Explanation:
The Jim Crow Laws were first introduced in 1875; their purpose was to have “seperate but equal” public facilities for the black and white citizens. In theory these laws were supposed to create equal facilities for everyone, this was not the case. Black facilities were rarely equal to the white facilities; they were usually of lesser quality compared to the white facilities. Thus, the African American population were forced to use inferior facilities or not use any facilities at all. Signs marked “white” or “colored” or “whites only” were everywhere, visible symbols of segregation. Sometimes laws indicated where these signs should be placed. Many of the signs went up just because people wanted to emphasize the “unwritten” laws. For African Americans, such signs were a constant reminder that they were second class citizens and inferior to the white peoples. The Jim Crow Laws remained in effect until the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Significance to the Theme of Injustice
The African Americans were often forced to use the inferior quality facilities, while the white peoples had the better quality facilities given to them. The Jim Crow Laws affected every aspect of the African American peoples lives, from education to political to religious to social to shopping to behavior, basically everything in their daily lives. If African Americans defied or broke the Jim Crow Laws, they were put in jail, shot at, beaten or lynched. In order to avoid losing their jobs, lives, or homes; black people usually accepted the Jim Crow Laws. “[We] had to act…just as though everything was all right. [My family] had to do whatever the white man directed [them] to do, couldn't voice their heart’s desire. That was the way of life that I was born and raised into.”, said Ned Cobb. These laws favored the whites over the blacks, making the black peoples lives very hard and full of discrimination at every corner. "White" or "Colored" signs were everywhere, a constant reminder of the segregation of the white peoples and the black peoples. The Jim Crow Laws portrayed the racial injustice being done to the black peoples by the authority and the white peoples.
Significance to the Novel
The Jim Crow Laws were part of the character's lives in the novel. When Grant describes going to Bayonne, he says:
" The courthouse was there; so was the jail. There was a Catholic church uptown for whites; a Catholic church back of town for colored. There was a white movie theater uptown; a colored movie theater back of town. There were two elementary schools uptown, one catholic, one public, for whites; and the same back of town for colored. Bayonne’s major industries were a cement plant, a sawmill, and a slaughterhouse, mostly for hogs. There was only one main street in Bayonne, and it ran along the St. Charles river."
In this particular quotation we see that the town of Bayonne was divided into separate areas for the white and black peoples. The seperation of the these facilities was due to the segregation of both races. Even in the jailhouse there is segregation:
"We followed him down a long, dark corridor, passing offices with open doors, and bathrooms for white ladies and white men. At the end of the corridor we had to go up a set of stairs. [...] The white prisoners were also on this floor, but in a seperate section. I counted eight cells for black prisoners, with two bunks to each cell."
As we can see, every single facility had seperate areas for the both races. No facility was left unsegregated. This shows how even in the novel, Jim Crow Laws were in effect.
Relationship between the Theme and the Novel
The relationship of the Jim Crow Laws between the theme of injustice and the novel is that the Jim Crow Laws represent one of the particular racial injustices that the African Americans had to face daily. The novel shows instances of unjust segregation of the school system, where the black schools received hand me down books and supplies from the white schools. When Grant asks about this, the superintendent simply shrugs his comment away, the superintendent does not care whether the black schools have adequate supplies and books to teach. The white authority during that time simply could not think of the black people as their equal, they simply regarded them in the same way as they had during the slave time. This injustice plays a big role in the way Miss Emma, Tante Lou and Grant act towards the white people. Jefferson also faces the injustice of the Jim Crow Laws, in the trial the jury was all white men and even though the defense attorney should have spent more time defending Jefferson he only degrades Jefferson likening him to a hog and saying that Jefferson has no knowledge and is not worthy of being called a man. Overall we can see that the Jim Crow Laws truly does represent a relationship between the theme and the novel.
