Jim Crow laws were in force mainly from the late 1800s through the mid‑1900s, especially in the American South, with their core period running roughly from the 1870s–1890s until the 1950s–1960s. They began to be dismantled through landmark court decisions in the 1950s and major federal civil rights laws in the 1960s.

What Jim Crow laws were

  • Jim Crow laws were state and local statutes that enforced racial segregation and discrimination, especially against Black Americans, in public life.
  • They mandated “separate but equal” schools, transportation, restrooms, restaurants, and other facilities, though Black facilities were usually inferior.

When they began

  • Their roots lie in the post‑Civil War “Black Codes” (1865–1866), which restricted newly freed people’s rights in the South.
  • After federal troops left the South at the end of Reconstruction in 1877, Southern legislatures rapidly expanded segregation and discrimination laws that came to be called Jim Crow.

Peak Jim Crow era

  • The system was solidified in 1896 when the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson upheld “separate but equal,” giving legal cover to segregation.
  • From the 1890s through the first half of the 20th century, Jim Crow laws spread across schools, transportation, voting, housing, and many other areas of daily life.

When Jim Crow ended legally

  • The legal foundation of Jim Crow began to crack with Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which ruled segregated public schools unconstitutional.
  • Key federal laws—the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Fair Housing Act of 1968—effectively ended the Jim Crow legal regime by banning segregation and race‑based discrimination in core areas of public life.

Simple timeline

  • Late 1860s–1870s: Post‑war Black Codes and early segregation measures.
  • 1877–1890s: End of Reconstruction; Southern states build out Jim Crow laws.
  • 1896–1950s: Jim Crow segregation is entrenched and widespread across the South and beyond.
  • 1954–1968: Court rulings and civil rights laws dismantle Jim Crow; the era ends in law, though its legacy continues in U.S. society.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.