在1892年,普莱西从新奥尔良东路易斯安那铁路公司购买了一张头等座车票,向乘务员告知自己的血统后他坐进了白人的座位。他被告知自己必须离开座位,在“有色人种”处坐席。普莱西拒绝,被立即逮捕。新奥尔良公民委员会将案件一直上诉到聯邦最高法院。在《普莱西诉弗格森案》(1896年)被判败诉,聯邦最高法院判决“隔离但平等”合乎宪法。这项判决导致长达58年对黑人和有色人种的歧视。美国最高法院在人权案件中(109 US 3,1883)称第十四条修正案并没有赋予联邦政府限制私人歧视的权利,在普莱西诉弗格森案(163 US 537,1896)中认为只要“隔离但平等”的情况下吉姆·克劳法是合乎宪法的。在随后的岁月当中,法院利用“隔离但平等”的空洞辞令来放任歧视法律,对长期的不平等行为视而不见。
在国家在借助《吉姆·克劳法》推出强制种族隔离政策后,各企业、政党和工会等私人团体也随之建立了各自的黑人歧视条款,规定黑人不得在某些街区购房,不得或在某些商店工作或购物,不得从事某些行业的工作等。在1948年的“雪莱诉克雷默”案(334 US 1)中,美国最高法院曾经禁止某些形式的私人歧视行为,认为那些禁止将房屋出售给黑人或犹太人或亚洲人的限制性条款违反了宪法的规定,由于它们带有国家歧视性,所以只有在法院强制执行时才具有效力。但最高法院不愿打击其他形式的私人歧视规定。其理由是,私人团体的歧视性做法并没有违反宪法的平等保护条款,因为它们不属于该条款的“国家执行者”。
二战及战后
1944年,美国最高法院大法官弗兰克·墨菲在是松诉美国案件中将“种族主义”填入了美国最高法院的意见当中。(323 U.S. 214,1944).[25]他称在二战中强行转移日裔美国人使得法院陷入了“丑陋的种族主义深渊”当中。这是最高法院意见中首次出现“种族主义”(墨菲在斯蒂尔诉路易斯维尔和纳什维尔公司上两次使用了该词(323 192,1944)[26]墨菲在其它五个案例中各使用了一次,但是当他离开法院时,“种族主义”在二十年内几乎没有再次使用过。该词汇在里程碑式的判决洛文诉弗吉尼亚州中再次出现,388(英语:List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 388)U.S.1 (1967)。追随帕克斯的行为,马丁·路德·金带头组织了联合抵制蒙哥马利公车运动,但他们都不是第一次。在二十世纪三十到四十年代中,出现了无数次对种族隔离的抵制和示威。这些早期的示威达到了积极的效果,帮助激发政治运动。例如,匹斯堡城市联盟的K·勒罗伊·埃文斯就在1947年组织了反对员工歧视的示威活动,开始了他富有影响力的政治生涯。
美国最高法院于20世纪着手推翻违宪的《吉姆·克劳法》(黑人歧视法)。在1917年的“布坎南诉沃利(英语:Buchanan v. Warley)”案(245 US 60)中,法院裁定肯塔基州的法律不得要求实施居住隔离政策。1946年,最高法院在“艾琳·摩尔根诉弗吉尼亚州”案中根据宪法的商业条款规定州际交通隔离的做法属于违宪行为。
1954年,以第14任首席大法官厄尔·沃伦为首的美国最高法院在“布朗诉托皮卡教育局案”(Brown v. Board of Education)中做出历史性判决,9位大法官全票通过(9-0),认为公立学校将公共设施进行分隔的做法在本质上具有不平等性。[28]沃伦法院的该判决有效地推翻了“普莱西诉弗格森”案,并保护了黑人群体在社会其他领域中的合法权益。这一标志性案例涵盖了若干诉讼事件,其中包括特拉华州的“格布哈特诉贝尔顿”案、南卡罗来纳州的“布里格斯诉埃利奥特”案、维吉尼亚州的“戴维斯诉爱德华王子县教育局”案,以及华盛顿特区的“思博德·博林诉梅尔文·夏普”案。这些裁决使国家根据《吉姆·克劳法》施加的隔离政策逐渐退出历史舞台,在此过程中发挥作用的还有另外一些案件,如1950年的“麦克劳林诉俄克拉何马州评议委员会”案(339 US 637)、1958年的“全国有色人种协进会诉阿拉巴马州”(357 US 449),以及1960年的“博因顿诉弗吉尼亚州”案(364 US 454)。
1964年7月2日,约翰逊签署了具有历史意义的《1964年民权法案》。[29][30]该法援用了商业条款[29],以禁止公共场所(私有餐馆、酒店、商店,以及私立学校和工作场所)中的歧视现象。这种商业条款的应用在1964年的亚特兰大之心汽车旅馆诉美国案(英语:Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States)(379 US 241)中,得到了美国最高法院(沃伦法院)的支持。[31] 而在国会两院中,北方民主党比北方共和党更加支持1964年民权法案,南方民主党比南方共和党也同樣如此。在美国众议院代表南方选区中,更多的民主党(7/94或7%)投了票,而共和党无以投票。就北方民主党而言,有145人投票(145/154或94%)支持法案,对比北方共和党(138/162或85%)。参议院所有的南方共和党投了反对票,南方民主党为(20/21或95%)。就1964年公民权法案来说,从支持度上看民主党比共和党支持的多,在北方的情形也是一样:北方民主单为98%(45/46),共和党84%(27/32)。
尽管常被认为是吉姆·克劳法的南方版本,南部各州的反异族通婚法依然被立法通过,禁止不同种族间通婚。这些南部各州的法律并没有被美国《1964年民权法案》所废除,直至1967年美国首席大法官厄尔·沃伦领导的美國最高法院在洛文诉弗吉尼亚州案(英语:Loving v. Virginia)中作出里程碑式的判决,判定各州的反异族通婚法违宪。[33]沃伦大法官在判决意见书中写道:“选择与另一个种族的人结婚或不结婚是每个人的自由,只取决于个人,而不取决于各州(the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the State)。”[33]
非裔美国人生活
吉姆·克劳法与南方高私刑率成为二十世纪上半叶非裔美国人大迁徙(The Great Migration)的主要原因。由于南方机会不多,非裔美国人跑到北方城市寻求更好的生活,城市人口增加。据统计,1916-1970年间共有约600万非裔美国人从美国南部各州的乡村地区迁徙至美国东北部、中西部以及西部地区。[34]
^ 4.04.14.2Woodward, C. Vann and McFeely, William S. (2001), The Strange Career of Jim Crow. p. 7
^Louisiana's 'Jim Crow' Law Valid. The New York Times (New York). 1892-12-21 [2011-02-06]. ISSN 0362-4331. (原始内容存档于2015-02-15). New Orleans, Dec 20. – The Supreme Court yesterday declared constitutional the law passed two years ago and known as the 'Jim Crow' law, making it compulsory on railroads to provide separate cars for blacks.
^Woodward, C. Vann and McFeely, William S. The Strange Career of Jim Crow. 2001, p. 6
^ 7.07.1Michael Perman.Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the South, 1888–1908. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001, Introduction
^ 8.08.1J. Morgan Kousser.The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974
^Glenn Feldman, The Disfranchisement Myth: Poor Whites and Suffrage Restriction in Alabama, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2004, pp. 135–136
^Buddy, J., & Williams, M. (2005). A dream deferred: school libraries and segregation: library media specialists in schools named after Martin Luther King Jr. discuss the challenges they face on the job. American Libraries, 36(2), 33-35.
^ 12.012.1Battles, D. M. (2009). The history of public library access for African Americans in the South, or, Leaving behind the plow. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press.
^Fultz, M. (2006). Black Public Libraries in the South in the Era of De Jure Segregation. Libraries & The Cultural Record, 41(3), 338.
^ 14.014.1Fultz, M. (2006). Black Public Libraries in the South in the Era of De Jure Segregation. Libraries & The Cultural Record, 41(3), 338-9.
^Tomlins, Christopher L. The United States Supreme Court: The Pursuit of Justice. 2005, p. 195
^King, Desmond. Separate and Unequal: Black Americans and the US Federal Government. 1995, page 3.
^Schulte Nordholt, J. W. and Rowen, Herbert H. Woodrow Wilson: A Life for World Peace. 1991, pp. 99–100.
^ 19.019.119.2Blight, David W. Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. page 9–11
^New York Times, 30 March 1882: ‘COLORED METHODISTS INDIGNANT OVER THE EXPULSION OF THEIR SENIOR BISHOP FROM A FLORIDA RAILWAY CAR. :...Colored men of spirit and culture are resisting the conductors, who attempt to drive them into the “Jim Crow cars,” and they sometimes succeed...’
^New York Times, 30 July 1887: ‘NO “JIM CROW” CARS. :“...The answer further avers that the cars provided for the colored passengers are equally as safe, comfortable, clean, well ventilated, and cared for as those provided for whites. The difference, it says, if any, relates to matters aesthetical only...”
^Congress rejected by a majority of 140 to 59 a transport bill amendment proposed by James Thomas Heflin (Ala.) to introduce racially-segregated streetcars to the capital’s transport system. New York Times, 23 February 1908: ‘“JIM CROW CARS” DENIED BY CONGRESS’
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