Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the
Southern United States. Enacted after the
Reconstruction period, these laws continued in force until 1965. They mandated
de jure racial segregation in all public facilities in states of the former
Confederate States of America, starting in 1890 with a "
separate but equal" status for
African Americans. Conditions for African Americans were consistently inferior and underfunded compared to those available to
white Americans. This body of law institutionalized a number of economic, educational, and social disadvantages.
De jure segregation mainly applied to the Southern states, while
Northern segregation was generally
de facto — patterns of housing segregation enforced by private covenants, bank lending practices, and job discrimination, including discriminatory labor union practices.