1865... In the wake of the Reconstruction, legal enactments called "Jim Crow Laws" are adopted by Southern States to enforce segregation of whites and blacks in schools, public transportation, theaters, hotels and restaurants.   1866 & 1875... Congress passes Civil Rights acts guaranteeing equal access to public accommodations. Some states, including many in the South, choose to ignore the rulings and continue their practices of discrimination and segregation.   1896... In a precedent-setting case, 30 years after the abolition of slavery, the Supreme Court rules in Plessy vs. Ferguson that it is reasonable for a state to racially segregate persons within its jurisdiction. The one dissenting justice in opposition of the ruling, John Marshall Harlan, argues in vain that "Our Constitution is color-blind..." However, Plessy vs. Ferguson establishes that racial segregation does not violate the 14th Amendment if separate facilities are "substantially equal."

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Sources: Carter, Dan. T. The Politics of Rage. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. Clark, E. Culpepper. The Schoolhouse Door. New York: Oxford Press, 1993. Jost, Kenneth. "Rethinking School Integration," Congressional Quarterly, October 18, 1996. Lesher, Stephen. George Wallace: American Populist. New York: Addison Wesley, 1994. Masugi, Ken. "Anniversaries for Dissenters: 100th Anniversary of Plessy V. Ferguson," World Wide Web, The Claremont Institute, May 16, 1996. Wolter, Raymond. The Burden of Brown. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1984.