12.2 The Jim Crow Laws

1877-1965​

I know many of the ways that African-Americans were discriminated against ​after the civil war until the 1960s.

^How would you feel ​if you were treated differently from others because of your race?

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​Separate drinking fountains for blacks and whites.

​The Jim Crow laws were laws based on race in parts of the south of the United States. they enforced segregation, or separation, of black people and white people in various public places.

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​The effect was that many Black people couldn't pass reading tests, which meant they weren't allowed to vote.

Because​ educating African-Americans had been illegal or discouraged in many places during the time slavery was illegal, even by 1900 it was estimated that 50% of Black men couldn't read.

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The Jim Crow laws were unfair and discriminatory against African-Americans. Rather than just accepting the fact that ​in reality citizens were not 'separate but equal,' many people fought for equal opportunities in different ways.

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​We'll now learn about four African-American leaders who bravely fought to end the Jim Crow laws.