De Jure Segregation

Segregation is the practice of separating people on the basis of their race or ethnicity. In the United States, segregation encompasses two forms: de jure segregation and de facto segregation. De jure segregation, or segregation by law, occurred when local, state, or national laws required segregation. All such laws were abolished in the United States by the mid-1960s. De facto segregation, on the [Page 262]other hand, is segregation that occurs as a matter of fact without imposition of law, primarily as a result of residential patterns and individual choices. Although de jure segregation in the United States is associated with the South, segregation has been found throughout the country at some point in history. The legal separation of Blacks and Whites existed in the North as well as in the South and included nearly every phase of life. Segregation, both de jure and de facto, has generated heated debate in the United States, resulting in widespread dissent and demands for reform.

After the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in America, most southern states enacted Jim Crow laws, mandating racial segregation. Miscegenation laws, aimed at preventing race mixing, were the most frequent segregation laws passed, followed by education statutes prohibiting interracial schooling. In part, the impetus for such state laws derived from the approval of de jure segregation by the U.S. Supreme Court in the decision Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which held that legislatively mandated segregation in transportation did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment so long as the separate facilities were equal. In addition to facilities, legalized segregation included, for example, segregation of services, courts, juries, and housing, and lasted until Congress and the courts prohibited legally sanctioned segregation in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1954, the Supreme Court reversed its previous ruling of “separate but equal” in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (Brown I). The Court ruled that school segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause and that “separate education facilities are inherently unequal.” The holding compelled school districts to end segregation and alleviate its effects while striving to develop a unified system.

The Brown I decision provoked resistance from all segments of society, predominantly from those school districts affected by the ruling. Accordingly, in 1955, the Supreme Court provided clarification for the lower federal courts on how best to implement its previous decision. In Brown II, the Court stipulated provisos for districts to work toward integration “with all deliberate speed” and remanded the implementation to the federal district courts to supervise the judicious transition to unitary school systems. These landmark decisions served as the catalyst for the civil rights movement that followed.

Various circumstances working in concert resulted in de jure segregation being declared unconstitutional by 1970. For instance, a Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott in 1955 contributed to ending segregated buses. Further, 1960 sit-ins, 1961 freedom rides, and demonstrations in the North and South brought about the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Prohibiting discrimination because of race, gender, religion, and national origin, the Civil Rights Act eradicated Jim Crow laws. Passed in 1965, the Voting Rights Act abolished state laws intended to disenfranchise Black voters. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 ended discrimination in housing, and the 1975 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act discontinued mortgage discrimination.

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