The Reality and Impact of Legal Segregation in the United States

Abstract

In this article, we cover the history of Jim Crow, how African Americans were bound by laws of segregation and experienced racial violence on a daily basis, there was always resistance. Ultimately, the Civil Rights Movement was instrumental in ending the formal laws of segregation. The informal practices have taken longer to end; indeed, they have not yet ended. White challenges to the ending of legal segregation prevented African Americans from enjoying a full actual end to the realities of blatant segregation for years after the anti-segregation laws were passed. Moreover, the psychological, long-term impact on older, currently living, African Americans who experienced the tyranny of legal segregation is apparent in their painful narratives which will be incorporated into this article.