So although ‘separate but equal’ was now supposed to be the status of black and white Americans, but of course that wasn’t usually the case. Almost everything was segregated, there were very few places in the South where black and white Americans would mix. There are dozens of examples of Jim Crow laws – and many of them sound ridiculous. Laws were passed to create separate schools, churches, parks, trains, buses, toilets and so on. Even drinking fountains were segregated. Marriages were banned between colours. Blacks even had a Jim Crow Bible to swear by in Court! One of the most bizarre Jim Crow laws was passed in Louisiana, saying that ‘there will be a separate building, on separate ground for the admission, care, instruction, and support of all blind persons of the coloured race’. This showed that even when skin colour couldn’t be seen racism and prejudice existed in the whites. These laws were both humiliating and cruel to coloured people. They had to sit and watch as everything that was open to whites was closed to them. They couldn’t visit the same parks, cinemas, or restaurants. They had to accept that they were a different race of people from the whites, and an inferior race. And of course, the facilities provided for them were very rarely equal. One black man said, ‘”They would find two sets of doors, two kinds of facilities from drinking fountains to schools. One set was White, the other was Black, one set was clean and well cared for, the other was usually broken, neglected by the White authorities, shamefully unequal”. This summed up how segregation made life for blacks in the South. They had to put up with inferior conditions in everything they had, while the whites would have nice parks, nice schools, and nice toilets. They saw the ‘separate but equal’ ruling as a decision that made it legal for whites to discriminate against them – they knew that white Southern states wouldn’t provide equal facilities. It seemed there was nothing they could do about it – their votes had been taken away by Jim Crow laws, so they couldn’t even elect someone to oppose this segregation. States made up laws and qualifications that black people needed to vote, and these were generally impossible. An Alabama politician said in 1900, “We take away the Nigra’s voting rights to help them. They don’t understand politics. It makes their lives easier. We know what’s best for them.” In Alabama, 180 000 blacks voted in 1900, but only 3 000 in 1902, due to the laws restricting their votes! It seemed there was nothing that they could do to stop the discrimination and oppression they faced.
It didn’t take long after the Supreme Court ruling of 1896 for Jim Crow laws to spread rapidly. What had began as Southern State Laws to keep whites on top had become the official and respected US policy in the early 20th century. The Supreme Court said, “Laws which keep the races apart do not mean that one race is better or worse than the other” but in reality, that was exactly what it meant. Blacks were soon seen as a second-rate race, and this was not only in the South. Although Northern states had no official Jim Crow laws, racism spread throughout the whole country. In 1916, US President Wilson, the most powerful man in the world, said, “Segregation is not humiliating and is a benefit for you Black gentlemen,” – he clearly had no idea how blacks felt, but they couldn’t tell him. Protesters complained to the White House, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. What a difference from the words of George Washington 150 years before – “All men are created equal”.
So the ‘separate but equal’ description of the living conditions of a black American was one that rarely accurately portrayed the life of these people. In the South, they were definitely separated, completely isolated usually, but they were by no stretch of the imagination equal. They had to live in a world where everything they had was inferior to what the whites next door might have, where they were judged and usually condemned just by the colour of their skin. Homer Plessy, the man who first opposed Jim Crow laws was in fact ⅞ white, but he was deemed below the white man who wanted his seat just because his skin was a little darker. Segregation laws would continue for over 50 years, and until they were abolished, black Americans would always have a lesser existence to whites. They were never thought of as equal to the whites, and the lives they were forced to live by Jim Crow laws were certainly not equal either. One black man summed it up when he said, “In reality a lot of effort was made to keep us separate, but not much was done to make us equal.” His words undoubtedly paint a more realistic picture of Jim Crow laws than those of the Supreme Court or President Wilson, and tell us the harsh reality of segregation – they were separate, but definitely not equal.
