Jim Crow Laws

For many years, racial discrimination and segregation has been in a thorn in the flesh of many nations around the globe. The United States of America is one nation that has fully felt the negative effects of racial discrimination and segregation. According to Bell, Jim Crow laws were segregation laws that were crafted and enacted in America and they were used from the 1880's to 1965 before they were abolished(Bell, 2010). These laws were used to separate the blacks and the whites when it came to the use of most public amenities. The blacks were only allowed access to facilities allocated to them and the same applied to the whites. If a person from one race was found on the other side then a serious disciplinary action would be taken against them.

The Jim Crow laws affected all sectors of the nation's development. For instance, when it came to health care, these laws stated that "No person or corporation shall require any white female nurse to nurse in wards or rooms in hospitals, either public or private, in which negro men are placed" (Bell, 2010). When it came to transport, the laws required that all bus terminal were required to have separate ticket windows for the blacks and the white, the same applied to the waiting bays. The two races were not supposed to share a single room. Other sectors that were affected by these laws were the restaurants, education, sports, religion, housing and also intermarriage (Bell, 2010).

In the today's world, the impact of these laws is minimal and in some regions they don't exist at all. In America for instance, these laws do not exist at all and all this is because of civilization and the advancement in technology. Most Americans live together as brother and sisters and it is for this reason that the American irrespective of their race elected Barrack Obama as the first black president. The case is a bit different in the Arab world where they tend to discriminate people because of region. None Muslims find it hard to reside in such regions because of the Sharia laws.