Jim Crow and the 40's
Origin of Jim Crow laws: A white entertainer, Thomas Dartmouth Rice performed a song act modeled after a slave whose character was named Jim Crow. Rice performed in blackface and imitated African American Vernacular English. It wasn’t clear exactly how, but “Jim Crow” became the shorthand for segregation laws in southern and border states after the Civil War.
Segregation in the South: African-Americans were forced to use segregated schools, public restrooms, neighborhoods, transportation, and even separate, inferior hospitals.
Law-breaking and not following cultural norms led to fines, jail time, harassment, and even outright violence against blacks
War Effort: Black americans were not allowed to fight alongside their white peers until Executive Order 8802 (which had little effect anyway) and black workers were shut out from defense plants; forced to work in menial, low-paying, and dangerous jobs
Double Victory: Many black Americans had mixed feelings about fighting a war for freedom overseas when they were experiencing discrimination back home.
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