Changes

The Supreme Court of the United States held in the ''Civil Rights Cases'' (1883) that the Fourteenth Amendment did NOT give the federal government the power to outlaw private discrimination. In an even more important decision the Supreme Court held in ''Plessy v. Ferguson'' (1896) that Jim Crow laws were constitutional as long as they allowed for "separate but equal" facilities. Everyone knew that the "equal" in "separate but equal" was a technicality, and that great inequality was tolerated in practice.

The Supreme Court of the United States held in the ''Civil Rights Cases'' (1883) that the Fourteenth Amendment did NOT give the federal government the power to outlaw private discrimination. In an even more important decision the Supreme Court held in ''Plessy v. Ferguson'' (1896) that Jim Crow laws were constitutional as long as they allowed for "separate but equal" facilities. Everyone knew that the "equal" in "separate but equal" was a technicality, and that great inequality was tolerated in practice.

Today conservatives and liberals alike denounce the policy of Jim Crow as an unacceptable violation of the principle of equal rights for all.

Today conservatives and liberals alike (at least publicly in the case of the liberals<ref name="Short History>[http://russp.us/racism.htm A Short History of Democrats, Republicans, and Racism]</ref>) denounce the policy of Jim Crow as an unacceptable violation of the principle of equal rights for all.

==Post 1960==

==Post 1960==