History Presentation

The Law of Segregation

  • Segregation laws had roots in both the pre-Civil War North and during Reconstruction.


  • The Civil Rights Cases of 1883 invalidated the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which had prohibited racial discrimination in public facilities, stating that the Fourteenth Amendment only applied to state actions, not private businesses.


  • A landmark Supreme Court decision said that upheld state laws requiring racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. It originated from a challenge in Louisiana where Homer Plessy was arrested for sitting in a “whites-only” railroad car.


  • The Court argued that segregation did not imply discrimination as long as facilities were deemed equal.



Segregation and White Domination

  • Segregation was part of a broader system of white domination including taking voting rights away, economic inequality, and inferior education.


  • Places for Black individuals were often nonexistent or very inferior when compared to places for White individuals; for example, no public high schools existed for Black students in the South by 1900.


  • Strict social codes dictated interactions between races, with Black individuals facing humiliating treatment in public spaces, like having to wait until whites were served.


  • Segregation also affected Chinese laborers and Mexican Americans, who faced discrimination even while being legally classified as "white."


The Rise of Lynching

  • Between 1883 and 1905, over fifty Black individuals were lynched annually in the South, with the total reaching over 4,000 by 1950. (Lynching meaning to be publicly killed without any trial)


  • It was considered to be a public spectacle with large crowds attending these brutal public executions.


  • Claims of protecting white womanhood were used a lot in order to have an excuse for lynching, even though many accusations were unreasonable. It’s also argued that charges of rape, that were frequently lies, were used to justify the execution of Black men.


  • Both black women and men were victims to the many lynching that happened.


Politics and Memory

  • Between the 1880s and 1890s. the Civil War began to be remembered as a conflict among whites, minimizing the role of Black individuals and portraying slavery as a minor issue.


  • There was a period of Reconstruction which was characterized as a time of "Negro rule," reinforcing negative stereotypes about African Americans.


  • Southern governments elected monuments to the “Lost Cause,” romanticizing the Confederacy and downplaying the horrors of slavery. While textbooks promoted narratives of happy slaves and ignored the contributions of Black soldiers during the Civil War.


  • Instances of violence against Black veterans attempting to participate in commemorative events highlighted the ongoing resistance to racial equality.