Separate but not Equal
In 1868 following the Civil War, the U.S. Congress ratified the 14th amendment to the Constitution. The 14th amendment provided for the following:
Section One.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court Case of Plessy v Ferguson founded the "separate but equal" doctrine allowing the establishment of Jim Crow Laws across the South. According to Supreme Justice Henry Billings Brown, "in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races unsatisfactory to either." Therefore, segregation was not considered unlawful discrimination.
By the 1960s major opposition began to take shape to challenge the "separate but equal" doctrine. Major legislation was eventually passed to enforce the 14th amendment including: The Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Voting Rights Act of 1965, and The Civil Rights Act of 1968.
Section One.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court Case of Plessy v Ferguson founded the "separate but equal" doctrine allowing the establishment of Jim Crow Laws across the South. According to Supreme Justice Henry Billings Brown, "in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races unsatisfactory to either." Therefore, segregation was not considered unlawful discrimination.
By the 1960s major opposition began to take shape to challenge the "separate but equal" doctrine. Major legislation was eventually passed to enforce the 14th amendment including: The Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Voting Rights Act of 1965, and The Civil Rights Act of 1968.