The Effects on American Society
Although it would be stated by the Supreme Court that African Americans were to be "separate but equal", Jim Crow laws did little but dominate "almost all aspects of black life in the south, from subjecting blacks to substandard health care and education, to daily humiliations of being served last in stores and having to make way for whites on public sidewalks" (Brown). African American were instilled with the understanding that their entire race made up the lowest possible social class, and there was almost no hope of moving up. Blacks often were found living in relative poverty and many lacked the proper education compared to their white peers which explains their continued exclusion from politics.
In urban areas, the largely white populated city's forced African Americans into what we know today as Ghettos, which often consisted of the worst living conditions.
"Blacks would be served last, paid less, required to give way in public places, enter white homes through the back door, and above all, black men would interact socially with white women at the risk of their lives."
-Nikki Brown and Barry Stentiford
-Nikki Brown and Barry Stentiford
Racial stereotypes over blacks became common In the eyes of many White Americans living both in the North and the South. Views of African Americans often varied from a childlike figure to a "Black beast".
As a result of the harshness of many of the Jim Crow Laws in the South, many African Americans traveled North in search for better conditions. From 1915 up until the 1960's it was believed that almost 6 million blacks moved to Northern cities, in what became known as the Great Migration. Although it was thought that they would have better chances in the North, sadly many blacks were forced to undergo many cultural changes. In addition, the amount of other African Americans traveling to the North plus the amount of immigrants allowed for much competition over jobs and housing. In the South, alarmed Whites, worried that their labor force was leaving, and were often found trying to block black migration.
http://video.pbs.org/video/2178377916/
Some even proposed the establishment of a separate black nation in the American continent or to their ancestral homelands of Africa.