Jim Crow Laws

The civil rights gains made by African Americans following the Civil War during the period of Reconstruction effectively ended with the election of Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878. Laws enacted in the following decades across the South in particular, but in other parts of the country as well, restricted the civil rights of African Americans and, as you can see in the examples below, made segregation in all aspects of life including travel, public accommodations, and marriage a matter of daily existence. Collectively these laws were known as Jim Crow laws and many remained in force until the 1950s and 60s.

The Board of Control shall see that proper and distinct apartments are arranged for said patients, so that in no case shall Negroes and white persons be together.

It shall be unlawful for a white person to marry anyone except a white person. Any marriage in violation of this section shall be void.

No colored barber shall serve as a barber [to] white women or girls.The officer in charge shall not bury, or allow to be buried, any colored persons upon ground set apart or used for the burial of white persons.

All persons licensed to conduct a restaurant, shall serve either white people exclusively or colored people exclusively and shall not sell to the two races within the same room or serve the two races anywhere under the same license.

It shall be unlawful for any amateur white baseball team to play baseball on any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of a playground devoted to the Negro race, and it shall be unlawful for any amateur colored baseball team to play baseball in any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of any playground devoted to the white race.

It shall be unlawful for colored people to frequent any park owned or maintained by the city for the benefit, use and enjoyment of white persons...and unlawful for any white person to frequent any park owned or maintained by the city for the use and benefit of colored persons.

All persons licensed to conduct the business of selling beer or wine...shall serve either white people exclusively or colored people exclusively and shall not sell to the two races within the same room at any time.

To Start You Thinking -

1) Why do you suppose the complete separation of the races was not law in movie theaters (see the Matinee) as it was in hospitals, restaurants, and bars?

2) Perform an Internet search and learn what you can about the Atlanta Crackers and Atlanta Black Crackers baseball teams. Were they in violation of the Georgia law regarding baseball parks? Explain.

3) Describe any Jim Crow laws that may have been in effect in your state.

Last modified in July, 2008 by Rick Thomas