What are facts about segregation?
Americans generally think of segregation as a problem in the
southern United States, where after the 1896 Supreme Court decision
of Plessy vs. Ferguson, a series of laws made the mixing of the
races illegal in schools or hospitals or theaters and even
restricted blacks from drinking from "white only" fountains or
using "white only" dressing rooms in department stores. But the
reality is that over the centuries, many cultures have practiced
segregation in one form or other.
There are two basic types of segregation: de facto, referring to
cultures where it is the custom or habit to stay away from a
particular group or restrict their access to certain services; and
de jure, referring to actual laws which prohibit and criminalize
the mixing of certain groups. South Africa, for example, had de
jure segregation under the name "apartheid."
In America, southern states also practiced de jure segregation
until 1954, when the Supreme Court rules in Brown vs. the Board of
Education that de jure segregation was unconstitutional. But sadly,
while on paper Brown vs. Board of Education outlawed segregation in
America, it persisted. Many states, including some up north,
continued to practice de facto segregation, restricting black
people to certain neighborhoods, denying them access to certain
occupations, and not admitting them to certain schools, even when
they were qualified to attend. There were no longer any laws on the
books, but prejudice endured, enshrined in custom and in
stereotype.
The same tendencies to segregate can still be seen in some other
countries too, where a particular racial or ethnic or religious
group is feared and ostracized, even though, technically, such
actions may not be legal.