Jim Crow Laws

Laws that were enacted after the American Civil War, mainly in the Southern states, which legalized the segregation between African American and Caucasian groups. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the separation of facilities for African Americans and Caucasians in Plessy v. Ferguson. As a result, a series of laws that restricted the African American population's rights were enacted. These laws were based on the belief that Caucasians were superior to African Americans in many ways. Jim Crow laws restricted the African American population's access to public services and facilities, such as schools, restaurants, hotels, and public transportation. The laws are said to be named after a popular minstrel song that portrayed African Americans. Violence and practices such as lynching were often used as a means of social control, to punish those who violated the laws. It was only after World War II that the Jim Crow laws began to disintegrate; legal initiatives such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968 finally offered some legal remedy to the discriminatory practices of the Jim Crow laws. For more information, see Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).