It's funny how this song popped into my head as I thought about the End of the Road for Jim Crow. Actually just the first line of the chorus. LOL! Then I read the whole chorus and thought, hmmmmm... there are folks who, knowing how UNNATURAL it is to hate a group of people b/c their skin color is different, just can't let it go. Now here we are in 2025, facing the same fight, fighting the same struggles b/c folks just don't want to let it go. 😑
As oppressive as the Jim Crow era was, it was also a time when many African Americans around the country stepped forward into leadership roles to vigorously oppose the laws. Memphis teacher Ida B. Wells became a prominent activist against Jim Crow laws after refusing to leave a first-class train car designated for white people only. A conductor forcibly removed her and she successfully sued the railroad, though that decision was later reversed by a higher court. Angry at the injustice, Wells devoted herself to fighting Jim Crow laws. Her vehicle for dissent was newspaper writing: In 1889 she became co-owner of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight and used her position to take on school segregation and sexual harassment. Wells traveled throughout the South to publicize her work and advocated for the arming of Black citizens. Wells also investigated lynchings and wrote about her findings. A mob destroyed her newspaper and threatened her with death, forcing her to move to the North, where she continued her efforts against Jim Crow laws and lynching.When World War II erupted and the United States entered the conflict, Jim Crow laws were still in force. Racial segregation was an integral part of society in some parts of the country, and so black men who served in the military were assigned to segregated divisions. Black servicemen were given lesser support positions such as grave-digging or cooking, and they were served food in separate lines from white servicemen. At first, black servicemen did not engage in combat, but as the war went on, increasing numbers were placed in front-line positions, where they served with distinction. After World War II ended, America’s segregation policies were put under the microscope and President Harry Truman created a committee to investigate the issue. In 1948, Truman issued an executive order that eliminated racial discrimination in all of the military branches and 0rdered integration in the military.
The post-World War II era saw an increase in civil rights activities in the African American community, with a focus on ensuring that Black citizens were able to vote. The tide began to turn noticeably toward equality in the following years with a series of Supreme Court victories for civil rights. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that educational segregation was unconstitutional, bringing to an end the era of “separate-but-equal” education. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which legally ended the segregation that had been institutionalized by Jim Crow laws. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act halted efforts to keep minorities from voting. The Fair Housing Act of 1968, which ended discrimination in renting and selling homes, followed. Jim Crow laws were technically off the books, though that has not always guaranteed full integration or adherence to anti-racism laws throughout the United States.
Thurgood Marshall, NAACP Counsel and civil rights leader, coordinated several key victories before the Supreme Court that resulted in the dismantling of Jim Crow. Morgan v. Virginia (1946) challenged the Virginia law requiring passenger motor vehicle carriers to separate white and black passengers. The state law was struck down, as it was found to place undue burden on interstate commerce, and desegregated interstate travel. Shelley v. Kraemer (1948) ruled that a state court could not constitutionally restrict an American from occupying a property on the basis of race, desegregating housing. These cases clearly enforced the 14th Amendment, and demonstrated that equality and separation were increasingly antithetical.
Marshall used these victories to prepare himself and the Court for a direct attack on Plessy v. Ferguson. In four cases known collectively as Brown v. Board of Education (1954, 55), Marshall argued that segregation was inherently unconstitutional, and that it denied an entire race the equal protection guaranteed by 14th Amendment. Chief Justice Earl Warren was a skilled negotiator, and garnered a unanimous decision in which the Court ruled that "'separate but equal' has no place" in America's public schools, as separate was deemed inherently unequal. Though the legality of Jim Crow in education had been defeated, blacks continued to struggle for equal rights in its wake.
The Court cases provided momentum for the growing Civil Rights Movement, and a march on Washington by over 200,000 in 1963 dramatized the movement to end Jim Crow. African-American civil rights leaders included: Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Barbara Johns, Charles Evers, and Charlotte Hawkins Brown. These individuals helped bring down laws that segregated schools, lunch counters, and bathrooms. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed the "Whites Only" signs were ordered to come down. Later with the Voting Act and the Fair Housing Act, the legal sanctions of Jim Crow ended. Jim Crow was suddenly at odds with the law of the country, and openly threatened white supremacy.
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