Lucy’s Blog

Jim Crow Laws

The Jim Crow Laws segregated every aspect of American society however, I feel like the segregation of public schools draws the most influence in this area of discussion.  It’s one thing, and not a good thing, but it’s one thing to make African Americans used different bathrooms and water fountains, but its so unjust to limit the privlege of learning.  In one of these articles we were assigned, a black student references the poor conditions that the books and materials his class was forced to use was in.  He made me realize that its not the physical aspects of a classroom that make the difference, its the quality and personality of the teacher.  Willia Wallace, student at the time said about his teachers;

They had the knowledge of things that were happening at the time. So they passed it on to us.

It would be nearly impossible to expain the ‘black and white rules’ of society to a classroom full of youth.  It seemed very valuable for this class to have a teacher that was able to communicate with their students and try to bring reason to their current situation under the Jim Crow Laws.  In many ways, I feel like Grant has that kind of relationship with his students.  He knows their personal backgrounds, he understands their learing methods, and he’s doing the best he can to educate them under the current racial limits of society.