Life for blacks was never easy. When most people think of a time when blacks were treated unfairly, they immediately think of slavery. Many seem to forget that blacks were continued to be treated as inferior to whites even after slavery. This time period after slavery is known as the Jim Crow era because of the many “Jim Crow” laws that were passed to enforce racial segregation even after slavery was abolished. The Jim Crow era was an era of hardship for African Americans because of the segregation between whites and blacks in public facilities, the harsh treatments by whites, and the fact that blacks always had fewer rights than whites.
Blacks Segregation in Public:
During the Jim Crow era, signs that read “white only” or “colored only” in public places was a very common thing to see. These signs sealed the separation of blacks and whites in almost every aspect of daily life. They had separate schools, hospitals, cemeteries, churches, orphanages, and washrooms. A black man once attempted to enter a large church when he was stopped by a policeman. The
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If they were allowed inside, they had very limited access. The article, “Daily Life Under Jim Crow,” has a black domestic worker explain this point, “Colored people go upstairs in the movie here…You just stand there, as a rule, until all the white people go in. When they fill up downstairs some of the white fellows come up and set with the colored...It’s just like it always is- the white can come on your side, but you don’t go on theirs” (George 25). In most cases, blacks could not enter a hotel, restaurant or a resort for whites unless they were a servant. Most of the time, if blacks were able to enter the building, there would be a separate entrance. If there was a shared facility, African American’s had to wait until all whites were taken care of before they were