EQ: How did the Jim Crow Laws restrict the new freedoms of African Americans?

People grew disappointed with Reconstruction over time. They did not feel that it had successfully reunited the nation. In 1877, the new President, Rutherford B. Hayes, ended Reconstruction and ordered government soldiers to leave the South.

Without protection, many African Americans were unable to vote and they lost their political power. Southern states began passing Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow Laws was a nickname for laws that kept African Americans separate from other Americans. These laws made segregation legal Segregation: the forced separation of the races.

Jim Crow laws segregated schools, hospitals, and even cemeteries. States usually spent less money on schools and hospitals for African Americans.

African Americans did not want to let Jim Crow laws ruin their hopes for the future. Many believed that education would give them a chance for a better life. Eager students filled the new schools and colleges for African Americans that opened in the South. Churches in the North sent money and teachers to support these new schools. African American churches in the South also took a leading role and became important centers in African American communities

A former slave who opened the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in All of its students and teachers were African Americans. Washington believed that African Americans would receive equal treatment in time if they were educated and learned useful skills. Students at the Tuskegee Institute studied math, science, and writing. They also learned trades such as printing, carpentry, and farming.

The most famous teacher at Tuskegee Institute was George Washington Carver. Carver studied how to improve the lives of poor southern farmers. He taught them to grow crops such as peanuts, pecans, and sweet potatoes instead of cotton. Carver invented over 300 products made from peanuts. His inventions included peanut butter, peanut cheese, and peanut milk. Created more than 300 products from peanuts and sweet potatoes. Taught farmers to plant different crops each year to help put nutrients back into the soil.