Jim Crow Laws Essay

Words: 496
Pages: 2

The term, “Jim Crow” was a colloquialism for a complex system of laws and customs designed to separate races. These laws deprived people of their civil rights, particularly African American people, but in some states, it also extended to other races. The laws varied from state to state, but most of them applied to education, marriage, and work.

The Jim Crow laws impacted the right to an education which impacted many people, particularly African American children. Quite often, the schools designated for African American children had less funding and the quality of education wasn’t as good as schools for Caucasian students (“The Impact of Jim Crow Laws on Education”[1]). Now that isn’t fair at all and affected the students’ futures which is
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Often, places for African American people weren’t as good as the places for white people. According to Encyclopedia.com, “Almost every school was racially segregated and disparate in condition. Consistently, blacks were employed in the most difficult jobs for the lowest of wages.” This is not good at all since lower wages mean that they will have harder time supporting themselves. Also, there was a horrible acts done to black people. For example, “A form of social control and vengeance, lynching followed when a black person stepped out of line, did not demonstrate enough deference, acted out of antagonism, committed assault or manslaughter as self-defense, or spoke out of turn.” (Encyclopedia.com) That is absolutely despicable and that would cause African American people to be afraid.

In conclusion, the Jim Crow laws impacted every aspect of African American (and often, non-Caucasian) people. It affected their education, marriage, and their life. America is supposed to be the land of free speech, yet people could be lynched for speaking out. It affected their education which meant that there would be less scientists, doctors, and artists because African American children didn’t get the education they deserved. And it affected who they could love since they couldn’t be with caucasian people. The Jim Crow laws greatly affected their civil rights and their quality of