Handout 1A: Jim Crow
Change did not come easily to the South after the Civil War. During Reconstruction (1865-1877), Radical Republicans in Congress worked to erase the stain of slavery; many white southerners worked just as hard to maintain their way of life. With the failure of Reconstruction, a new system, known as "Jim Crow," ensured that African-Americans would remain segregated from mainstream society and would not receive the equal rights to which they were entitled.
Segregation was a fact of life throughout the South and even in much of the North (New York State permitted segregated schools until the early part of the twentieth century). In the South, segregation became as accepted part of cultural life. The Jim Crow system dominated Southern society by creating separate schools, restaurants, theaters, hotels, and playgrounds for African-Americans. Trains, buses, and streetcars also segregated their passengers by race. Segregation ordinances adopted by some cities even demanded separate drinking fountains and restrooms in public places. Blacks were forbidden to serve on juries, even when the defendant was black. But "Jim Crow" meant more than just the laws on the books- it encompassed every aspect of public life, from the unspoken rules regarding deference shown to whites on the street to the use of restrictive covenants to keep blacks out of white neighborhoods. African-Americans who did not observe these rules could expect to meet with violence. Their primary hope was that in the courts they would find help in reversing state policies which had made them second-class citizens.
Source: Robert H. Jackson Center, Jim Crow
