Jim Crow-1877

Jim Crow was a list of laws and etiquettes, introduced to freedmen and women. It was a way of life, it was how they lived their lives. If it hadn’t been for Jim Crow, freedmen and women could have been introduced to pure liberty and freedom much more quickly.

Reconstruction was a result of the Civil War. The South, and their way of life had been demolished. The Reconstruction was an attempt at fixing that, it was supposed to reunite the North and the South. The three phases of the reconstruction are: Bourbon, Presidential and Radical Republican. Lincoln came up with the Presidential 10% Plan, which meant that any southern state could be readmitted into the Union once 10% of its voters swore allegiance to the Union. Andrew Johnson supported Lincoln’s plan. After Lincoln died, Johnson took over, but was later impeached. The Radical Republicans voted to enforce the Wade-Davis Bill. it was a strict Bill that required 50% of all white men to take a loyalty oath to the Union. They also passed the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. The 13th Amendment abolishes slavery, the 14th amenment grants citezenship to Black people, and the 15th amenment granted them the right to vote. 

The Presidential election was disputed, against Tilden (Democrat) and Hayes (Republican). Because the voting was questioned in three Southern states, the congressional commission chose Hayes. The south agreed to follow the Amendments and vote for Hayes in the election.  In order for the South to accept the Amendments the troops had to be removed. But with the troops to enforce the Amendments, the Democrats took the place of Republicans in power. The Republicans attempted to get rid of black codes and Jim Crow laws, this was the Bourbon phase.

KKK was on the rise and they were determined to keep freedmen and women in check. Sharecropping and Mill Towns were introduced, these were supposed to substitute plantations. In 1877 the Jim Crow laws and etiquettes were growing rapidly throughout the South. It introduced racial segregation, such as; black men were not allowed to light a white women’s cigarette, a black man would been introduced to a white man, not the other way around, and whites and blacks would be separated on a bus or train.  This led up to the famous, Plessy vs. Ferguson, which cemented Jim Crow laws.this allowed blacks and whites to be segregated as long as they were equal. This was passed by the Supreme Court.

The Civil War wasn’t the end of Racial Segregation and discrimination. It would take another hundred years for blacks to become official American citizens. It laid the foundations for Civil Rights, 1950s to 1960s.