The
term "Jim Crow" came from a minstrel show song "Jump
Jim Crow", written in 1828 by Thomas Rice. Rice, a White man,
painted his face black and presented a caricature of a poor rural
Black man.
It didn't take long for "Jim Crow" to
become a by-word for the practice of racial segregation that would
reinforce the inequality of Blacks. Jim Crow laws, also known as
Black Codes, were passed to ensure that segregation in a wide range
of situations was enforced. Such segregation continued until the
1960s. The modern civil rights era was ushered in by the actions
of an African-American woman, Rosa
Parks, who defied one of the Jim Crow laws by refusing to give
up her seat on a bus to a White man. Along with the laws, there
were often unspoken 'local' rules regulating the interaction of
Whites and Blacks. Breaking these rules could result in a lynching-in
the last twenty years of the 19th century approximately 10,000 lynchings
were carried out.
Some of the Jim Crow laws in Alabama included:
Restaurants forbidden to serve Whites and Blacks in the same
room, unless a seven-foot (2.1 metres) or higher barrier had
been installed.
Blacks and Whites forbidden to play billiards together.
Separate toilets and drinking fountains.
White nurses not required to attend to Black men in hospitals.
Separate ticket booths and waiting rooms at train stations,
separate carriages on trains.
The
term "Jim Crow" came from a minstrel show song "Jump
Jim Crow", written in 1828 by Thomas Rice. Rice, a White man,
painted his face black and presented a caricature of a poor rural
Black man.