The Jim Crow Laws
...America in the fifties,” Ronald Oakley provides his readers with an accurate account of African Americans living during the 1950s. Oakley describes the 1950s as a time period where the racial divide that existed between blacks and whites was more evident then the decades before, particularly for those living in southern regions (Oakley 187-89).With the Jim Crow laws in effect mandating “separate but equal facilities” between blacks and whites, many of the blacks were forced to live as a “sub caste in their own land” (Oakley 189). The Jim Crow laws placed more emphasis on the idea of “separateness” rather than “equality.” As a result many blacks suffered tremendously from economic depravation and discrimination and were still “at the bottom of the political, social, economic, cultural, and educational ladder” (Oakley 187).
In 1954 however, the black population brought on a new desire for change. This can be seen in many of the protests for equality and justice that emerged. Oakley describes this important time period as the forefront for the civil rights movement that occurred later on during the 1960s. (Oakley 190). Although there were successful advances such as the Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) that promoted the idea of desegregation, it would still be a long time before blacks would reap the benefits of what they were fighting for which was peaceful racial integration. The majority of the white population (particularly in the south) fought hard against these advances that were devised to promote the integration of the white and black population. This is because many of the whites in the south believed in the idea of white supremacy and believed that God made them [the white population] to control blacks, furthermore making the idea of racial integration “immoral.” This became evident when segregationists emerged all over the former confederacy (southern...
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