The Legacy of Jim Crowe

Throughout history, racial segregation has existed in many ways. For instance, Jim Crow segregation blended a system of anti-black legislation with racially discriminatory cultural norms to create a lifestyle. Jim Crow laws were established to impose racial discrimination throughout the South (Goldstein Hode and Meisenbach). African Americans feared arrest or deadly retaliation if they ventured to protest segregation. In the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling from 1896, the Supreme Court upheld Jim Crow discrimination as legitimate (Goldstein Hode and Meisenbach). The Supreme Court declared that African Americans were entitled to "separate but equal" services under the Law. The Proclamation Of emancipation declared an end to slavery in America, but it did nothing to combat the prejudice that persisted. If left unregulated, racism extended from the white southern populace to the municipal and state levels, infiltrating nearly every aspect of American society. Jim Crow laws allowed individuals who yearned for the time before the Civil War legal support and loopholes that avoided the essence of the Emancipation Proclamation (Goldstein Hode and Meisenbach). Jim Crow's nature readily transformed prejudice and discrimination from despicable vices to admired virtues.