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There are dozens of examples of Jim Crow laws - and many of them sound ridiculous. Laws were passed to create separate schools, churches, parks, trains, buses, toilets and so on. Even drinking fountains were segregated. Marriages were banned between colours. Blacks even had a Jim Crow Bible to swear by in Court! One of the most bizarre Jim Crow laws was passed in Louisiana, saying that 'there will be a separate building, on separate ground for the admission, care, instruction, and support of all blind persons of the coloured race'. This showed that even when skin colour couldn't be seen racism and prejudice existed in the whites. These laws were both humiliating and cruel to coloured people. They had to sit and watch as everything that was open to whites was closed to them. They couldn't visit the same parks, cinemas, or restaurants. They had to accept that they were a different race of people from the whites, and an inferior race. And of course, the facilities provided for them were very rarely equal. One black
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The Supreme Court said, "Laws which keep the races apart do not mean that one race is better or worse than the other" but in reality, that was exactly what it meant. Blacks were soon seen as a second-rate race, and this was not only in the South. Although Northern states had no official Jim Crow laws, racism spread throughout the whole country. In 1916, US President Wilson, the most powerful man in the world, said, "Segregation is not humiliating and is a benefit for you Black gentlemen," - he clearly had no idea how blacks felt, but they couldn't tell him. Protesters complained to the White House, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. What a difference from the words of George Washington 150 years before - "All men are created equal".
So the 'separate but equal' description of the living conditions of a black American was one that rarely accurately portrayed the life of these people. In the South, they were definitely separated, completely isolated usually, but they were by no stretch of the imagination equal. They had to live in a world where everything they had was inferior to what the whites next door might have, where they
The Supreme Court said, "Laws which keep the races apart do not mean that one race is better or worse than the other" but in reality, that was exactly what it meant. Blacks were soon seen as a second-rate race, and this was not only in the South. Although Northern states had no official Jim Crow laws, racism spread throughout the whole country. In 1916, US President Wilson, the most powerful man in the world, said, "Segregation is not humiliating and is a benefit for you Black gentlemen," - he clearly had no idea how blacks felt, but they couldn't tell him. Protesters complained to the White House, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. What a difference from the words of George Washington 150 years before - "All men are created equal".
So the 'separate but equal' description of the living conditions of a black American was one that rarely accurately portrayed the life of these people. In the South, they were definitely separated, completely isolated usually, but they were by no stretch of the imagination equal. They had to live in a world where everything they had was inferior to what the whites next door might have, where they