We are proud to publish Gianna’s Jim Crow Research Paper smack in the middle of Black History Month. As I type this intro, I listen to news reports that our democracy is in crisis. Anti-voter legislation is being passed in many states to limit the rights for people of color. They are calling it “Jim Crow 2.0.” Gianna writes about racial segregation in the 1960s. Her paper focuses upon three Black women mathematicians who were forced to fight for their respect each and every day at NASA Space Center in Houston. Take it from Gianna, we don’t want to return to those times. Please remember to VOTE!
Jim Crow Laws in the 1960s: The Legalization of Discrimination and Segregation
In the film, Hidden Figures, Katherine Johnson is the only Black woman working in the Space Task Group, which means she is constantly in a room surrounded by white men. This film takes place in the 1960s when segregation was legally allowed and enforced due to the Jim Crow laws. In one of the most emotional and intense scenes of the film Hidden Figures, Al Harrison asks Katherine why she is gone for forty minutes a day when she should be working. She exclaims, “There are no colored bathrooms in this building or any building outside the West Campus, which is half a mile away. Did you know that? I have to walk to Timbuktu just to relieve myself. And I can’t use one of the handy bikes. Picture that, Mr. Harrison.” Katherine’s frustration and anger at the racist circumstances show in this scene as she explains how segregation has led her to wasting time just to use the restroom. In another scene from this film, Katherine is trying to get a cup of coffee from the coffee pot while all of her coworkers watch her and look at her strangely. The next day, there is a coffee pot labeled “COLORED.” Katherine explains her struggles working there as an African-American woman as she states, “And I work like a dog, day and night, living off of coffee from a pot none of you wanna touch! So, excuse me if I have to go to the restroom a few times a day.” The coffee pot is a symbol of segregation and discrimination that Black people experienced everyday in education, work opportunities, or in simple services. Katherine experiences this everyday in the workplace, and she expresses how she cannot help that it affects her work and her emotions. Katherine's words represent an era of Jim Crow -- her working in NASA as a Black woman in the 1960s, surrounded by white ignorant men.
In the 1960s, Jim Crow era laws limited African-American rights and resources. The History article titled “Jim Crow Laws” defines these laws as a “collection of state and local statutes that legalized segregation” which marginalized Black people and led to inequality in job opportunities, education, and voting. The Jim Crow laws affected African-American people heavily from the post-Civil War era to 1968, as these laws enforced segregation for hospitals, schools, theaters, restaurants, and even public parks. These laws claimed to hold the standard of “separate but equal”; however, these laws only enforced separation of the races with no equality. These laws legalized discrimination and allowed racism in the nineteenth and twentieth century. In workplaces that consisted of Black and white workers, Black workers usually were separated from their white counterparts. They could also not use the same facilities or resources as the other workers, which prevented Black people from having all of the tools they needed to succeed in some cases. In modern society, voter suppression is now being compared to the legal segregation in the 1960s as both disadvantaged and disenfranchised people of color.
In her article, “94-year-old Battles N.C. Voter ID Law: Woman Had Faced Jim Crow Laws Early in Her Life” Jenny Jarvie interviews Rosanell Eaton who believes voter ID laws are similar to Jim Crow era laws that disenfranchise people of color. Jarvie spotlights this inspirational Black woman who has experienced changes of voting laws and Black rights throughout her life. Rosanell Eaton grew up in rural North Carolina, where she was one of the
first Black people to register to vote. Eaton was the granddaughter of a slave and has experienced racism, discrimination, and segregation throughout her life. Jarvie states, “Eaton, who has voted in every election since the 1940s and helped to register over 4,000 people to cast their own ballots, said the struggle to obtain ID is a hurdle that might prevent some from voting.” Jarvie expresses Eaton’s passion for helping other people of color vote for years, however, Eaton acknowledges that the new voter laws are affecting minorities and leading to voter suppression. New voter ID laws have been made in hopes of preventing voter fraud, but instead are impacting people of color more than fulfilling their purpose.
first Black people to register to vote. Eaton was the granddaughter of a slave and has experienced racism, discrimination, and segregation throughout her life. Jarvie states, “Eaton, who has voted in every election since the 1940s and helped to register over 4,000 people to cast their own ballots, said the struggle to obtain ID is a hurdle that might prevent some from voting.” Jarvie expresses Eaton’s passion for helping other people of color vote for years, however, Eaton acknowledges that the new voter laws are affecting minorities and leading to voter suppression. New voter ID laws have been made in hopes of preventing voter fraud, but instead are impacting people of color more than fulfilling their purpose.
- To read Gianna's complete Film History Research Paper, please click on the following link: Jim Crow.
- To visit the Jim Crow Museum, please click on the following video:
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In this first section of Friends of the Earth,
students take the time to introduce themselves through their reading.
Instead of the brief mention of their hobbies and pets, they reflect on
a memorable literary experience. You might not judge a book by its cover, but here we learn
what is often hidden inside of others.
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