(Segregation).
(Segregation).
Segregation in the U.S. was supported by laws which created barriers in all aspects of life. In the 1930s, “Jim Crow” laws created separate neighborhoods so whites and black lived separately. Public buildings such as churches, hospitals, theatres, schools, toilets, cemeteries, parks and other public places were segregated. Blacks could not serve on juries and schools for black Americans were deliberately kept inferior, so they would remain uneducated and not advance in society. The authorities spent less on black American schools than those for white people. Textbooks were rare and class sizes were huge. Many could not access any form of education and illiteracy was high. The “Grandfather Clause” excluded anyone whose grandfather was a slave from voting (Life). These laws kept Black Americans segregated and in a second class status during the early to mid 20th century (Life).
Segregation also impacted baseball as there was an unwritten rule that prohibited blacks from playing in the MLB from 1884 to 1946 (Graeme). This barrier was a direct result of the social practice of segregation in the U.S. (Breaking).
In the early 1900s, African Americans were compelled to play in leagues that only had other African Americans (Graeme). As a result, the Negro League was founded in 1920 by Rube Foster (Negro). However when the barrier was broken the league started to disband (Negro).