Jim Crow laws affected the United States by creating a society where white individuals and people of color were kept separate. When America reached a turning point in history and the Civil War was fought, slavery was abolished and white supremacists created Jim Crow laws in an attempt to keep African Americans as close to their former status as slaves as possible. These laws aimed to control every aspect of life and create a separate white-dominated society. America was “Jim Crowed” for nearly an entire century, and the laws were not successfully challenged until 1954, during Brown v. Board of Education, and even then, it took several years for society to accept integration. In the 1960s, Jim Crow laws, a racial class structure, dictated the lives of people of color through a series of harsh laws that separated Caucasians from non-Caucasians. Jim Crow degraded people of color to second-class citizenship and thus made it impossible for them to be socially equal (NPS). These laws legalized segregation and therefore legalized racism (Ferris). Religion, being an important part of most people's lives at the time, helped the idea of ​​Jim Crow become widely accepted by white individuals because several Christian ministers taught sermons proclaiming whites as the "chosen people" (History) . Scholars at all levels of education reinforced the belief that blacks were born intellectually and socially inferior to whites. Furthermore, pro-segregation politicians often gave lectures in which they claimed that integration would lead to the “mongrelization of the white race” (History). With these ideas proliferating through various social institutions, Jim Crow laws were very effective and long-lasting. The callous laws of Ji...... middle of paper ......wn/history/1-segregated/detail/jim - crow-laws.html>. Copy and Paste | Kennedy, Stetson, by the way. “Open to all (whites).” Jim Crow guides the laws, customs, and etiquette in the United States that govern the conduct of non-whites and other minorities as second-class citizens. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2011. 190. Print. Copy and Paste | "Ku Klux Klan" by the way. History.com. A&E and Web Television Networks. November 24, 2013. www.history.com/topics/ku-klux-klan>. Copy and Paste | In brackets Rasmussen, R. Kent. Goodbye Jim Crow: The Rise and Fall of Segregation in America. New York: Facts on File, 1997. Print. Copy and Paste | Parenthetically “The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow.” PBS. PBS and Web. November 20, 2013. jimcrow/stories_events_plessy.html>. Copy and Paste | In parentheses