{"id":11020,"date":"2017-12-12T14:00:45","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T22:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/?p=11020"},"modified":"2017-12-09T22:18:04","modified_gmt":"2017-12-10T06:18:04","slug":"jim-crow-laws-apush-topics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/hs\/ap\/jim-crow-laws-apush-topics\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Crow Laws: APUSH Topics to Study for Test Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Crow laws were the defining political, social, and economic policy throughout the first half of the 20th century. As such, these laws and policies are going to be super important for the APUSH exam. Keep reading to get an understanding of what these laws meant, the degree to which they were enforced, and how the laws were resisted. <\/p>\n

So who\u2019s Jim Crow?<\/h2>\n

Jim Crow wasn\u2019t an actual person, but an understanding of who he was will help you make sense of the laws his name inspired. <\/p>\n

During the antebellum period of the United States, minstrel shows were extremely popular. White actors in blackface would perform as exaggerated stereotypes of black people for entertainment\u2019s sake. Thomas Rice was a famous minstrel performer; among his most popular acts was titled \u201cJump Jim Crow\u201d. In the mid-1830s, Jim Crow became synonymous with black people broadly, but still in that caricatured form. With this in mind, it may be easier for you to remember the goal of Jim Crow laws: to make black Americans feel inferior, to represent these individuals as less than human, and, most importantly, to keep the vestiges of slavery\u2019s social order intact. <\/p>\n

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\"Jump
Jump Jim Crow, as depicted on sheet music, circa 1832. (Source<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What were Jim Crow laws?<\/h2>\n

For a brief period of time following the end of the Civil War<\/a>, it seemed as though the United States was serious about making emancipation mean something real for freedmen and women. The formerly enslaved now had voting power. As a result, blacks were elected to Congress during this period of Radical Reconstruction.<\/p>\n

However, this would not last long; after the Compromise of 1877, any hopes of black equality were swiftly squashed. As a result of this compromise, it was clear that there would be no federal oversight to make sure that the formerly enslaved in the South had any rights. Jim Crow laws were established during this time period and were in effect until the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Each Southern state established its own set of laws restricting the political, economic, and social rights of African Americans. There were, of course, the larger issues that you likely know about, such as \u201cseparate but equal\u201d schools and employment discrimination. But Jim Crow laws got much more specific than just that. In Georgia, black barbers couldn\u2019t cut white hair; Mississippi made it illegal to print and distribute literature regarding equality between the races; and North Carolina made it illegal for blacks and whites to share school books. Jim Crow laws were meant to be humiliating and made sure that the minutia of everyday life was racialized and oppressive. <\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Rise and Fall of Jim Crow,\u201d PBS outlines how Jim Crow laws permeated every aspect of life in the South. You can watch episode 1 below:<\/p>\n