What were Jim Crow laws?
Jim Crow laws were racial segregation laws in the South that were imposed on African Americans. They were similar to Black Codes, which were laws restricting the movement and occupations of newly freed slaves after the Civil War. Jim Crow laws banned blacks from such places as restaurants, hospitals, parks, schools, and barbershops. As a result, blacks were required to use separate facilities or entrances.
How did “separate but equal” become law?
In 1875, Tennessee enacted the first Jim Crow law. By 1883, the U.S. Supreme Court took up the cause with its ruling that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional. The Act had prohibited discrimination based on race in public places.
In 1896, the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson created the doctrine of “separate but equal” when it ruled that Louisiana could require blacks and whites sit in separate train cars.
The U.S. Supreme Court further condoned discrimination in 1899 with its ruling in Cumming v. County Board of Education. It held that separate schools were valid even if comparable schools for blacks were not available.
When were Jim Crow laws dismantled?
It would take many years for the elimination of Jim Crow laws. Beginning in the early twentieth century, the Supreme Court made rulings that began to weaken the legality of segregation laws.
