Our CultureQuest:
This CultureQuest
was created to give its readers an overview of life during The Jim Crow Era.
This was a time period in which the African-American society suffered greatly
due to segregation. Jim Crow was the name of the system of laws
and customs that enforced racial segregation and discrimination throughout the
United States, especially the South, from the late 19th century through the
1960's.
It is thought
that the name Jim Crow was taken from a character in minstrel shows, in which
white performers in blackface used African-American stereotypes in their songs
and dances.
"Jim Crow" was a character introduced in 1832 through a song written and sung by "Daddy" Dan Rice in his minstrel act. The term eventually came to mean "Negro".
African-Americans living in the South during the first half of the 20th century saw graphic reminders of their second-class citizenship in signs reading "Whites Only" or "Colored" hung over drinking fountains and the doors to restrooms, restaurants, movie theaters and other public places. Along with segregation, blacks faced discrimination in jobs and housing and were often denied their constitutional right to vote.
This CultureQuest
will take you through this time period and help give you a better understanding
of what it was like to live during this time as an African-American. It
will also describe the difficult struggles that African-Americans endured to
get to where they are today.
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Created
by the Students of Law
and Community Service Class 8-313
from Ditmas
I.S. 62
CultureQuest 2004