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1877-1953

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Laws that segregated blacks & whites in the South.

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Jim Crow was a fictional caricature of a clumsy, dimwitted black slave played by white actor Thomas Dartmouth Rice.

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With the majority of Southern states’ government being run by whites, they passed laws that made it impossible for black Americans to participate in any decisions regarding the laws that discriminated them. These laws were enforced following the Reconstruction, therefore the racist mentality was still prominent in the majority of White America.

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Why did it last so long? What if they were never made?

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Why did it last so long? What if they were never made?

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Whites were given a political advantage therefore furthering the segregational laws passed. Even if these laws were never established, the segregation would have occurred naturally as whites were rarely tried legally for crimes against blacks. The utter hatred that was thrown towards blacks would’ve been enough to drive them away from white communities.

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- “All marriages between a negro and a white person, or anyone of negro descent to the fourth generation inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited”
- “ It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with eachother at any game of pool or billiards.”
- “Every employer of white or negro males shall provide for such white or negro males reasonably accessible and separate toilet facilities.”

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African-American Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for blacks. Plessy argued that his constitutional rights were being violated yet he was rejected by the Supreme Court. The court ruled a law that ‘implies merely a legal distinction’ between whites and blacks was not unconstitutional.

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As a result, restrictive Jim Crow legislation and separate public accommodations became normalized.