The+jim+crow+laws


 * The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated racial segregation  in all public facilities, with a supposedly " separate but equal  " status for black Americans  . In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for white Americans , systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages. **
 * Some examples of Jim Crow laws are the segregation of public schools, public places and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants and drinking fountains for whites and blacks. The U.S. military was also segregated. These Jim Crow Laws were separate from the 1800–1866 Black Codes, which also restricted the civil rights  and civil liberties  of African Americans. State-sponsored school segregation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States  in 1954 in // Brown v. Board of Education  //. Generally, the remaining Jim Crow laws were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964  and the Voting Rights Act of 1965  . **

** Early attempt to breake these laws **

 * The Civil Rights Act of 1875, introduced by Charles Sumner  and Benjamin F. Butler  , stipulated a guarantee that everyone, regardless of race, color, was entitled to the same treatment in public accommodations, such as inns, public transportation, theaters, and other places of recreation. This Act had little impact. An 1883 Supreme Court decision ruled that the act was unconstitutional in some respects, saying Congress was not afforded control over private persons or corporations. With white southern Democrats forming a solid bloc in Congress with power out of proportion to the percentage of population they represented, Congress did not pass another civil rights law until 1957. **
 * In 1890, Louisiana passed a law requiring separate accommodations for colored and white passengers on railroads. Louisiana law distinguished between "white," "black" and "colored" (that is, people of mixed white and black ancestry). The law already specified that blacks could not ride with white people, but colored people could ride with whites before 1890. A group of concerned black, colored and white citizens in New Orleans formed an association dedicated to rescinding the law. The group persuaded <span class="wiki_link_ext">Homer Plessy , who was only one-eighth "Negro" and of fair complexion, to test it. **
 * In 1892, Plessy bought a first-class ticket from New Orleans on the East Louisiana Railway. Once he had boarded the train, he informed the train conductor of his racial lineage and took a seat in the whites-only car. He was directed to leave that car and sit instead in the "coloreds only" car. Plessy refused and was immediately arrested. The Citizens Committee of New Orleans fought the case all the way to the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Supreme Court of the United States . They lost in which the Court ruled that "separate but equal" facilities were constitutional. The finding contributed to 58 more years of legalized discrimination against black and colored people in the United States. **

** The end of jim crow **

 * In the 20th century, the Supreme Court began to overturn Jim Crow laws on constitutional grounds. In // <span class="wiki_link_ext">Buchanan v. Warley // 245 US 60 (1917), the court held that a <span class="wiki_link_ext">Kentucky  law could not require <span class="wiki_link_ext">residential segregation  . The Supreme Court in 1946, in // <span class="wiki_link_ext">Irene Morgan v. Virginia  // ruled segregation in interstate transportation to be unconstitutional, in an application of the <span class="wiki_link_ext">commerce clause  of the Constitution. It was not until 1954 in //Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka// that the court held that separate facilities were inherently unequal in the area of public schools, effectively overturning //Plessy v. Ferguson//, and outlawing Jim Crow in other areas of society as well. This landmark case consisted of complaints filed in the states of Delaware (// <span class="wiki_link_ext">Gebhart v. Belton  //); South Carolina (// <span class="wiki_link_ext">Briggs v. Elliott  //); Virginia (// <span class="wiki_link_ext">Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County  //); and <span class="wiki_link_ext">Washington, D.C.  (// <span class="wiki_link_ext">Spottswode Bolling v. C. Melvin Sharpe  //). These decisions, along with other cases such as // <span class="wiki_link_ext">McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Board of Regents  // 339 US 637 (1950), // <span class="wiki_link_ext">NAACP v. Alabama  // 357 US 449 (1958), and // <span class="wiki_link_ext">Boynton v. Virginia  // 364 US 454 (1960), slowly dismantled the state-sponsored segregation imposed by Jim Crow law **


 * By matthew p;3 **