Jim Crow Era Research Paper

Similarly to politics, economic equality is not equal yet today, another factor contributing to America’s still incomplete democracy. In comparison to “Jim Crow” Era, we have greatly improved. From 1939 to 1959, the average African American made from 44% to 59% of what the average white worker made. This means that the average African American salary was around half of the average white salary. Clearly, this created an economic inequality because the white population was twice as wealthy as the African American, giving them more significantly more power. In United States history, money can repeatedly be seen corrupting the system. This concept can be seen today, as rich super PACs have immense power over who gets elected and, in return, the …show more content…
While education is the most prominently viewed segregation, due to its creation of unequal political and economic systems, the fact is all of the segregations contributed to one terrible concept, which has lasted, although weakened, into today, white supremacy. The reason unfair arbitrary segregation destroys the chance of a democracy is because it creates a sense of entitlement for the group favored by this segregation. In this case, the powerful population was the white populous, a group that was far too accustomed to racial dominance. Since the founding of this country, the white population has found ways to oppress all other races, and traces of this are even noticeable today. In the case of African Americans, first they were slaves, then they were forced to use worse facilities and treated as a lesser human, and only now are they slowly moving towards full equality. Had the ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson different this timeline could have been greatly changed. If the court had ruled in favor of Plessy, then “Separate but Equal” would never have existed, and with it the Jim Crow Era. Meaning that during the “Jim Crow” Era it can be assumed that the African American population would be fighting for equal economic and political rights they are striving for now, and that by the time the Modern Era would be reached that they would have received these rights, resulting in them meeting all of DuBois’ democratic requirements, allowing America to reach its full democratic potential. However, this was not the case, and instead the ruling fed into the pre-existing white supremacist mindset, allowing it to further grow. Not only did it grow because the white population was wealthier and more powerful politically, but the small things added up to. From a young age, white children

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