By Tsahai Tafari
"Jim Crow," a minstrel character popular during the early 1820s, is the namesake of an American system of discrimination and segregation. The Black Codes of the Reconstruction era and railroad segregation laws foreshadowed the birth of the system of Jim Crow, but the Compromise of 1877 can be considered the political event that allowed Jim Crow to come into full power.
Presidents Abraham Lincoln (top) and Andrew Johnson (bottom).
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| | | | | | | |  |  | | A handwritten version of theCivil Rights Act of 1866, which was passed by both houses of Congress over President Johnson's veto. |  |  | | | |
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