14 States Pass Jim Crow Laws Within Five Years of Plessy

Following the Plessy decision's constitutional blessing of 'separate but equal,' fourteen states pass new or expanded segregation statutes by 1901. Laws mandate separate railroad cars, waiting rooms, water fountains, schools, parks, theaters, and cemeteries. The legislative cascade demonstrates that Plessy did not merely permit existing practices but actively incentivized states to expand the legal architecture of racial subordination.