Legacy of Jim Crow Laws

After the Civil War, Congress passed (and the states ratified) three amendments to the U.S. Constitution: the thirteenth, which ended slavery; the fourteenth, which barred discrimination based on race; and the fifteenth, which enfranchised African-American males. Congress also established the FreedmenÆs Bureau, which helped freed slaves gain access to education, technical assistance, and land. Furthermore, the Republican party helped African-Americans win elective office at the local, state, and federal level (Barker and McCorry 94).

Those advances came to the halt after the 1876 presidential election. Republican candidate Rutherford Hayes won the support of Congress, which decided the election because of a tie in electoral college votes, by agreeing to end military rule in the South. Whites soon returned to power in the former Confederacy,

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hat separate educational facilities based on race were inherently unequal because of their effect on self-esteem. The Court relied heavily on psychologist Kenneth Clark, who conducted experiments on young children. Clark asked children to pick a doll, black or white. Most African-American children preferred the white doll, leading Clark to conclude that segregation had fostered a feeling a self-hatred (Cose 71). As one commentator wrote, ô[o]nly the most remarkable African-American could have escaped psychological damage from knowledge of the captive status into which the race had been cast, for so long, by a white society dominant since Jamestown and Plymouthö (Wicker 76). The SouthÆs unremitting hostility towards African-Americans prompted many to leave the region and move to Northern cities. Those who migrated usually lived in urban ghettos, for a variety of reasons. Limited opportunities in education and business left them with few skills, and Northern racism, though not as virulent, still restricted the places where African-Americans could live. Harlem was the most notable ghetto, though at first blacks thrived in that area of New York City. However, by the 1930s, the Depression and the sheer number of migrants led
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1768
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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