What are Jim Crow laws?
laws that separate races
Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These laws discriminated against African Americans and others, mandating racial segregation in public spaces such as schools, restaurants, and public transportation, and denying them voting rights and access to equal education, jobs, and housing. The laws also upheld the doctrine of “separate but equal,” which meant that facilities for African Americans were often inferior to those for whites. These laws were named after a character in a popular 19th-century minstrel song depicting African Americans as foolish, uneducated stereotypes. Although many of the Jim Crow laws were repealed and declared unconstitutional during the Civil Rights Movement, the legacy of discrimination and racial segregation persists in many aspects of American society today.