A Deeper Analysis On The Aspect Of Race As Local Color

A Deeper Analysis on the Aspect of Race as Local Color: Jim Crow Laws Imagine you are a person of color in the early to mid 1900’s. You the mother of three young children. Despite your best intentions, your children are forced to grow up in poverty. When you direct them out of the house to go to school, they see the all the white boys and girls walking toward one school and all of the black boys and girls walking to another. Imagine being asked by your children why they don’t go to school with the other boys and girls and not being able to tell them that its because of the aspect of racism during the era. After you drop them off to school, you go to work so that you can provide for your family. You work long hours with unfair wages and†¦show more content†¦A time where these laws were especially relevant was the period from 1890-1910 called the â€Å"Black Nadir.† The Black Nadir was considered to be, â€Å"the high point of institutionalized racism†(Brown), in which there were many unwritten laws to preserve and reinforce â€Å"white supremacy† (Brown). Stetson Kennedy created a list of rules of which were not formally created, but blacks were to abide by while speaking to whites. This list includes: â€Å"1. Never assert or even intimate that a white person is lying. 2. Never impute dishonorable intentions to a white person. 3. Never suggest that a white person is from an inferior class. 4. Never lay claim to, or overly demonstrate, superior knowledge or intelligence. 5. Never curse a white person. 6. Never laugh derisively at a white person. 7. Never comment upon the appearance of a white female† (Pilgrim). These rules were all considered common etiquette that all blacks were expected to follow. If a black man were to violate the â€Å"Jim Crow norms† they jeopardized their homes, jobs, or even their lives (Pilgrim). Moreover, whites were able to beat blacks with no repercussions for their actions. Moreover, the entire â€Å"Jim Crow criminal justice system† was white. Whites truly had a â€Å"white supremacy† ideal. Which was obvious by all the injustice happening. For example, if a black male offered even his hand to a white woman, even if the white woman asked, he risked being accused of