The effect of the Jim Crow Laws

The Jim Crow laws enforced segregation between African Americans and whites. However, it was the Supreme courts decision in the Plessy v Ferguson case (1896) that led the way to racial segregation.  It held that "separate but equal" accommodations did not violate Plessy's rights and that the law did not stamp the "coloured race with a badge of inferiority." This resulted in an explosion of Jim Crow laws in the Southern States.

These laws differed from state to state.

These laws resulted in African Americans having completely separate facilities including hospitals, schools, restaurants, and public places. e.g. In Georgia blacks and whites would have their own parks, Louisiana had separate medical facilities and in Alabama blacks would have separate restrooms within the workplace. They would also have to collect their pay from different offices. There was segregation in jobs with whites being skilled and better paid and blacks being unskilled and lower paid, Inferior housing for African Americans and a segregated society in all aspects of life, reinforcing the idea of whites being superior.

Even though the 15th amendment meant that blacks had the right to vote the states were still able to take their vote away by making it almost impossible for them to register. They done this by introducing the literacy tests which involved answering questions such as ‘How many bubbles are in a bar of soap?’ The grandfather clause which meant only an adult man whose grandfather had voted prior to 1867 had the right to vote. As blacks could not vote before this date they were effectively banned from voting.

In conclusion, the Jim Crow Laws created a completely segregated society. Blacks and whites had different facilities and blacks had the worst jobs and housing.