Southern States Pass Railroad Segregation Laws Establishing Jim Crow System

Beginning with Florida in 1887, Southern states passed laws mandating racial segregation on railroads. Mississippi followed in 1888, Texas in 1889, Louisiana in 1890, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee in 1891. These laws required separate and invariably inferior cars for Black passengers regardless of their class of ticket. They were followed by segregation laws covering streetcars, waiting rooms, hotels, restaurants, schools, hospitals, prisons, courtrooms, cemeteries, drinking fountains, and parks — creating a comprehensive caste system enforced by law and violence. The railroad laws specifically targeted the Black middle class, who could afford first-class tickets, to enforce a racial hierarchy that transcended economic class.