Abstract
In this article, we cover the history of Jim Crow, how African Americans were bound by laws of segregation and experienced racial violence on a daily basis, there was always resistance. Ultimately, the Civil Rights Movement was instrumental in ending the formal laws of segregation. The informal practices have taken longer to end; indeed, they have not yet ended. White challenges to the ending of legal segregation prevented African Americans from enjoying a full actual end to the realities of blatant segregation for years after the anti-segregation laws were passed. Moreover, the psychological, long-term impact on older, currently living, African Americans who experienced the tyranny of legal segregation is apparent in their painful narratives which will be incorporated into this article.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Allen, I. M. (1996). PTSD among African Americans. In A. Marsella, M. Friedman, E. Gerrity, & R. Scurfield (Eds.), Ethnocultural aspects of posttraumatic stress disorder: Issues, research, and clinical applications (pp. 209–238). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Allen, J., Lewis, J., Litwack., & Als, H. (2000). Without sanctuary: Lynching photography in America. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Twin Palms Publishers.
Bell, D. (2004). Silent covenants: Brown v. board of education and the unfulfilled hopes for racial reform. New York: Oxford University Press.
Blee, K. M. (2005). Racial violence in the United States. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 28, 599–619.
Brown v. (1954). Board of education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483, 495.
Brown, T. N., Williams, D. R., Jackson, J. S., Torres, M., Sellers, S. L., & Brown, K. T. (2000). Being black and feeling blue: The mental consequences of racial discrimination. Race and Society, 29(2), 117–131.
Brundage, F. W. (2005). The Southern past: A clash of race and memory. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Bryant-Davis, T., & Ocampo, C. (2005). Racist incident-based trauma. The Counseling Psychologist, 33(4), 479–500.
Bufacchi, V. (2005). Two concepts of violence. Political Studies Review, 3, 193–204.
Burke, P. J. (1991). Identity processes and social stress. American Sociological Review, 56, 836–849.
Chafe, W. H. (2001). Remembering Jim Crow. New York: New Press.
Christopoulos, V. P. (2002). The relationship between exposure to violence and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in inner city youth (Ph.D. dissertation). Department of Psychology, Pace University, New York.
Dray, P. (2003). At the hands of persons unknown: The lynching of Black America. New York: The Modern Day Library.
Ellis, A. E., & Ellis, L. C. (2003). The trial of ruby Mccollum. Indiana: First Books Library.
Eyerman, R. (2001). Cultural trauma: Slavery and the formation of African American Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Faulkner, A. O. (1982). When I was comin’ up: An oral history of aged blacks. Connecticut: Shoe String Press.
Feagin, J. R. (2000). Racist America. New York: Routledge.
Feagin, J. R. (2006). Systemic racism: A theory of oppression. New York: Routledge.
Feagin, J. R., & McKinney, K. D. (2003). The many costs of racism. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Feagin, J. R., & Sikes, M. P. (1994). Living With Racism. Beacon Press: MA, Boston.
Folmsbee, S. J. (1949). The origin of the first Jim Crow law. The Journal of Southern History, 15, 235–247.
Ginzburg, R. (1962). 100 Years of Lynchings. Baltimore, Maryland: Black Classic Press.
Gray, J. A. (1987). The psychology of fear and stress. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Irons, P. (2002). Jim Crow’s children: The broken promise of the brown decision. New York: Penguin Group.
Jackman, M. (2002). Violence in social life. Annual Review of Sociology, 28, 387–415.
Johnson, C. (1943). Backgrounds to patterns of Negro segregation. New York: Harper and Row.
Kelly, B. D. (2005). Structural violence and schizophrenia. Social Science and Medicine, 61, 721–730.
Kennedy, S. (1959). Jim Crow guide to the U.S.A. London: Camelot Press.
Kessler, R. C., Mickelson, K. D., & Williams, D. R. (1999). The prevalence, distribution, and mental health correlates of perceived discrimination in the United States. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 40, 208–230.
Krieger, N., Smith, K., Naishadham, D., Hartman, C., & Barbeau, E. M. (2005). Experiences of discrimination: Validity and reliability of a self-report measure for Population health research on racism and health. Social Science and Medicine, 61, 1576–1596.
Litwick, L. F. (1979). Been in the storm so long: The aftermath of slavery. New York: Vintage Books.
Litwick, L. F. (1999). Trouble in mind. New York: Random House.
Mason-Schrock, D. (1996). Transsexuals’ narrative construction of the ‘true self’. Social Psychology Quarterly, 3, 176–192.
McDevitt, J., Levin, J., & Bennett, S. (2002). Hate crime offenders. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 303–318.
Mills, T. L., & Edwards, C. (2002). A critical review of research on the mental health status of older African Americans. The Journal of Aging and Society, 22, 273–304.
Myers, M. A., & Thompson, V. L. S. (2000). The impact of violence exposure on African American youth in context. Youth & Society, 32, 253–267.
Packard, J. (2002). American nightmare: The history of Jim Crow. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Patterson, J. T. (2001). Brown V. Board of education: A civil rights milestone and it’s troubled legacy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Pizarro, J., Silver, R. C., & Prause, J. (2006). Physical and mental health costs of traumatic war experiences among civil war veterans. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63, 193–200.
Plessy v. Ferguson. (1896). 163 U.S. 537.
Smythe, H. H. (1948). The concept of Jim Crow. Social Forces, 27, 45–48.
Thompson-Miller, R., Feagin, J. R., & Picca, L. (2014). Jim Crow’s legacy: The lasting impact of segregation. New York: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Tolnay, S. E., & Beck, E. M. (1992). Racial violence and black migration in the American South, 1910–1930. American Sociological Review, 57, 103–116.
Tolnay, S. E. & Beck, E. M. (1995). A festival of violence: An analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882–1890. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Wang, L. (1999). The complexities of ‘hate.’ The Ohio State Law Journal, 60,799–900.
Williams, D. R., & Williams-Morris, R. (2000). Racism and mental health: The African American experience. Ethnicity & Health, 5, 243–268.
Woodward, V. C. (1974). The strange career of Jim Crow. New York: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Thompson-Miller, R., Feagin, J.R. (2018). The Reality and Impact of Legal Segregation in the United States. In: Batur, P., Feagin, J. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Racial and Ethnic Relations. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76757-4_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76757-4_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76755-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76757-4
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)