The United States had legalized segregation for many years. During this time, there were a series of laws known as the Jim Crow Laws that created separate facilities for blacks and for whites.
For a period of time, segregation existed in almost all aspects of society. The Plessy v Ferguson Supreme Court case legalized this segregation. This specific case dealt with railroad cars. Homer Plessy sued because he had to sit in the railroad car reserved for African-Americans. The Supreme Court ruled that this was legal as long as the facilities were equal. This was known as the “separate but equal” doctrine.
Other aspects of public life that were separated by race included drinking fountains, schools, seating sections on buses, restaurants, and bathrooms. It wasn’t until the 1950s and the 1960s that this began to change. The Brown v Board of Education case in 1954 made this concept illegal in public schools. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public facilities.
The struggle to deal with segregation has been a long and difficult process.
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