What are Jim Crow Laws

Jim Crow laws were laws created to keep African Americans as second class citizens

Enacted in 1876 Jim Crow laws made segregation legal in much of the south. They were put in place to try to insure that African Americans would stay as second class citizens. These laws often created unequal conditions that further harmed the African American community.

Jim Crow laws quickly followed the Black Codes that were destroyed after the Civil War. Jim Crow laws came about during the post reconstruction period in the South. They were less harsh laws against African Americans but still extremely unfair. Some Jim Crow laws included poll taxes, literacy and comprehension tests, and residency record-keeping requirements, and grandfather clauses. These laws were meant to stop African Americans from voting so that they could not be heard in the government.

The name Jim Crow comes from minstrel shows in which a white actor would dress up in blackface, wear baggy clothes and smile widely. This was an extremely unflattering caricature of African Americans.