The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated ''de jure'' racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans. In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for white Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages.

Some examples of Jim Crow laws are the segregation of public schools, public places and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants and drinking fountains for whites and blacks. The U.S. military was also segregated. These Jim Crow Laws were separate from the 1800–1866 Black Codes, which also restricted the civil rights and civil liberties of African Americans. State-sponsored school segregation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954 in ''Brown v. Board of Education''. Generally, the remaining Jim Crow laws were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Etymology

The phrase "Jim Crow Law" first appeared in 1904 according to the ''Dictionary of American English'', although there is some evidence of earlier usage. The origin of the phrase "Jim Crow" has often been attributed to "Jump Jim Crow", a song-and-dance caricature of negroes performed by white actor Thomas D. Rice in blackface, which first surfaced in 1832 and was used to satirize Andrew Jackson's populist policies. As a result of Rice's fame, "Jim Crow" had become a pejorative expression meaning "Negro" by 1838 and when the laws of racial segregation, directed against blacks, were enacted at the end of the nineteenth century they became known as Jim Crow laws.

Origins of Jim Crow laws

During the Reconstruction period of 1865–1877, federal law provided civil rights protection in the U.S. South for "freedmen" – the African Americans who had formerly been slaves. In the 1870s, conservative white Democrats gradually returned to power in the Southern states, sometimes as a result of elections in which paramilitary groups intimidated opponents, attacking blacks or preventing them from voting. Gubernatorial elections were close and disputed in Louisiana for years, with extreme violence unleashed during the campaigns. In 1877, a national compromise to gain Southern support in the presidential election resulted in the last of the federal troops being withdrawn from the South. White Democrats had regained political power in every Southern state. These conservative, white, Democratic Redeemer governments legislated Jim Crow laws, segregating black people from the white population.

Blacks were still elected to local offices in the 1880s, but the establishment Democrats were passing laws to make voter registration and electoral rules more restrictive, with the result that political participation by most blacks and many poor whites began to decrease. Between 1890 and 1910, ten of the eleven former Confederate states, starting with Mississippi, passed new constitutions or amendments that effectively disfranchised most blacks and tens of thousands of poor whites through a combination of poll taxes, literacy and comprehension tests, and residency and record-keeping requirements. Grandfather clauses temporarily permitted some illiterate whites to vote.

Voter turnout dropped drastically through the South as a result of such measures. For example, Alabama had tens of thousands of poor whites disfranchised. In Louisiana, by 1900, black voters were reduced to 5,320 on the rolls, although they comprised the majority of the state's population. By 1910, only 730 blacks were registered, less than 0.5 percent of eligible black men. "In 27 of the state's 60 parishes, not a single black voter was registered any longer; in 9 more parishes, only one black voter was." The cumulative effect in North Carolina meant that black voters were completely eliminated from voter rolls during the period from 1896-1904. The growth of their thriving middle class was slowed. In North Carolina and other Southern states, there were also the effects of invisibility: "[W]ithin a decade of disfranchisement, the white supremacy campaign had erased the image of the black middle class from the minds of white North Carolinians."

Those who could not vote were not eligible to serve on juries and could not run for local offices. They effectively disappeared from political life, as they could not influence the state legislatures, and their interests were overlooked. While public schools had been established by Reconstruction legislatures for the first time in most Southern states; those for black children were consistently underfunded compared to schools for white children, even when considered within the strained finances of the postwar South. The decreasing price of cotton kept the agricultural economy at a low.

In some cases, progressive measures intended to reduce election fraud, such as the eight box law in South Carolina, acted against black and white voters who were illiterate, as they could not follow the directions. While the separation of African Americans from the general population was becoming legalized and formalized during the Progressive Era (1890s–1920s), it was also becoming customary. Even in cases in which Jim Crow laws did not expressly forbid black people to participate, for instance, in sports or recreation, the laws shaped a segregated culture.

In the Jim Crow context, the presidential election of 1912 was steeply slanted against the interests of black Americans. Most blacks still lived in the South, where they had been effectively disenfranchised, so they could not vote at all. While poll taxes and literacy requirements banned many poor or illiterate Americans from voting, these stipulations frequently had loopholes that exempted white Americans from meeting the requirements. In Oklahoma, for instance, anyone qualified to vote before 1866, or related to someone qualified to vote before 1866 (a kind of "grandfather clause"), was exempted from the literacy requirement; the only persons who could vote before that year were white male Americans. White Americans were effectively excluded from the literacy testing, whereas black Americans were effectively singled out by the law.

Woodrow Wilson, a Southern Democrat and the first Southern-born president of the post-Civil War period, appointed Southerners to his Cabinet. Some quickly began to press for segregated work places, although Washington, D.C. and federal offices had been integrated since after the Civil War. In 1913, for instance, the Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo – an appointee of the President – was heard to express his opinion of black and white women working together in one government office: "I feel sure that this must go against the grain of the white women. Is there any reason why the white women should not have only white women working across from them on the machines?"

Wilson introduced segregation in federal offices, despite much protest. He appointed segregationist Southern politicians because of his own firm belief that racial segregation was in the best interest of black and white Americans alike. At Gettysburg on July 4, 1913, the semi-centennial of Abraham Lincoln's declaration that "all men are created equal", Wilson addressed the crowd:

A ''Washington Bee'' editorial wondered if the "reunion" of 1913 was a reunion of those who fought for "the extinction of slavery" or a reunion of those who fought to "perpetuate slavery and who are now employing every artifice and argument known to deceit" to present emancipation as a failed venture. One historian notes that the "Peace Jubilee" at which Wilson presided at Gettysburg in 1913 "was a Jim Crow reunion, and white supremacy might be said to have been the silent, invisible master of ceremonies." (''See also: Great Reunion of 1913'')

Early attempts to break Jim Crow

The Civil Rights Act of 1875, introduced by Charles Sumner and Benjamin F. Butler, stipulated a guarantee that everyone, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, was entitled to the same treatment in public accommodations, such as inns, public transportation, theaters, and other places of recreation. This Act had little impact. An 1883 Supreme Court decision ruled that the act was unconstitutional in some respects, saying Congress was not afforded control over private persons or corporations. With white southern Democrats forming a solid bloc in Congress with power out of proportion to the percentage of population they represented, Congress did not pass another civil rights law until 1957.

In 1890, Louisiana passed a law requiring separate accommodations for colored and white passengers on railroads. Louisiana law distinguished between "white," "black" and "colored" (that is, people of mixed white and black ancestry). The law already specified that blacks could not ride with white people, but colored people could ride with whites before 1890. A group of concerned black, colored and white citizens in New Orleans formed an association dedicated to rescinding the law. The group persuaded Homer Plessy, who was only one-eighth "Negro" and of fair complexion, to test it.

In 1892, Plessy bought a first-class ticket from New Orleans on the East Louisiana Railway. Once he had boarded the train, he informed the train conductor of his racial lineage and took a seat in the whites-only car. He was directed to leave that car and sit instead in the "coloreds only" car. Plessy refused and was immediately arrested. The Citizens Committee of New Orleans fought the case all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. They lost in ''Plessy v. Ferguson'' (1896), in which the Court ruled that "separate but equal" facilities were constitutional. The finding contributed to 58 more years of legalized discrimination against black and colored people in the United States.

Racism in the United States and defenses of Jim Crow

In addition to the problems that Southerners encountered in learning free labor management after the end of slavery, black Americans represented the Confederacy's Civil War defeat: "With white supremacy challenged throughout the South, many whites sought to protect their former status by threatening African Americans who exercised their new rights." White Democrats used their power to segregate public spaces and facilities in law and reestablish dominance over blacks in the South.

One rationale for the systematic exclusion of black Americans from southern public society was that it was for their own protection. An early 20th century scholar suggested that having allowed blacks in white schools would mean "constantly subjecting them to adverse feeling and opinion", which might lead to "a morbid race consciousness". This perspective took anti-black sentiment for granted, because bigotry was widespread in the South.

World War II era

After World War II, African Americans increasingly challenged segregation, as they believed they had more than earned the right to be treated as full citizens because of their military service and sacrifices. The Civil Rights Movement was energized by a number of flashpoints, including the 1946 attack on World War II veteran Isaac Woodard while he was in U.S. Army uniform. In 1948 President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981, desegregating the armed services.

As the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum and used federal courts to attack Jim Crow statutes, the white-dominated governments of many of the southern states countered with passing alternative forms of restrictions.

The NAACP Legal Defense Committee (a group that became independent of the NAACP) – and its lawyer, Thurgood Marshall – brought the landmark case ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', before the Supreme Court. In its pivotal 1954 decision, the Court unanimously overturned the 1896 ''Plessy'' decision. The Supreme Court found that legally mandated (''de jure'') public school segregation was unconstitutional. The decision had far-reaching social ramifications. ''De jure'' segregation was not brought to an end until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. History has shown that problems of educating poor children are not confined to minority status, and states and cities have continued to grapple with approaches.

The court ruling did not stop ''de facto'' or residentially based school segregation. Such segregation continues today in many regions. Some city school systems have also begun to focus on issues of economic and class segregation rather than racial segregation, as they have found that problems are more prevalent when the children of the poor of any ethnic group are concentrated.

Associate Justice Frank Murphy introduced the word "racism" into the lexicon of U.S. Supreme Court opinions in ''Korematsu v. United States'', 323 U.S. 214 (1944). He stated that by upholding the forced relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II, the Court was sinking into "the ugly abyss of racism." This was the first time that "racism" was used in Supreme Court opinion (Murphy used it twice in a concurring opinion in ''Steele v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co.'' 323 192 (1944) issued that day). Murphy used the word in five separate opinions, but after he left the court, "racism" was not used again in an opinion for almost two decades. It next appeared in the landmark decision of Loving v. Virginia, .

Interpretation of the Constitution and its application to minority rights continues to be controversial as Court membership changes. Some observers believe the Court has become more protective of the status quo.

End of Jim Crow

Courts

In the 20th century, the Supreme Court began to overturn Jim Crow laws on constitutional grounds. In ''Buchanan v. Warley'' 245 US 60 (1917), the court held that a Kentucky law could not require residential segregation. The Supreme Court in 1946, in ''Irene Morgan v. Virginia'' ruled segregation in interstate transportation to be unconstitutional, in an application of the commerce clause of the Constitution. It was not until 1954 in ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'' that the court held that separate facilities were inherently unequal in the area of public schools, effectively overturning ''Plessy v. Ferguson'', and outlawing Jim Crow in other areas of society as well. This landmark case consisted of complaints filed in the states of Delaware (''Gebhart v. Belton''); South Carolina (''Briggs v. Elliott''); Virginia (''Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County''); and Washington, D.C. (''Spottswode Bolling v. C. Melvin Sharpe''). These decisions, along with other cases such as ''McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Board of Regents'' 339 US 637 (1950), ''NAACP v. Alabama'' 357 US 449 (1958), and ''Boynton v. Virginia'' 364 US 454 (1960), slowly dismantled the state-sponsored segregation imposed by Jim Crow laws.

Along with Jim Crow laws, by which the state compelled segregation of the races, private parties such as businesses, political parties and unions created their own Jim Crow arrangements, barring blacks from buying homes in certain neighborhoods, from shopping or working in certain stores, from working at certain trades, etc. The Supreme Court outlawed some forms of private discrimination in ''Shelley v. Kraemer'' 334 US 1 (1948), in which it held that restrictive covenants that barred sale of homes to blacks or Jews or Asians were unconstitutional, because they represented state-sponsored discrimination, in that they were only effective if the courts enforced them.

The Supreme Court was unwilling, however, to attack other forms of private discrimination. It reasoned that private parties did not violate the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution when they discriminated, because they were not "state actors" covered by that clause.

In 1971, the Supreme Court, in ''Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education'', upheld desegregation busing of students to achieve integration.

Public arena

Rosa Parks' 1955 act of civil disobedience, in which she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, was a catalyst in later years of the Civil Rights movement. Her action, and the demonstrations which it stimulated, led to a series of legislative and court decisions that contributed to undermining the Jim Crow system.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott led by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., which followed Rosa Parks' action, was, however, not the first of its kind. Numerous boycotts and demonstrations against segregation had occurred throughout the 1930s and 1940s. These early demonstrations achieved positive results and helped spark political activism. K. Leroy Irvis of Pittsburgh's Urban League, for instance, led a demonstration against employment discrimination by Pittsburgh's department stores in 1947, launching his own influential political career.

End of ''de jure'' segregation

In January 1964, President Lyndon Johnson met with civil rights leaders. On January 8, during his first State of the Union address, Johnson asked Congress to "let this session of Congress be known as the session which did more for civil rights than the last hundred sessions combined." On June 21, civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney disappeared in Neshoba County, Mississippi. The three were volunteers aiding in the registration of African-American voters as part of the Mississippi Summer Project. Forty-four days later, the Federal Bureau of Investigation recovered their bodies, which had been buried in an earthen dam. The Neshoba County deputy sheriff, Cecil Price and 16 others, all Ku Klux Klan members, were indicted for the crimes; seven were convicted.

Building a coalition of northern Democrats and Republicans, President Lyndon B. Johnson pushed Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On July 2, President Johnson signed the historic legislation. It invoked the commerce clause to outlaw discrimination in public accommodations (privately owned restaurants, hotels, and stores, and in private schools and workplaces). This use of the commerce clause was upheld in ''Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States'' 379 US 241 (1964).

By 1965 efforts to break the grip of state disfranchisement had been under way for some time, but had achieved only modest success overall and in some areas had proved almost entirely ineffectual. The murder of voting-rights activists in Philadelphia, Mississippi, gained national attention, along with numerous other acts of violence and terrorism against the president. Finally, the unprovoked attack on March 7, 1965, by state troopers on peaceful marchers crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, en route to the state capitol in Montgomery, persuaded the President and Congress to overcome Southern legislators' resistance to effective voting rights legislation. President Johnson issued a call for a strong voting rights law and hearings began soon thereafter on the bill that would become the Voting Rights Act.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 ended legally sanctioned state barriers to voting for all federal, state and local elections. It also provided for Federal oversight and monitoring of counties with historically low voter turnout, as this was a sign of discriminatory barriers.

Legacy

Legal

The Supreme Court of the United States held in the ''Civil Rights Cases'' 109 US 3 (1883) that the Fourteenth Amendment did not give the federal government the power to outlaw private discrimination, and then held in ''Plessy v. Ferguson'' 163 US 537 (1896) that Jim Crow laws were constitutional as long as they allowed for "separate but equal" facilities. In the years that followed, the court made this "separate but equal" requirement a hollow phrase by upholding discriminatory laws in the face of evidence of profound inequalities in practice.

Political

Jim Crow laws were a product of the solidly Democratic South. Conservative white Southern Democrats, exploiting racial fear and attacking the corruption (real or perceived) of Reconstruction Republican governments, took over state governments in the South in the 1870s and dominated them for nearly 100 years, chiefly as a result of disenfranchisement of most blacks through statute and constitutions. In 1956, Southern resistance to the Supreme Court's ruling in ''Brown v. Board of Education'' resulted in a resolution called the Southern Manifesto. It was read into the Congressional Record and supported by 96 Southern Congressmen and senators, all but two of them Southern Democrats.

African-American life

The Jim Crow laws were a major factor in the Great Migration during the early part of the 20th century, because opportunities were so limited in the South that African Americans moved in great numbers to northern cities to seek a better life.

Despite the hardship and prejudice of the Jim Crow era, several black entertainers and literary figures managed to become popular with white audiences in the early 20th century. They included luminaries like tap dancers Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and the Nicholas Brothers, jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie, and actress Hattie McDaniel (who became the first black recipient of an Academy Award in 1939 when she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Mammy in ''Gone with the Wind'').

African-American athletes also faced much discrimination during the Jim Crow period. White opposition led to their exclusion from most organized sporting competition. Nevertheless, boxers Jack Johnson and Joe Louis (both of whom became world heavyweight boxing champion) and track and field athlete Jesse Owens (who won four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin) earned notoriety during this era. In baseball, a color line instituted in the 1880s had informally barred blacks from playing in the major leagues, leading to the proliferation of the Negro Leagues. However, a major breakthrough occurred in 1947, when Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball, breaking the color bar permanently. Baseball teams continued to integrate in the following years, leading to the full participation of black baseball players in the Major Leagues in the 1960s.

Remembrance

Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, houses the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, an extensive collection of everyday items that promoted racial segregation or presented racial stereotypes of African Americans, for the purpose of academic research and education about their cultural influence.

Examples of Jim Crow laws

Examples of Jim Crow laws are shown at the National Park Service website. The examples include anti-miscegenation laws. Although sometimes counted among "Jim Crow laws" of the South, such laws were also passed by other states. Anti-miscegenation laws were not repealed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 but were declared unconstitutional by the 1967 Supreme Court ruling in ''Loving v. Virginia''.

See also

Anti-miscegenation laws

Black Codes in the USA

Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era

Dunning School

Group Areas Act

Racial segregation in the United States

Second-class citizen

Timeline of the African-American Civil Rights Movement

The New Jim Crow

References

Further reading

Ayers, Edward L. ''The Promise of the New South'' Oxford University Press, 1992, a general history of the South in the late 19th century

Barnes, Catherine A. ''Journey from Jim Crow: The Desegregation of Southern Transit'' Columbia University Press, 1983.

Bartley, Numan V. ''The Rise of Massive Resistance: Race and Politics in the South during the 1950s'' Louisiana State University Press, 1969.

Bond, Horace Mann. "The Extent and Character of Separate Schools in the United States". ''Journal of Negro Education'' 4(July 1935):321–27. online via JSTOR

Chin, Gabriel, and Karthikeyan, Hrishi. ''Preserving Racial Identity: Population Patterns and the Application of Anti-Miscegenation Statutes to Asians, 1910 to 1950,'' 9 Asian L.J. 1 (2002)

Campbell, Nedra. ''More Justice, More Peace: The Black Person's Guide to the American Legal System''. Lawrence Hill Books; Chicago Review Press, 2003, which includes in its chapter "Free at Last" a chronology of laws during the Jim Crow era. ISBN 1-55652-468-4

Dailey, Jane; Gilmore, Glenda Elizabeth and Simon, Bryant, eds. ''Jumpin' Jim Crow: Southern Politics from Civil War to Civil Rights'' (2000), essays by scholars on impact of Jim Crow on black communities

Delany, Sarah; Delany, A. Elizabeth; and Hearth, Amy Hill. ''Having Our Say; The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years'' (1993). G.K. Hall & Co: Thorndike, Maine. ISBN 978-0-8161-5830-0.

Fairclough, Adam. “‘Being in the Field of Education and Also Being a Negro…Seems…Tragic’: Black Teachers in the Jim Crow South.” ''Journal of American History'' 87 (June 2000): 65–91. online via JSTOR

Feldman, Glenn. ''Politics, Society, and the Klan in Alabama, 1915–1949''. University of Alabama Press, 1999.

Harvey Fireside, ''Separate and Unequal: Homer Plessy and the Supreme Court Decision That Legalized Racism'', 2004. ISBN 0-7867-1293-7

Foner, Eric. ''Reconstruction, America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877'' (Harpercollins, 1988), ISBN 0-06-015851-4, standard history of Reconstruction from neoabolitionist school

Gaines, Kevin. ''Uplifting the Race: Black Leadership, Politics, and Culture in the Twentieth Century'' University of North Carolina Press, 1996.

Gaston, Paul M. ''The New South Creed: A Study in Southern Mythmaking'' Alfred A. Knopf, 1970.

Gilmore, Glenda Elizabeth. ''Gender and Jim Crow Women and the Politics ... in North Carolina, 1896–1920'' (1996)

Griffin, John Howard ''Black Like Me'' by (Signet, 1996) ISBN 0-451-19203-6. Author leaves privileged life as Southern white man and darkens his skin to experience segregation in the Deep South in 1959.

Haws, Robert, ed. ''The Age of Segregation: Race Relations in the South, 1890– 1945'' University Press of Mississippi, 1978.

Hackney, Sheldon. ''Populism to Progressivism in Alabama'' (1969)

Johnson, Charles S. ''Patterns of Negro Segregation'' Harper and Brothers, 1943.

Klarman, Michael J. ''From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality'' Oxford University Press, 2004

Litwack, Leon F.. ''Trouble in Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow'' (Alfred A. Knopf: 1998) "This is the most complete and moving account we have had of what the victims of the Jim Crow South suffered and somehow endured" — C. Vann Woodward

Lopez, Ian F. Haney. "A nation of minorities": race, ethnicity, and reactionary colorblindness. ''Stanford Law Review'', February 1, 2007.

Kantrowitz, Stephen. ''Ben Tillman & the Reconstruction of White Supremacy'' (2000)

McMillen, Neil R. ''Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow''. University of Illinois Press, 1989.

Medley, Keith Weldon. ''We As Freemen: Plessy v. Ferguson''. Pelican. March, 2003. ISBN 1-58980-120-2. Popular story of Homer Plessy, who lost his case before the Supreme Court; the case legalized segregation in the U.S. for the next 58 years.

Murray, Pauli. ''States' Law on Race and Color''. University of Georgia Press. 2d ed. 1997 (Davison Douglas ed.). ISBN 978-0820318837

Myrdal, Gunnar. ''An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy''. Harper and Row. (1944) the most detailed analysis of the Jim Crow system in operation.

Percy, William Alexander. ''Lanterns on the Levee: Recollections of a Planter's Son.'' 1941. Reprint, Louisiana State University Press, 1993. by conservative white planter

Rabinowitz, Howard N. ''Race Relations in the Urban South, 1856–1890'' (1978)

Smith, J. Douglas. ''Managing: Race, Politics, and Citizenship in Jim Crow Virginia'' University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

Smith, J. Douglas. “The Campaign for Racial Purity and the Erosion of Paternalism in Virginia, 1922–1930: “Nominally White, Biologically Mixed, and Legally Negro.’” ''Journal of Southern History'' 68 (February 2002): 65–106.

Smith, J. Douglas. “Patrolling the Boundaries of Race: Motion Picture Censorship and Jim Crow in Virginia, 1922–1932.” ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television'' 21 (August 2001): 273–91.

Sterner, Richard. ''The Negro's Share'' (1943) detailed statistics

Woodward, C. Vann. ''The Strange Career of Jim Crow'' (1955) the classic history by Pulitzer prize winner.

Woodward, C. Vann. ''The Origins of the New South: 1877–1913'' (1951).

External links

The History of Jim Crow, Ronald L. F. Davis – A series of essays on the history of Jim Crow.

Creating Jim Crow – Origins of the term and system of laws.

Racial Etiquette: The Racial Customs and Rules of Racial Behavior in Jim Crow America – The basics of Jim Crow etiquette.

Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia

"You Don't Have to Ride Jim Crow!" PBS documentary on first Freedom Ride, in 1947.

List of laws enacted in various states

Ferris University page about Jim Crow

on Antisemitism'' Interview with David Pilgrim, founder of Jim Crow Museum from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Jim Crow Era, History in the Key of Jazz, Gerald Early, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri (esp. see section "Jim Crow is Born")

Category:History of racial segregation in the United States Category:Politics and race Category:Reconstruction Category:Discrimination in the United States Category:Legal history of the United States Category:African American history Category:American political terms Category:Race legislation in the United States Category:United States repealed legislation Category:Race-related legal issues Category:Debt bondage Category:White supremacy in the United States

ar:قوانين جيم كرو da:Jim Crow-lovene de:Jim Crow es:Jim Crow fr:Lois Jim Crow gan:呫·呵嘍法 id:Jim Crow it:Leggi Jim Crow lt:Džimo Krou įstatymai nl:Jim Crow-wetten ja:ジム・クロウ法 pl:Prawa Jim Crow pt:Leis de Jim Crow ru:Законы Джима Кроу fi:Jim Crow -lait sv:Jim Crow-lagar tr:Jim Crow yasaları

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
Name	Sean Paul
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques
Born	January 09, 1973 Kingston, Jamaica
Genre	Dancehall, Reggae, R&B;
Occupation	Musician, Actor, Songwriter, Producer
Years active	1998–present
Associated acts	Dutty Cup Crew, Mr. Vegas, Jay Sean, Beyonce, Ziggy Marley
Label	VP/Atlantic Records
Website	}}

Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques (born January 9, 1973), who performs under stage name Sean Paul, is a Jamaican pop rap and reggae singer from Dutty Cup Crew.

Life and career

1973–1996: Early life

Sean Paul was born in Kingston and spent his early years in Upper Saint Andrew Parish, a few miles north of Kingston. His parents, Garth and Frances, were both talented athletes, and his mother is a well-known painter. His paternal grandfather was a Sephardic Jew whose family emigrated from Portugal, and his paternal grandmother was Afro-Caribbean; his mother is of English and Chinese Jamaican descent. Sean Paul was raised as a Catholic. Many members of his family are swimmers. His grandfather was on the first Jamaican men's national water polo team. His father also played water polo for the team in the 1960s, and competed in long-distance swimming, while Sean Paul's mother was a backstroke swimmer. Sean Paul played for the national water polo team from the age of thirteen to twenty-one, when he gave up the sport in order to launch his musical career. He attended the Wolmers High School for Boys, Hillel Academy High School, and the College of Arts, Science, and Technology, now known as the University of Technology, where he was trained in commerce with a view to pursuing an occupation in hotel management.

1998–2004: ''Stage One'' and ''Dutty Rock''

left|thumb|Sean Paul in September 2005. He made a quick cameo appearance in the 1998 film ''Belly'' on stage performing. He made a very successful collaboration with DMX & Mr. Vegas (Top Shotter) as a soundtrack of the film. In 2000, Sean Paul released his debut album, ''Stage One'' with VP Records. In 2002, he began working extensively with a team of producers and choreographers from Toronto, namely Jae Blaze and Blaze Entertainment and announced the release of his second album, ''Dutty Rock''. Pushed by the success of the singles "Gimme the Light" and the Billboard Hot 100 topper, "Get Busy", the album was a worldwide success, eventually selling over six million copies. Simultaneously, Sean Paul was heard on Beyoncé's U.S. #1 single "Baby Boy" and Blu Cantrell's "Breathe", a chart hit in Europe. Both helped to push his reputation further still in the United States.

He appeared on ''Punk'd'', ''106 & Park'', ''Sean Paul Respect'', ''Making the Video'' ("Get Busy", "Gimme the Light", and "Like Glue") and his music videos have been broadcast on MTV and BET. Paul's biggest hits included "Get Busy", "Like Glue", "Gimme the Light", "Baby Boy", and "I'm Still in Love with You".

2005–2008: ''The Trinity''

Sean Paul's third album ''The Trinity'' was released in on September 27, 2005. The album produced five big hits, "We Be Burnin'", "Ever Blazin'", "Give It Up to Me", "Never Gonna Be The Same" and the U.S. chart-topping smash hit "Temperature".

The video of "(When You Gonna) Give It up to Me" (featuring Keyshia Cole) was also featured in the movie ''Step Up'' in 2006.

He was nominated for four awards at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards, including male artist of the year, rap artist of the year, hot 100 single of the year, and pop single of the year for his hit "Temperature". He also won an American Music Award for "(When You Gonna) Give It Up To Me" beating Kanye West and Nick Lachey who were also nominated for the award.

His song "Send It On" from "The Trinity" featured on the 2005 Vauxhall Corsa advert. Sean Paul often contributes his songs to various ''Riddim Driven'' albums (by VP Records). In March 2007, he returned to his native Jamaica to perform at the Cricket World Cup 2007 opening ceremony.

Sean Paul appears on the game Def Jam: Fight for NY as part of Snoop Dogg's crew and again in the game's sequel, Def Jam Icon.

2009: ''Imperial Blaze''

The newest Sean Paul album entitled "Imperial Blaze" was released on August 18, 2009. The lead single, “So Fine”, which was produced by Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor, premiered on Sean Paul's official website on April 26, 2009.

Speaking to Pete Lewis of 'Blues & Soul' magazine in August 2009, Sean Paul stated that 'Imperial Blaze' "Actually signifies 'The King's Fire'. It's that thing inside of you that gives you the desire to do whatever you do, and be the best in the world at it."

The new album consists of 20 tracks including "So Fine", "Press it Up", "She Want Me", "Private Party" which are party tracks and also love songs such as "Hold My Hand" (feat Keri Hilson), "Lately", "Now That I've Got Your Love" among others. Producers on the album include Don Corleone, Jeremy Harding, and Sean's brother Jason 'Jigzagula' Henriques. All the full songs of the album have been added to Sean Paul's Myspace page on the day of release of the album.

Up until now there have been eight music videos: "Always On My Mind (with Da'Ville)", "Give It To You (with Eve)", "Watch Them Roll", "Back It Up" (with Left Side/Mr. Evil), "(I Wanna See You) Push It Baby" (with Pretty Ricky), "Hit 'Em" (with Fahrenheit and his brother Jason "Jigzagula" Henriques), "Come Over" with Estelle, and also the video of his first single, "So Fine" from the new album.

He has recently been featured in Shaggy's video, "Save A Life", which also includes appearances from Elephant Man and Da'Ville, among others. In an effort to raise money for a children's hospital, Shaggy, Sean Paul and others will be having a benefit concert. All proceeds will go towards getting new equipment and technology 'For Aid to the Bustamante Hospital for Children'. In an interview in 2009 he says he is planning to release a new album in 2011.

During the premiere for MNET's Big Brother Africa 5: All-Stars on July 18, 2010, he performed his songs "Temperature", "Hold My Hand", and "So Fine". Sean Paul made a show in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

(2011- present): New studio album

Sean Paul is currently in the studio making his fifth coming album due for release at the end of 2011. The first song, " Got 2 Luv U" (featuring Alexis Jordan) was released for purchase on the 26th of June.

Discography

''Stage One'' (2000)

''Dutty Rock'' (2002)

''The Trinity'' (2005)

''Imperial Blaze'' (2009)

''Upcoming Fifth Studio Album'' (2011)

Filmography

;Films

1998

Year !! Title !! Role
	|	Belly (film)>Belly''	Himself

Awards and nominations

American Music Awards

*2006, Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist (winner)

*2003, Favorite Hip-Hop/Rap Male Artist (nominated)

*2003, Favorite Hip-Hop/Rap Album ''Dutty Rock'' (nominated)

BET Awards

*2003, Best New Artist (Nominated)

MTV Romania Music Awards

*2007, Best International Artist (winner)

Grammy Awards

*2010, Best Reggae Album: ''Imperial Blaze'' (nominated)

*2006, Best Reggae Album: ''The Trinity'' (nominated)

*2004, Best New Artist: (nominated)

*2004, Best Reggae Album: ''Dutty Rock'' (winner)

*2004, Best Male Rap Solo Performance: "Get Busy" (nominated)

MOBO Awards

*2009, Best Reggae Act (Winner)

*2006, Best Reggae Act (Winner)

*2005, Best Reggae Act (Nominated)

MTV Video Music Awards

*2006, Best Dance Video "Temperature" (nominated)

*2003, Best Dance Video "Get Busy" (nominated)

*2003, Best New Artist "Get Busy" (nominated)

Soul Train Awards

*2009, Best Reggae Artist (Winner)

*2007, Best Dance Cut "When You Gonna (Give It Up to Me)" (nominated)

References

External links

Official website

Category:1973 births Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Dancehall musicians Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Jamaican Roman Catholics Category:Jamaican male singers Category:Jamaican people of Chinese descent Category:Jamaican reggae singers Category:Living people Category:People from Kingston, Jamaica Category:Jamaican people of English descent Category:Reggae fusion artists

ar:شون بول bg:Шон Пол da:Sean Paul de:Sean Paul es:Sean Paul eo:Sean Paul fa:شان پال fr:Sean Paul hi:शॉन पॉल is:Sean Paul it:Sean Paul he:שון פול kn:ಸೀನ್ ಪಾಲ್ ka:შონ პოლი ht:Sean Paul lv:Šons Pols hu:Sean Paul nl:Sean Paul ja:ショーン・ポール no:Sean Paul pl:Sean Paul pt:Sean Paul ro:Sean Paul ru:Шон Пол simple:Sean Paul sr:Šon Pol fi:Sean Paul sv:Sean Paul th:ฌอน พอล tr:Sean Paul zh:尚恩·保罗

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	Jazze Pha
background	solo_singer
birth name	Phalon Anton Alexander
origin	Atlanta, Georgia
instrument	Keyboards, Vocals, Sampler, Percussion
genre	Hip hop, R&B;
occupation	Record Producer, Singer-songwriter
years active	1995-present
label	Sho'nuff Records, Atlantic Records
associated acts	Ciara, T.I., David Banner, Sean Combs, Nelly
website	}}

Phalon Anton Alexander (born 1974), also known as Jazze Pha ( ), is an American singer, and songwriter.

Career

His well known trademark is hollering "Ladies and Gentlemen!" at the beginning, and sometimes at the end of the tracks he has contributed to.

He made an early appearance on Erick Sermon's 1995 album ''Double or Nothing'' performing on a skit and collaborating with Sermon on "Man Above".

Jazze Pha's first hit was the club anthem from Tela, "Sho Nuff", the label banner of the producer's company.

His first production was for Gerald Levert, Keith Sweat, and Johnny Gill on supergroup LSG's first album, with the fresh "Let A Playa Get His Freak On", in 1997.

Other artists he has collaborated with include Notorious B.I.G, Nelly, Ludacris, T.I., U.G.K., Lil Wayne, Nate Dogg, Ras Kass, Trick Daddy, Petey Pablo, Big Boi, Ciara, Aaliyah, Girlicious and Eightball & MJG.

Pha also helped Ciara start out her career. He produced the hit single, which was titled "1, 2 Step", which featured Missy Elliott, which was included on her debut album which was named ''Goodies'', which was released in 2004. He also produced the tracks which were called "Thug Style", "Pick Up the Phone", and "Lookin' at You". Two years later in 2006, he produced her hit single, which was called "Get Up", the song featured Chamillionaire, and was included on her album named ''Ciara: The Evolution.'' The two have not worked since then,because Pha says they have not seen eye-to-eye.

Personal life

His father is Bar-Kays bassist, James Alexander. He is named after the late Phalon Jones, a member of his father's group. His mother is an experienced singer named Denise Williams, but contrary to widespread belief, she is ''not'' chart-topping R&B; and gospel singer, Deniece "Niecy" Williams.

Discography

TBA: ''Ladies And Gentlemen''

References

External links

Official Jazze Pha & Cee-Lo Green Website

Category:1975 births Category:American hip hop record producers Category:African American rappers Category:African American singers Category:Living people Category:People from Memphis, Tennessee Category:Rappers from Atlanta, Georgia Category:Atlantic Records artists

de:Jazze Pha es:Jazze Pha fr:Jazze Pha it:Jazze Pha nl:Jazze Pha pl:Jazze Pha pt:Jazze Pha sv:Jazze Pha

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
Name	Big Boi
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Antwan André Patton
Alias	Daddy Fat Sax, General Patton, Sir Lucious L. Leftfoot, The Son of Chico Dusty, Sgt. Slaughter, Corporal Sticky-Pantzz, Chief, Billy Ocean, Hot Tub Tony, Francis the Savannah Chitlin' Pimp
Birth date	February 01, 1975
Origin	Savannah, Georgia, United States
Instrument	Rapping, keyboards
Genre	Southern hip hop
Years active	1991–present
Label	Def Jam
Associated acts	OutKast, André 3000, Dungeon Family, Purple Ribbon All-Stars, Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown, Jay-Z, Gucci Mane, T.I., B.o.B, Janelle Monae, Sleepy Brown
Website
Past members	}}

Antwan André Patton (born February 1, 1975), better known by his stage name Big Boi, is an American rapper, song-writer, record producer and actor, best known for being a member of American hip hop duo OutKast alongside André 3000. His work in the duo has produced six studio albums. During the duo's hiatus, he and André 3000 each announced plans to release a solo album. Big Boi's solo debut ''Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty'' was released in July 2010 to respectable sales and critical acclaim.

Early life

Patton was born and spent the first half of his childhood in Savannah, Georgia, attending Herschel V. Jenkins High School before moving to Atlanta with his Aunt Renne. Eventually he decided to pursue his interest in music at Tri-Cities High School, a Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School.

Career

OutKast

He had a strong interest in hip-hop music, and met André "3000" Benjamin while attending Tri Cities High School in the early-1990s. The two eventually joined forces as OutKast and signed with LaFace Records.

Patton has often used his lyrics to criticize the problems that plague both the African American community and the world. An example is 2003's "War", a scathing attack on the Bush administration and the War on Terror. Another example is 2008's "Sumthin's Gotta Give" with Mary J. Blige talking about the state of America and Barack Obama.

Solo work

After four increasingly successful albums as a duo, the members of OutKast chose to make two solo albums, and release them as a double album under the OutKast name. André 3000 released ''The Love Below'' and Big Boi ''Speakerboxxx''. The two albums were packaged together as ''Speakerboxxx/The Love Below'' in 2003. ''Speakerboxxx'' featured a style similar to OutKast's previous efforts, while ''The Love Below'' explored more offbeat territory, with André 3000 mainly singing rather than his usual rapping. One song from each album was released in September 2003 as a single.

Patton's choice was the single "The Way You Move", featuring Sleepy Brown. It was originally supported by urban radio, but then crossed over to pop charts and became almost as big a pop hit as Benjamin's "Hey Ya!". "The Way You Move" supplanted "Hey Ya!" as the #1 song on the US pop charts. The second single from Big Boi's side of the album was "Ghetto Musick", which featured both members of OutKast and a sample from Patti LaBelle's "Love, Need & Want You".

In 2007 after the sixth album under the OutKast name, ''Idlewild'', Big Boi announced plans to release a full fledged solo album. While he had released a previous solo album in ''Speakerboxxx'', it still was technically under the OutKast name. The album was to be titled ''Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty''. The album's first promotional single, "Royal Flush", was released in 2007, and featured Raekwon and André 3000. Over the next few years the album saw many delays, but multiple promotional and video singles were released such as "Shine Blockas" featuring Gucci Mane, "For Yo Sorrows" featuring George Clinton and Too $hort and "General Patton" featuring Big Rube. The first official single was "Shutterbugg" featuring Cutty and the second "Follow Us" featuring Vonnegutt. The album was released internationally on July 5. Guest artists include alternative urban songstress Janelle Monae; Big Boi's own new group Vonnegutt; plus established rappers T.I. and B.o.B. ''Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty'' received general acclaim from most music critics, earning praise for its inventive sound, varied musical style, and Big Boi's lyricism.

In a July 2010 interview for ''The Village Voice'', Big Boi revealed that he is working on the follow-up album to ''Sir Lucious Left Foot'', entitled ''Daddy Fat Sax: Soul Funk Crusader'', stating that he is "maybe about six songs into it". It is expected for a late-2011 release. The album's title originates from when Big Boi and André 3000 would visit a local White Castle in between recording/writing in their earlier years before ''ATLiens'' (1996), because of an employee known as Daddy Fat Sacks, for his habit of including multiple extra sliders in every 10-sack that they purchased, as he was a fan of their music. Upon hearing of his death after visiting the same location after completing ''Sir Lucious Left Foot'', Big Boi decided to name his follow-up solo album after Daddy Fat Sacks, but intended to use "Sax" instead of "Sacks" as he is "planning on a doing a bunch of sax samples, tenor, soprano, and probably have at least a couple sax players come into the studio for the next record".

On February 27, 2011, it was announced that Big Boi is creating a joint album along with rappers Mike Bigga and Pill. Later that day, Big Boi posted on his Twitter account that he was mixing Mike Bigga's album entitled, "PL3DGE".

Side projects

Patton and Benjamin star in ''Idlewild'', a film about music during the Depression-era South. The film was released in August 2006. Patton also has plans in the works for a project partnering him with Sleepy Brown. He released a mixtape/compilation album, ''Got Purp? Vol 2'', in conjunction with the Purple Ribbon All-Stars in November 2005 on Purple Ribbon Records; Aquemeni Records had become defunct after Benjamin left the company. The first single from the album was "Kryptonite", which cracked the Billboard Hot 100 and was a hit on hip-hop radio. Patton was also featured on the song "International Players Anthem (I Choose You)", which is the first single off of UGK's new album, ''Underground Kingz''.

In 2006, Big Boi founded the Big Kidz Foundation a nonprofit organization to help youth in Atlanta.] The Foundation's mission is to provide culturally diverse experiences in the field of humanities while helping create socially-conscious youth. In January 2010, Big Boi and the Executive Director, Jennifer Shephard Lester launched the Big Kidz Foundation in Savannah, Georgia.

In 2010, Big Boi launched his custom Chuck Taylor sneakers with Converse. The shoes feature the title of his Def Jam solo album debut: "Sir Lucious Left Foot" on the left, and "Son of Chico Dusty" on the right. His Big Boi logo is featured on the tongue of the shoe.

On April 28, 2011, Big Boi announced that he would be working with Modest Mouse on their new unnamed album.

Acting career

Big Boi appeared on Nick Cannon's ''Wild 'n Out'' Season 3 as one of the many guest stars, as well as guest starring and appearing as a musical guest on ''Chappelle's Show'' performing his song "The Rooster". He is currently reaching more into acting, having appeared in T.I.'s film ''ATL'', OutKast's film ''Idlewild'' and starring in the recently released ''Who's Your Caddy?''.

He sometimes refers to, or credits, himself as "Daddy Fat Sax", which is a term that refers to a drug dealer who sells large amounts of marijuana, a banker or a pimp. In songs such as "ATLiens", "Walk It Out", "I'm So Hood (remix)" and "Morris Brown", Big Boi refers to this term.

Big Boi is a playable character in the ''Def Jam: Icon'' videogame.

Big Boi has officially dropped his rivalry with former employee, Killer Mike, which had gone on for 3 years.

He appeared in the ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' episode "Wildlife", which aired November 18, 2008. Big Boi played hip-hop artist "Got$ Money".

Multidisciplinary collaborations

In 2008, Big Boi began a collaboration on a new show with the Atlanta Ballet. The show, entitled ''big'', premiered at the Fox Theater in Atlanta April 10–13, 2008. The show was performed by Atlanta Ballet dancers, local youth and talent, as choreographed by Lauri Stallings. Music may be performed live onstage during the performance, as it was when the ballet created a live music/dance collaboration with the Indigo Girls.

Personal life

Patton is married to Sherlita Patton, with whom he has two children: daughter Jordan and son Cross. Another child, a son named Bamboo, is from a previous relationship. Numerous references to the Patton family are present in Big Boi's rhymes. His younger brother James raps under the name "Lil' Brotha", and is a member of hip-hop group Konkrete, while 'Uncle Donell' was 'locked up in prison' (as mentioned in the song ATLiens) but has now been released. His other brothers, Marcus and Jason, also make their way onto some songs as well.

His wife Sherlita Patton is also the co-owner of a clothing boutique in Atlanta, Georgia called PValentine. She co-owns the store with Tracy Valentine. The expensive brands carried by the store and the ties to Big Boi attract many music artists and other celebrities to the store. The store was featured on an episode of MTV's ''My Super Sweet 16'' when R&B; artist Chris Brown went for a birthday gift from Big Boi. He is also a registered pit bull breeder.

In August 2011, Patton was returning from a cruise when a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement drug dog at the Port of Miami alerted officers. Patton was arrested and charged with illegal possession of controlled substances Viagra, ecstasy pills and MDMA powder. Patton was released from the Miami-Dade County jail on a $16,000 bond.

Discography

2010: ''Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty''

2011: ''Daddy Fat Sax: Soul Funk Crusader''

Filmography

2006: ''ATL'' – as Marcus

2006: ''Idlewild'' – as Rooster

2007: ''Who's Your Caddy?''– as C-Note, Christopher Hawkenson

2009: ''Kiss and Tail: The Hollywood Jumpoff''

2010: ''Freaknik: The Musical'' - as the Preacher

Video games

2007: ''Def Jam: Icon'' – Himself

References

External links

Category:1975 births Category:African American rappers Category:African American singers Category:American male singers Category:Rappers from Atlanta, Georgia Category:Dungeon Family Category:Musicians from Georgia (U.S. state) Category:Hip hop record producers Category:Outkast members Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:People from Savannah, Georgia Category:Living people

da:Big Boi de:Big Boi es:Big Boi fr:Big Boi ko:빅보이 hr:Big Boi it:Big Boi nl:Big Boi no:Big Boi pl:Big Boi pt:Big Boi ru:Big Boi fi:Big Boi tr:Big Boi