The term "Jim Crow" dates back to 1830 when a famous white performer named Thomas Rice copied a black performer's act and added a verse to the song mentioning Jim Crow. The new act degraded African Americans but became very popular. Jim Crow became a label for laws and practices that degraded African Americans. Different states had different "codes" and laws to separate African Americans from whites. Alabama had a code that all trains had to have separate accommodations for whites and blacks. Louisiana had separate eating places and parks/recreation centers, and Mississippi had laws that forbade people from printing anything mentioning equality or interracial marriage.


Share cropping is different from slavery in the sense that the African American working for the white man will be given food, housing, clothing, etc. He will pay the taxes, buy the tools and supplies needed, but completely direct and oversee what the African American farmer would be doing. The farmer would pick and harvest the crops only as the other man directs him to do. This isn't a good deal because later in the excerpt it mentions that half of the crops are the white man's, and half would be given to the African American. Everything that the white man gives to the farmer (food, housing, money, clothes) actually charges against his half of the crops. He also mentions that he will be taking care of all of the cotton, and that the farmer can do what he wants with the corn. The white farmer obviously uses the cotton to make more money, since it is still a cash crop. The share cropper (the African American farmer who works for the white man) could DEFINITELY be taken advantage of due to the loopholes and rules in the contract.

The schools for black children and teachers have almost nothing. A stove to keep warm all day, rickety chairs and benches, no books. The teacher's salary is barely enough to live.