Analogy of Racial Segregation the Consequences of Term Paper

Analogy of Racial Segregation

The consequences of past events can teach us lessons, shaping the way we think today. For instance, racial segregation, which was established by the Jim Crow laws of the Civil War period and ended in the 1960s with the Civil Rights Act, saw the public separation of blacks and whites. Lessons were learned in that the unethical condition of segregation was recognized, but nearly a century in waiting. Thus, the Jim Crow laws of the late nineteenth century, along with the reversal of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, were reexamined for their constitutionality, and the Civil Rights Act of 1965 ended the institution of racial segregation. Two cases to directly compare are Plessy v. Ferguson, which established the legal mode of "separate but equal," and Brown v. Board of Education that ended racial segregation. The historical analogy of these two events demonstrates that history helps to define our actions, allowing us to learn from past mistakes and generate new and better ideas for the future.

The historical timeline leading up to the Civil War saw many stereotypical images of blacks portrayed as being inferior to whites. At the time, a minstrel show promoting a black character named "Jim Crow" was introduced, which became synonymous with other racial slurs used by whites to demonstrate black inferiority. By the end of the 1800s, the discriminatory legal practices became known as the Jim Crow laws, with the southern states writing constitutional provisions to declare the subordinate state of blacks. The majority of the Jim Crow laws were directed at segregating blacks in public areas, such as restaurants, schools, and buses, as well as preventing black males from voting. The Supreme Court further impacted the segregation laws by ruling the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional, which had previously given freedom of "full and equal enjoyment" to "all persons." The opinion stated that the Fourteenth Amendment did not apply to blacks, making segregation legal and coining the phrase, "separate but equal." Thus followed segregation laws at the state level, and a national acceptance of racial separation.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII, which ended racial segregation in employment and public access, prohibited discrimination based on sex, race, national origin, or religion. Preceding this landmark event, several movements were made in the struggle against racism. In Brown v. Board of Education in Topeka (1954), the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in schools was unconstitutional. The following year, the Federal Interstate Commerce Commission banned segregation on public transportation in response to the bus boycott stimulated by Rosa Parks, a black woman who refused to be segregated on a bus. 1962 saw the Department of Defense integrate all military units. However, they did exclude the National Guard. While a number of riots followed the legalized end to racial segregation, it was only a few years later, in 1972, that the first black justice of the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall, was elected.

The opinions on racial segregation differed greatly from the times of the Jim Crow laws of the previous century to when the Civil Rights Act was rewritten in 1964. Chief Justice Joseph Bradley cited, when reviewing the Civil Rights Act of 1875, that the Fourteenth Amendment did not protect people from discrimination by individuals or private groups, only by the state. The court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896, was another demonstration of legalized segregation, allowing separation of blacks and whites if equal accommodations were provided. The court's decision further stalled the administration of civil rights for black Americans, granting legal authority to establish white superiority. For the next forty years, numerous anti-black actions followed, especially in the south, such as lynchings, chain gangs, and prison farms. The sentiment of black segregation and inferiority eventually changed as Americans were exposed to new ideas in equality, learned from the unfair practices and severe brutality that was the result of the Jim Crow laws.....