Jim Crow on the Books

Jim Crow on the Books. March Route to Government. The first march to City Hall was organized in 1955 by Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth when he petitioned the city to hire Negro policemen. By 1963, thousands of Blacks marched on City Hall to protest Jim Crow laws that were a constant reminder of Blacks' second-class status in America. Such laws robbed them of fair voting, and public facility rights. Separate water fountains, restrooms, schools, public transportation and other facilities were marked with "Whites Only" and "Colored" or "Negroes" signs. Separate did not mean equal; facilities for Blacks were substandard to ones for Whites. When Supreme Court rulings in the 1950s began reversing the legal basis for Jim Crow nationally, Blacks in Birmingham and throughout the American South began to disobey segregation laws, demanding that the laws be repealed., Paired marker , May 1963 , Birmingham, Alabama, was considered America's most segregated city. Both city and state governments created legal codes that strictly banned nearly all social contact between Blacks and Whites. City Code Section 597 said: “It shall be unlawful for a Negro and a white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards, dice, dominoes and checkers.” On September 19, 1950, the city later passed Ordinance 798-F to add even more restrictions to prevent racial interaction at baseball, softball, football, basketball, or similar games., "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me round was not just a song. It was a resolve." , Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , In his book, Why We Can't Wait, 1964 , Lesson A1: Learn about the Jim Crow laws used in the U.S. before 1963. How have things changed. . This historical marker was erected by the Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail.. It is in Birmingham in Jefferson County Alabama