Civil Rights Essay Prompt #3
AP Government Period 5
The Jim Crow laws were statutes enacted by the Southern states in the 1880’s which legalized segregation between black and whites. In 1896 in Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that using segregated facilities for whites and blacks was constitutional and encouraged the creation of discriminatory laws. Facilities like railways, streetcars, public waiting rooms, restaurants, boarding houses, theaters, public parks were segregated. Lesser quality and separated schools, hospitals, and other public institutions, were left for blacks.
In the South, Jim Crow Laws were strongly enforced and the laws made it extremely difficult for Blacks to live. Blacks who violated Jim