Jim Crow Laws and Faith

The readings for today about the Jim Crow laws and life in the south have been particularly intriguing to me as I have not read many first hand accounts of life in the south after the civil war. I’ve known about the segregation, but this reading about Ruby Hurley opened my eyes into the every day life of living in the south in the mid 20^th century. “I’ve had it. Because every time I picked up the telephone it was a threatening call, and when I’d go home, I never knew whether it was going to be a bomb” (Raines 135). The psychological effects must have been extremely dangerous as well. Hurley describes how her will was so affected by the laws and the segregation that occurred in every day life, that she simply “Could not eat in Jim Crow places” (Raines 135) Going in and out of the doctors office and being told “There isn’t a thing wrong with you physically. It isn’t a thing, but these… niggers and white folks. That’s all that’s wrong with you” (Raines 137).

I also like the faith in a higher power o so many oppressed people have. For example, “Lord moves in mysterious ways wonders to perform, because his body was not supposed to come up the it was weighted down” (Raines 133). It is interesting how anything that goes the way of an oppressed group can be related to God. This is an extremely strong practice because instead of wiping off beneficial happenings as luck, fate, or destiny, they put there belief in a higher power which also unites a group of people under a single entity. This also ties into the way Gandhi looked at how people were all interconnected through love and truth. Often times oppressed groups realize this and it makes their bond stronger, which helps to fight against the oppressors. “The claims of human brotherhood,/ And each return for evil,, good,/ Not blow for blow;/ That day will come all feuds to end./ And change into a faithful friend/ Each foe” (Frederick Douglass 4^th of July). This shows the interest of the oppressed not to return oppression, but turn foe into not just a neutral person, but a faithful friend.