Jim Crow Lynchings

            Jim Crow was the racial caste system of anti-black laws that categorized blacks as second-class citizens. The lecture by Professor Kreus was quite emotional with powerful examples of how whites were superior to Blacks in all important ways, including but not limited to intelligence, morality, and civilized behavior. Sexual relations between blacks and whites were unacceptable. Lynchings by local mobs started to become a common ritual on blacks that didn't abide by the Jim Crow laws. This practice was performed mainly in the south with authorities and politicians "looking the other way." Rarely was it prevented and I don't recall Professor Kreus mentioning anything about prosecutions on lynch mobs. As we further discussed lynchings, the more brutal the professor's choice of words became. I caught myself in shock wondering where he got his information because it was so hard to conceive. Lynchings were performed in result of such mediocre crimes only because it was a black man committing them. Even when crimes aren't committed awful things were happening to the black society. One example by the professor stood out to me. There were two black men not doing their job. One was sleeping and the other reading a newspaper. The one reading got beaten by his white boss only because the white man felt threatened that the black man might end up being as smart or even smarter than a white man. These types of scenarios were appalling. Then we started to see how the judicial system was no different than being out there in the communities with lynch mobs. In the Scottsboro case the nine black youths were falsely accused of raping two white women. They were sentenced to death in the first trial, but got retried several times over 6 years. They kept getting reconvicted over and over until after 6 years of prison just though the court system, all were released except one who was later paroled and pardoned.