  • Vandalised/destroyed black schools
  • Groups of white people attacked, tortured and lynched black people
  • Black families were attacked and forced off their land across the South
• Ku Klux Klan


  A secret society that terrorised black communities, making this prominent in Southern culture. It included people from the highest levels of government to even criminals
• End of Jim Crow Laws

  1. The end of WWII resulted in many civil rights activities from the African American community, focusing on African Americans receiving the right to vote. This was called the 'Civil Rights Movement', which eventually led to the end of the Jim Crow Laws

  2. 1948 - President Harry Truman made the military integrate

  3. 1954 - The Supreme Court ruled that segregation in schools was unconstitutional in the Brown v. Board of Education, ending the "separate-but-equal" education system

  4. 1964 - President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, legally ending the institutionalised segregation of the Jim Crow Laws

  5. 1965 - The Voting Rights Act let minorities vote e.g. African Americans

  6. 1968 - The Fair Housing Act ended discrimination in renting/selling homes