The Origins of Jim Crow

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Jim Crow era is one of the darkest periods in American history. The country was divided by laws, customs and etiquettes that demeaned African Americans and segregated them from white Americans. But how exactly did this era begin? And was post-Civil War America always destined for racial segregation?

To answer this question we're joined by Aaron Sheehan-Dean, a Professor of Southern Studies at Louisiana State University. He explains why America's attempts to build a multiracial democracy after the Civil War failed, and how the wheels of Jim Crow were set in motion.

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

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1:41.5	Hi everybody, welcome to Dan Snow's history hit. In 1939, a paper in Alabama wrote,
1:49.2	This newspaper believes in white supremacy, and it believes that the poll tax is one of the
1:55.2	essentials for the preservation of white supremacy. Eleven southern states in the USA required citizens to pay a poll tax before they could vote.
2:06.2	They might be one or two dollars a year.
	...

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