Jim Crow Laws

 

 

Jim Crow Laws
 http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/remembering/laws.html
 

Starting in the 1890s, states throughout the South passed laws designed to prevent Black citizens from improving their status or achieving equality. These statutes, which together were known as Jim Crow, were in place and enforced until the 1950s and 60s. Here is a sampling of those laws, grouped by topic.

 

EDUCATION

 
Florida: The schools for white children and the schools for negro children shall be conducted separately. Kentucky: The children of white and colored races committed to reform schools shall be kept entirely separate from each other.

 

ENTERTAINMENT

Alabama: Every employer of white or negro males shall provide for such white or negro males reasonably accessible and separate toilet facilities.

 

Louisiana: All circuses, shows, and tent exhibitions, to which the attendance of more than one race is invited shall provide not less than two ticket offices and not less than two entrances.

 

HEALTH CARE

 

Alabama: No person or corporation shall require any white female nurse to nurse in wards or rooms in hospitals, either public or private, in which negro men are placed.

 

MARRIAGE
Mississippi: The marriage of a white person with a negro or mulatto or person who shall have one-eighth or more of negro blood, shall be unlawful and void.

 

Wyoming: All marriages of white persons with Negroes, Mulattos, Mongolians, or Malaya hereafter contracted in the State of Wyoming are, and shall be, illegal and void.

 

TRANSPORTATION

 

Alabama: All passenger stations in this state operated by any motor transportation company shall have separate waiting rooms or space and separate ticket windows for the white and colored races.

 

WORK

 

Oklahoma: The baths and lockers for the negroes shall be separate from the white race, but may be in the same building. (Mining companies)

 

 

 

 

Jim Crow Laws: New York 1873-1913
http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/geography/outside_south.htm

Enacted 15 anti-segregation laws between 1873 and 1953 barring school segregation and giving full access to public facilities, transportation, entertainment arenas and cemeteries. Violations of the law carried monetary penalties or imprisonment from 30 to 90 days. In 1921, the state restricted voting to those proficient in English with at least an eighth grade education, reflecting the state's growing nativism.A statute passed in 1930 authorized segregated schools to be established. This law was repealed in 1938.

 

1873: Barred public accommodation segregation [Statute]
No citizen of New York could by reason of race or previous condition of servitude be excluded from public access to inns, public transportation, theaters, or other places of amusement, schools and cemeteries. Penalty: Misdemeanor, with a fine of $50 to $500. Repealed all laws, statutes, ordinances, or regulations existing in New York that discriminated against any citizen on account of color.

1881: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Strengthened law passed in 1873 to include hotels, taverns, restaurants, theaters and other places of public resort or amusement. Penalty: Misdemeanor.

1894: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Black schools in the city of New York would be continued as ward schools and be open for the education of all pupils, regardless of race or color. Only qualified teachers would be employed.

1895: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Entitled all persons to equal rights in places of public accommodation or amusement. Included inns, restaurants, hotels, bath houses, barber shops, theaters, music halls, and public transportation. Penalty: Misdemeanor, with payment of $100 to $500 to injured party as well as a fine of $100 to $500, or imprisonment for 30 to 90 days, or both.

1900: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Repealed previous school separation law of 1864 making it unlawful to refuse admission to any public school in New York on account of race or color.

1908: Voting [State Code]
In 1908 New York City held voter registration on the Jewish Sabbath and on the Yom Kippur holiday.

1910: Barred school segregation [Statute]
Prohibited exclusion of any person to any public school in New York on the basis of race or color.

1913: Barred public accommodations segregation [Statute]
Entitled all persons no matter their race or color to full access of any place of public accommodation, resort, or amusement. Production of any written or printed notice advertising a discriminatory policy could be used as evidence in a civil or criminal action. Penalty: misdemeanor, $100 to $500 to be paid to the injured party. Fine of $100 to $500, or imprisonment from 30 to 90 days, or both.