The Jim Crow Era

The Jim Crow laws were a system of anti-black laws. These laws made the lives of blacks terrible. These laws were established between 1877 and the 1960s. These laws made blacks 2nd class citizens. With these laws came major segregation. There was segregation in schools, on busses, in waiting areas, and libraries.

One of these major laws had to do with a concept called 'sundown towns.' Sundown towns are white neighborhoods that practice segregation by enforcing restrictions excluding people of other races. These neighborhoods are called 'sundown towns' because after sundown, no blacks are allowed in the town. There was a case where a black woman was stuck in a white neighborhood after dark and ended up being killed by whites. She called the police, but they didn't help.

This era was the era of major segregation between races. White people felt threatened because they didn't have to live with blacks as normal citizens until now. This was their way of making sure their lives weren't being threatened by that, and this is why whites treated blacks like 2nd class citizens.