Jim Crow refers to practices, institutions, or laws that discriminated against African Americans. The term came into common use in the 1880’s. At that time, racial segregation (separation) was legal in many parts of the southern United States. The term originally referred to a Black character in a popular song composed in the 1830’s. Jim Crow laws required the separation of races in many public places. However, most of these laws were declared invalid by Supreme Court decisions in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 banned many Jim Crow practices. See also Segregation (Jim Crow laws) .
