2011년 11월 20일 일요일

Jim Crow laws

자료 1: Jim Crow laws, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws

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.De jure segregation mainly applied to the Southern United States. Northern segregation was generally de facto, from blacks predominately living in urban ghettos.




The phrase "Jim Crow Law" first appeared in 1904 according to the Dictionary of American English,[2] although there is some evidence of earlier usage.[3][4] 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.[3]

Origins of Jim Crow laws ( Main article: Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era )

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compromise to gain Southern support in the presidential election resulted in the last of the federal troops being withdrawn from the South.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.[5] 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.[6][7] 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.[6][8] Grandfather clauses temporarily permitted some illiterate whites to vote. (...) 

자료 2: What Was Jim Crow?

Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states, between 1877 and the mid-1960s. Jim Crow was more than a series of rigid anti-Black laws. It was a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second class citizens. Jim Crow represented the legitimization of anti-Black racism. Many Christian ministers and theologians taught that Whites were the Chosen people, Blacks were cursed to be servants, and God supported racial segregation. Craniologists, eugenicists, phrenologists, and Social Darwinists, at every educational level, buttressed the belief that Blacks were innately intellectually and culturally inferior to Whites. Pro-segregation politicians gave eloquent speeches on the great danger of integration: the mongrelization of the White race. Newspaper and magazine writers routinely referred to Blacks as niggers, coons, and darkies; and worse, their articles reinforced anti-Black stereotypes. Even children's games portrayed Blacks as inferior beings (see "From Hostility to Reverence: 100 Years of African-American Imagery in Games"). All major societal institutions reflected and supported the oppression of Blacks. (...)

Jim Crow etiquette operated in conjunction with Jim Crow laws (black codes). When most people think of Jim Crow they think of laws (not the Jim Crow etiquette) which excluded Blacks from public transport and facilities, juries, jobs, and neighborhoods. The passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution had granted Blacks the same legal protections as Whites. However, after 1877, and the election of Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, southern and border states began restricting the liberties of Blacks. Unfortunately for Blacks, the Supreme Court helped undermine the Constitutional protections of Blacks with the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) case, which legitimized Jim Crow laws and the Jim Crow way of life. (...)

자료 3: [책] 싫어요! ‘개와 흑인은 출입금지’ 짐크로법 깨부순 평범한 재봉사의 한마디 (한겨레, 2011.09.30)
원자료: 《싫어요!》 파올라 카프리올로 글·이우건 그림·김태은 옮김/초록개구리·9500원

“개와 흑인은 출입금지.” 요즘 같으면 납득할 수 없는 이런 말을 미국에서는 1964년까지 당연한 것으로 여겼고 심지어 합법이었다. 1880년대 만들어진 미국의 인종차별법인 짐크로법은 1964년까지 미국의 남부 11개 주에서 식당은 물론이고 화장실·극장·버스 등 공공시설에서 흑인과 백인을 분리하는 것을 분명히 밝히고 있었다. ‘짐 크로’(Jim Crow)는 흑인 분장을 한 백인 배우를 뜻하는 말로 흑인들을 경멸할 때 쓰는 단어였다.

1600년 미국이 노예제도를 도입한 이후 400년가량 유지하던 이 법의 폐지를 위해 흑인들이 행동에 나서게 만든 인물은 뜻밖에도 평범한 재봉사였던 42살의 흑인 여성 로자 파크스였다. 이 책은 평범한 여성 로자가 “싫어요”라는 한마디의 말로 ‘흑인 민권 운동의 어머니’로까지 불리게 된 과정을 조명한다. 평범했던 그가 어떻게 수백년간 이어져온 미국의 비굴한 역사를 바로잡았는지 이탈리아 작가는 차분하고 꼼꼼하게 그려나간다. (...)

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