Jim Crow Rule

Few progressives responded to the ills of the inner cities and working class immigrants. During the progressive era, African-Americans had an impact of making initiatives to end the discrimination that was against them. The fight of the African-Americans did not lead to a direct end of discrimination, or immediate changes. There were some remarkable events that occurred as a result of being pushed by organizations, for example, the emergence of organizations like the Niagara Movement (NM). The progressives like NM led to creation of stronger African- American communities through provision of housing, healthcare and better educational services to the black community (King 75). The progressives also responded to the ill of the working class by publishing and reporting acts of terror in African-American articles, and newspapers about the issue. This made sure that the ill issues were made a national initiative. Works done by people like Wells, Du Bois led to the protests and creation of civil rights movements.

The most significant reforms that ever occurred in the Jim Crow law were after the Triangle workers went out on a strike. The workers were demanding for better safety conditions, union recognition as well as higher wages. This was after a fire accident that occurred and killed 146 workers and over 71 workers left injured. The doors to the factory had been chained so as to make sure no employees took unauthorized breaks. The events of the accident at Triangle triggered the need for Americans to reform. There was need for more activists to spread the information and government intervention. It was then that novelist, journalists, politicians, activists and religious leaders came together to raise their voices. This was aimed at convincing the Americans that they needed to reform (Hanson 1). The reformers turned to circulating magazines widely to publicize the problems that the poor Americans were going through. Women who worked in churches also made effort to make reforms about the Jim Crow law. They worked through churches and other organizations of moral reform to make sure they cleaned up the life of American about the Jim Crow rule.

Most of the horrors of Jim Crow laws in the South went unaddressed against the wish of the black Americans. The horrors included the segregation between the black and the white people. The South state government segregated, discriminated against the black race and imprisoned them without trial. For example in Alabama, nurses from the white community were not allowed to conduct their services in places or wards where there was a black American. In the same state of Alabama, there had to be separate waiting space or room for the white and other colored races. It was even horrific when there had to be a solid partition in restaurants in order to make sure colored races are separated from the white people. Further in Florida, there was not to be any intermarriage between the whites and blacks (Costello 54). It was totally against the law. No adults belonging to white and black races were allowed to co-habit when they are not married and it was punishable by law for an imprisonment of 12 months. The other horrors of Jim Crow rule were that no black person would serve as a barber in a barber shop that served people from the white race. People from the colored race were prohibited from frequenting public parks that was maintained by city. This was to ensure the black people paved way for white people to fully enjoy the park environment.

Works Cited

Costello, Robert. “Mass Incarceration Is The New Jim Crow”. Crime, Law And Social Change, vol 55, no. 1, 2010, pp. 53-55. Springer Nature, doi:10.1007/s10611-010-9266-1. 

Hanson, Eric. “Eulogy Of The Scions Of Jim Crow”. Anesthesiology, 2016, p. 1. Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health), doi:10.1097/aln.0000000000001357. King, Thomas L. “Performing Jim Crow: Blackface Performance And Emancipation (Interpretando A Jim Crow: Blackface Y Emancipación)”. Revista De Humanidades, vol 0, no. 23, 2015, p. 75. UNED – Universidad Nacional De Educacion A Distancia, doi:10.5944/rdh.23.2014.14953