Talk:Jim Crow

To do. Please write a brief definition or description of this article at Jim Crow/Definition.

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Most of this article is by RJensen in Wiki, aka Richard Jensen in CZ. Richard Jensen 17:24, 30 May 2007 (CDT)

Change title to "Racial segregation in the U.S."

...or at least something more general. "Jim Crow" hasn't been common usage in the U.S. for decades; I suspect many Americans, to say nothing of people from farther away, would not think to use this as a search term.

Shamira, if you happen to read this, we might want a top-level article on ethnic discrimination in general, which would pick up apartheid, antisemitism, etc. Howard C. Berkowitz 22:26, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Article seems jumpy and unfocused

I can't put my finger on it, but the article jumps about a fair bit and doesn't read in the way I'd expect such an article to read. Why, for instance, is the section on 'Terminology' in a sub-heading under 'Twentieth Century' even though the section describes how a 1828 song was the basis for the term "Jim Crow" and the terminology had entered use at least in Vermont by 1837. Surely, what with Mr. Obama in office, we are now far enough away from Jim Crow laws that this article can be written purely chronologically? When I read an article like this, my mind works sort of like this:

• What is this thing we are talking about?
• Oh, they are a type of law that existed in the US between the end of slavery and the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Interesting.
• Okay, why are they called Jim Crow laws? Was there some horribly racist dude called Jim Crow who set the first one up? Or was it named after some good ol' boy called Jim Crow or something - was Jim Crow a real dude? You know, like how stuff like Megan's Law is named after Megan who actually was a victim of the crime that the law in her name is trying to prevent.
• Right, so we've got the definition of the way. Now how did Jim Crow laws start? That seems a good question to ask: I mean, were they conditions of freedom for the slaves? How quickly were they enacted after emancipation? What was the rhetoric used to pass these laws? Who passed them? What was enforcement like? How many people got caught up in them?
• When did the tide turn against them? I've already been toldd that they all disappeared with the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but what were the social attitudes that led to them being removed?

—Tom Morris 06:50, 3 October 2009 (UTC)