Changes

After 1945, the Civil Rights movement gained momentum and used federal courts to attack Jim Crow.  The Supreme Court declared legal, or ''de jure'', public school segregation unconstitutional in 1954, and it ended in practice in the 1970s.<ref> Michael J. Klarman, ''From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The  Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality'' (2006) </ref>  The court ruling did not stop ''de facto'' or informal school segregation, which continued in large cities. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], building a coalition of liberal northern Democrats and conservative Northern Republicans, pushed Congress to pass the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] which immediately ended Jim Crow laws that segregated restaurants, hotels and theatres; these facilities (with rare exceptions) immediately dropped racial segregation. In 1965 the federal [[Voting Rights Act]] ended discrimination in voting for all federal, state and local elections.

After 1945, the Civil Rights movement gained momentum and used federal courts to attack Jim Crow.  The Supreme Court declared legal, or ''de jure'', public school segregation unconstitutional in 1954, and it ended in practice in the 1970s.<ref> Michael J. Klarman, ''From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The  Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality'' (2006) </ref>  The court ruling did not stop ''de facto'' or informal school segregation, which continued in large cities. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], building a coalition of liberal northern Democrats and conservative Northern Republicans, pushed Congress to pass the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] which immediately ended Jim Crow laws that segregated restaurants, hotels and theatres; these facilities (with rare exceptions) immediately dropped racial segregation. In 1965 the federal [[Voting Rights Act]] ended discrimination in voting for all federal, state and local elections.

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

Conservatives and liberals alike denounce the policy of Jim Crow as an unacceptable violation of the principle of equal rights for all. [[File:Strangecareer.jpg|thumb|200px|the standard history]]

==De Jure segregation==

==De Jure segregation==

"De jure" or legal segregation took place when state laws required it, in the South and some border states.<ref>"De facto" segregation refers to the practice of segregation, especially in Northern cities, that was in effect by custom and not by law.  </ref>  These laws  mandated physical separation of the races in order to create a social distance and minimize violence.  The facilities purchased by taxpayers for black use was almost always inferior to those provided to whites. The most important laws required that public schools, public places and public transportation, like trains and buses, have separate facilities for whites and blacks.  (These Jim Crow Laws were separate from the 1800-66 "Black Codes", which had defined an inferior legal status for free blacks.  State-sponsored school segregation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954 in the seminal case of ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]''. All the remaining Jim Crow laws were overruled by the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

"De jure" or legal segregation took place when state laws required it, in the South and some border states.<ref>"De facto" segregation refers to the practice of segregation, especially in Northern cities, that was in effect by custom and not by law.  </ref>  These laws  mandated physical separation of the races in order to create a social distance and minimize violence.  The facilities purchased by taxpayers for black use was almost always inferior to those provided to whites. The most important laws required that public schools, public places and public transportation, like trains and buses, have separate facilities for whites and blacks.  (These Jim Crow Laws were separate from the 1800-66 "Black Codes", which had defined an inferior legal status for free blacks.  State-sponsored school segregation was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954 in the seminal case of ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]''. All the remaining Jim Crow laws were overruled by the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.