While these photos might seem far removed from our present, the legacy of segregation in America can still be seen today.
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1 of 34African-American children look through the fence at a playground legally forbidden from them. Alabama. 1956.Gordon Parks/Getty Images 2 of 34Two men drink from segregated water fountains. Location and date unspecified. 3 of 34Elizabeth Eckford ignores the hostile screams and stares of fellow students on her first day of school. She was one of the nine African-American students whose integration into Arkansas’ Little Rock Central High School was ordered by a federal court following legal action by the NAACP. September 6, 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images 4 of 34During the Freedom Riders’ travels throughout the South to protest segregated busses, one bus was set on fire by an angry mob. Luckily, everyone on the bus was able to escape without injury. Location unspecified. 1961.Bettmann/Getty Images 5 of 34Fifteen-year-old Johnny Gray points a warning finger at one of the two white boys who tried to force him and his sister, Mary, from the sidewalk as they walked to school in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 16, 1958.Bettmann/Getty Images 6 of 34Alabama Governor George Wallace stands at the door of the University of Alabama in protest of integration. June 11, 1963.Warren K. Leffler/Wikimedia Commons 7 of 34The spring of 1963 brought protest against police brutality and discrimination to Birmingham, Alabama. Police chief Bull Connor famously turned fire hoses on protesters, and used attack dogs and his own fists to physically beat unarmed people – including women and children.Charles Moore/Getty Images 8 of 34A nervous young girl sits in the front row. She is the only black girl in her newly integrated class. Tennessee. 1957.
Don Cravens/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 9 of 34Benny Oliver, former Jackson, Mississippi policeman, viciously kicks Memphis Norman, an African-American student from nearby Wiggins who had been waiting along with two other students to be served at a segregated lunch counter. The rumor of possible civil rights actions in the town caused onlookers to cheer the beating. May 28, 1963.Bettmann/Getty Images 10 of 34Demonstrators protest against the integration of Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central High School. 1959.Wikimedia Commons 11 of 34[Original caption] “Despite a court ruling on desegregating buses, white and blacks continue to be divided by their own choice.” Texas. 1956.Bettmann Archive/Getty Images 12 of 34A classroom sits nearly empty after white students refuse to attend their newly desegregated school. New York. 1964.Bettmann/Getty Images 13 of 34Durham, North Carolina. 1940.Jack Delano/PhotoQuest/Getty Images 14 of 34African-American students arrive at Baltimore, Maryland’s newly integrated Southern High School as white students walk behind with a sign reading “Southern don’t want negroes.” 1954.Bettmann/Getty Images 15 of 34Six-year-old Ruby Bridges is escorted from school by US Marshals. Bridges was the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis in 1960.Wikimedia Commons 16 of 34A white woman hurriedly bars the way as African-American people were about to enter the lunch counter of this downtown department store in Memphis to protest the segregation policy of the establishment. 1961.Bettmann/Getty Images 17 of 34Kenyan student David Mbiti encounters segregation for the first time in a bus terminal. Georgia. 1960. Ted Russell/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 18 of 34A boy drinks from a “colored” water fountain in Halifax, North Carolina. 1938.John Vachon/Library of Congress 19 of 34An African-American military policeman on a motorcycle in front of the “colored” MP entrance. Columbus, Georgia. 1942.Wikimedia Commons 20 of 34Atlanta, Georgia. 1956.Bettmann/Getty Images 21 of 34New York. Date unspecified.New York Public Library 22 of 34"White Only" taxis. Georgia. 1962.Warren K Leffler/PhotoQuest/Getty Images 23 of 34Inside an all-black classroom. Virginia. 1953. Hank Walker/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 24 of 34From 1959 to 1961, there were no public school facilities in Prince Edward County, Virginia for the estimated 1,700 black children there. The 1,400 white children attended private schools financed by state, county, and private contributions made in lieu of tax payments. This photo shows black students attending school in a one-room shack.Bettmann/Getty Images 25 of 34A young man drinks from a “colored” at a streetcar terminal. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 1939.Russell Lee/Library of Congress 26 of 34Instead of employing a separate entrance, some entire establishments were simply designated for “colored people.” Mississippi. Circa 1937.Dorothea Lange/Library of Congress 27 of 34To gain access to the “colored” entrance of this theater, you’d better be able to ascend an outdoor flight of stairs. Mississippi. 1939. Marion Post Wolcott/Wikimedia Commons 28 of 34A sign directly opposite the Sojourner Truth homes, a new U.S. federal housing project in Detroit, Michigan. A riot was caused by white neighbors’ attempts to prevent African-American tenants from moving in. 1942.Arthur S. Siegel/Library of Congress 29 of 34Demonstrators picketing over lunch counter segregation. Georgia. 1960.Donald Uhrbrock/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 30 of 34A white teenager tears up the sign of a black protestor picketing variety stores protesting their segregation policies. Tallahassee, Florida. 1960.Underwood Archives/Getty Image 31 of 34A boy watches as crowds of segregationist demonstrators walk to Arkansas’ Little Rock Central High to protest the first African-American students in a white school. 1957.Wikimedia Commons 32 of 34A woman and a child, both of whom refused to identify themselves, march in front of the Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock in protest of the scheduled integration of this city’s high schools. 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images 33 of 34Soldiers escort the first African-American students to integrate Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central High School on September 24, 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images 34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:
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33 Photos Of Segregation That Show A Country Divided By Race View Gallery
Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Condoleezza Rice are just some of the names that Americans tend to offer when suggesting that the United States is long past the days of Jim Crow. While such a suggestion is certainly debatable and in many ways demonstrably untrue, what isn’t debatable is the fact that simply in terms of time, Jim Crow is not that far removed from the present day.
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Children And Segregation: 38 Photos Of Little Minds And Big Hatred
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1 of 34African-American children look through the fence at a playground legally forbidden from them. Alabama. 1956.Gordon Parks/Getty Images 2 of 34Two men drink from segregated water fountains. Location and date unspecified. 3 of 34Elizabeth Eckford ignores the hostile screams and stares of fellow students on her first day of school. She was one of the nine African-American students whose integration into Arkansas’ Little Rock Central High School was ordered by a federal court following legal action by the NAACP. September 6, 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images 4 of 34During the Freedom Riders’ travels throughout the South to protest segregated busses, one bus was set on fire by an angry mob. Luckily, everyone on the bus was able to escape without injury. Location unspecified. 1961.Bettmann/Getty Images 5 of 34Fifteen-year-old Johnny Gray points a warning finger at one of the two white boys who tried to force him and his sister, Mary, from the sidewalk as they walked to school in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 16, 1958.Bettmann/Getty Images 6 of 34Alabama Governor George Wallace stands at the door of the University of Alabama in protest of integration. June 11, 1963.Warren K. Leffler/Wikimedia Commons 7 of 34The spring of 1963 brought protest against police brutality and discrimination to Birmingham, Alabama. Police chief Bull Connor famously turned fire hoses on protesters, and used attack dogs and his own fists to physically beat unarmed people – including women and children.Charles Moore/Getty Images 8 of 34A nervous young girl sits in the front row. She is the only black girl in her newly integrated class. Tennessee. 1957.
Don Cravens/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 9 of 34Benny Oliver, former Jackson, Mississippi policeman, viciously kicks Memphis Norman, an African-American student from nearby Wiggins who had been waiting along with two other students to be served at a segregated lunch counter. The rumor of possible civil rights actions in the town caused onlookers to cheer the beating. May 28, 1963.Bettmann/Getty Images 10 of 34Demonstrators protest against the integration of Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central High School. 1959.Wikimedia Commons 11 of 34[Original caption] “Despite a court ruling on desegregating buses, white and blacks continue to be divided by their own choice.” Texas. 1956.Bettmann Archive/Getty Images 12 of 34A classroom sits nearly empty after white students refuse to attend their newly desegregated school. New York. 1964.Bettmann/Getty Images 13 of 34Durham, North Carolina. 1940.Jack Delano/PhotoQuest/Getty Images 14 of 34African-American students arrive at Baltimore, Maryland’s newly integrated Southern High School as white students walk behind with a sign reading “Southern don’t want negroes.” 1954.Bettmann/Getty Images 15 of 34Six-year-old Ruby Bridges is escorted from school by US Marshals. Bridges was the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis in 1960.Wikimedia Commons 16 of 34A white woman hurriedly bars the way as African-American people were about to enter the lunch counter of this downtown department store in Memphis to protest the segregation policy of the establishment. 1961.Bettmann/Getty Images 17 of 34Kenyan student David Mbiti encounters segregation for the first time in a bus terminal. Georgia. 1960. Ted Russell/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 18 of 34A boy drinks from a “colored” water fountain in Halifax, North Carolina. 1938.John Vachon/Library of Congress 19 of 34An African-American military policeman on a motorcycle in front of the “colored” MP entrance. Columbus, Georgia. 1942.Wikimedia Commons 20 of 34Atlanta, Georgia. 1956.Bettmann/Getty Images 21 of 34New York. Date unspecified.New York Public Library 22 of 34"White Only” taxis. Georgia. 1962.Warren K Leffler/PhotoQuest/Getty Images 23 of 34Inside an all-black classroom. Virginia. 1953. Hank Walker/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 24 of 34From 1959 to 1961, there were no public school facilities in Prince Edward County, Virginia for the estimated 1,700 black children there. The 1,400 white children attended private schools financed by state, county, and private contributions made in lieu of tax payments. This photo shows black students attending school in a one-room shack.Bettmann/Getty Images 25 of 34A young man drinks from a “colored” at a streetcar terminal. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 1939.Russell Lee/Library of Congress 26 of 34Instead of employing a separate entrance, some entire establishments were simply designated for “colored people.” Mississippi. Circa 1937.Dorothea Lange/Library of Congress 27 of 34To gain access to the “colored” entrance of this theater, you’d better be able to ascend an outdoor flight of stairs. Mississippi. 1939. Marion Post Wolcott/Wikimedia Commons 28 of 34A sign directly opposite the Sojourner Truth homes, a new U.S. federal housing project in Detroit, Michigan. A riot was caused by white neighbors’ attempts to prevent African-American tenants from moving in. 1942.Arthur S. Siegel/Library of Congress 29 of 34Demonstrators picketing over lunch counter segregation. Georgia. 1960.Donald Uhrbrock/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 30 of 34A white teenager tears up the sign of a black protestor picketing variety stores protesting their segregation policies. Tallahassee, Florida. 1960.Underwood Archives/Getty Image 31 of 34A boy watches as crowds of segregationist demonstrators walk to Arkansas’ Little Rock Central High to protest the first African-American students in a white school. 1957.Wikimedia Commons 32 of 34A woman and a child, both of whom refused to identify themselves, march in front of the Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock in protest of the scheduled integration of this city’s high schools. 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images 33 of 34Soldiers escort the first African-American students to integrate Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central High School on September 24, 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images 34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:
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Children And Segregation: 38 Photos Of Little Minds And Big Hatred
Reliving The Civil Rights Movement, In 55 Powerful Photos
44 Glamorous Photos Of Dolly Parton, Country Music’s Greatest Diva
1 of 34African-American children look through the fence at a playground legally forbidden from them. Alabama. 1956.Gordon Parks/Getty Images 2 of 34Two men drink from segregated water fountains. Location and date unspecified. 3 of 34Elizabeth Eckford ignores the hostile screams and stares of fellow students on her first day of school. She was one of the nine African-American students whose integration into Arkansas’ Little Rock Central High School was ordered by a federal court following legal action by the NAACP. September 6, 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images 4 of 34During the Freedom Riders’ travels throughout the South to protest segregated busses, one bus was set on fire by an angry mob. Luckily, everyone on the bus was able to escape without injury. Location unspecified. 1961.Bettmann/Getty Images 5 of 34Fifteen-year-old Johnny Gray points a warning finger at one of the two white boys who tried to force him and his sister, Mary, from the sidewalk as they walked to school in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 16, 1958.Bettmann/Getty Images 6 of 34Alabama Governor George Wallace stands at the door of the University of Alabama in protest of integration. June 11, 1963.Warren K. Leffler/Wikimedia Commons 7 of 34The spring of 1963 brought protest against police brutality and discrimination to Birmingham, Alabama. Police chief Bull Connor famously turned fire hoses on protesters, and used attack dogs and his own fists to physically beat unarmed people – including women and children.Charles Moore/Getty Images 8 of 34A nervous young girl sits in the front row. She is the only black girl in her newly integrated class. Tennessee. 1957.
Don Cravens/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 9 of 34Benny Oliver, former Jackson, Mississippi policeman, viciously kicks Memphis Norman, an African-American student from nearby Wiggins who had been waiting along with two other students to be served at a segregated lunch counter. The rumor of possible civil rights actions in the town caused onlookers to cheer the beating. May 28, 1963.Bettmann/Getty Images 10 of 34Demonstrators protest against the integration of Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central High School. 1959.Wikimedia Commons 11 of 34[Original caption] “Despite a court ruling on desegregating buses, white and blacks continue to be divided by their own choice.” Texas. 1956.Bettmann Archive/Getty Images 12 of 34A classroom sits nearly empty after white students refuse to attend their newly desegregated school. New York. 1964.Bettmann/Getty Images 13 of 34Durham, North Carolina. 1940.Jack Delano/PhotoQuest/Getty Images 14 of 34African-American students arrive at Baltimore, Maryland’s newly integrated Southern High School as white students walk behind with a sign reading “Southern don’t want negroes.” 1954.Bettmann/Getty Images 15 of 34Six-year-old Ruby Bridges is escorted from school by US Marshals. Bridges was the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis in 1960.Wikimedia Commons 16 of 34A white woman hurriedly bars the way as African-American people were about to enter the lunch counter of this downtown department store in Memphis to protest the segregation policy of the establishment. 1961.Bettmann/Getty Images 17 of 34Kenyan student David Mbiti encounters segregation for the first time in a bus terminal. Georgia. 1960. Ted Russell/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 18 of 34A boy drinks from a “colored” water fountain in Halifax, North Carolina. 1938.John Vachon/Library of Congress 19 of 34An African-American military policeman on a motorcycle in front of the “colored” MP entrance. Columbus, Georgia. 1942.Wikimedia Commons 20 of 34Atlanta, Georgia. 1956.Bettmann/Getty Images 21 of 34New York. Date unspecified.New York Public Library 22 of 34"White Only” taxis. Georgia. 1962.Warren K Leffler/PhotoQuest/Getty Images 23 of 34Inside an all-black classroom. Virginia. 1953. Hank Walker/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 24 of 34From 1959 to 1961, there were no public school facilities in Prince Edward County, Virginia for the estimated 1,700 black children there. The 1,400 white children attended private schools financed by state, county, and private contributions made in lieu of tax payments. This photo shows black students attending school in a one-room shack.Bettmann/Getty Images 25 of 34A young man drinks from a “colored” at a streetcar terminal. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 1939.Russell Lee/Library of Congress 26 of 34Instead of employing a separate entrance, some entire establishments were simply designated for “colored people.” Mississippi. Circa 1937.Dorothea Lange/Library of Congress 27 of 34To gain access to the “colored” entrance of this theater, you’d better be able to ascend an outdoor flight of stairs. Mississippi. 1939. Marion Post Wolcott/Wikimedia Commons 28 of 34A sign directly opposite the Sojourner Truth homes, a new U.S. federal housing project in Detroit, Michigan. A riot was caused by white neighbors’ attempts to prevent African-American tenants from moving in. 1942.Arthur S. Siegel/Library of Congress 29 of 34Demonstrators picketing over lunch counter segregation. Georgia. 1960.Donald Uhrbrock/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 30 of 34A white teenager tears up the sign of a black protestor picketing variety stores protesting their segregation policies. Tallahassee, Florida. 1960.Underwood Archives/Getty Image 31 of 34A boy watches as crowds of segregationist demonstrators walk to Arkansas’ Little Rock Central High to protest the first African-American students in a white school. 1957.Wikimedia Commons 32 of 34A woman and a child, both of whom refused to identify themselves, march in front of the Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock in protest of the scheduled integration of this city’s high schools. 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images 33 of 34Soldiers escort the first African-American students to integrate Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central High School on September 24, 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images 34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:
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Children And Segregation: 38 Photos Of Little Minds And Big Hatred
Reliving The Civil Rights Movement, In 55 Powerful Photos
44 Glamorous Photos Of Dolly Parton, Country Music’s Greatest Diva
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1 of 34African-American children look through the fence at a playground legally forbidden from them. Alabama. 1956.Gordon Parks/Getty Images 2 of 34Two men drink from segregated water fountains. Location and date unspecified. 3 of 34Elizabeth Eckford ignores the hostile screams and stares of fellow students on her first day of school. She was one of the nine African-American students whose integration into Arkansas’ Little Rock Central High School was ordered by a federal court following legal action by the NAACP. September 6, 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images 4 of 34During the Freedom Riders’ travels throughout the South to protest segregated busses, one bus was set on fire by an angry mob. Luckily, everyone on the bus was able to escape without injury. Location unspecified. 1961.Bettmann/Getty Images 5 of 34Fifteen-year-old Johnny Gray points a warning finger at one of the two white boys who tried to force him and his sister, Mary, from the sidewalk as they walked to school in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 16, 1958.Bettmann/Getty Images 6 of 34Alabama Governor George Wallace stands at the door of the University of Alabama in protest of integration. June 11, 1963.Warren K. Leffler/Wikimedia Commons 7 of 34The spring of 1963 brought protest against police brutality and discrimination to Birmingham, Alabama. Police chief Bull Connor famously turned fire hoses on protesters, and used attack dogs and his own fists to physically beat unarmed people – including women and children.Charles Moore/Getty Images 8 of 34A nervous young girl sits in the front row. She is the only black girl in her newly integrated class. Tennessee. 1957.
Don Cravens/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 9 of 34Benny Oliver, former Jackson, Mississippi policeman, viciously kicks Memphis Norman, an African-American student from nearby Wiggins who had been waiting along with two other students to be served at a segregated lunch counter. The rumor of possible civil rights actions in the town caused onlookers to cheer the beating. May 28, 1963.Bettmann/Getty Images 10 of 34Demonstrators protest against the integration of Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central High School. 1959.Wikimedia Commons 11 of 34[Original caption] “Despite a court ruling on desegregating buses, white and blacks continue to be divided by their own choice.” Texas. 1956.Bettmann Archive/Getty Images 12 of 34A classroom sits nearly empty after white students refuse to attend their newly desegregated school. New York. 1964.Bettmann/Getty Images 13 of 34Durham, North Carolina. 1940.Jack Delano/PhotoQuest/Getty Images 14 of 34African-American students arrive at Baltimore, Maryland’s newly integrated Southern High School as white students walk behind with a sign reading “Southern don’t want negroes.” 1954.Bettmann/Getty Images 15 of 34Six-year-old Ruby Bridges is escorted from school by US Marshals. Bridges was the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis in 1960.Wikimedia Commons 16 of 34A white woman hurriedly bars the way as African-American people were about to enter the lunch counter of this downtown department store in Memphis to protest the segregation policy of the establishment. 1961.Bettmann/Getty Images 17 of 34Kenyan student David Mbiti encounters segregation for the first time in a bus terminal. Georgia. 1960. Ted Russell/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 18 of 34A boy drinks from a “colored” water fountain in Halifax, North Carolina. 1938.John Vachon/Library of Congress 19 of 34An African-American military policeman on a motorcycle in front of the “colored” MP entrance. Columbus, Georgia. 1942.Wikimedia Commons 20 of 34Atlanta, Georgia. 1956.Bettmann/Getty Images 21 of 34New York. Date unspecified.New York Public Library 22 of 34"White Only” taxis. Georgia. 1962.Warren K Leffler/PhotoQuest/Getty Images 23 of 34Inside an all-black classroom. Virginia. 1953. Hank Walker/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 24 of 34From 1959 to 1961, there were no public school facilities in Prince Edward County, Virginia for the estimated 1,700 black children there. The 1,400 white children attended private schools financed by state, county, and private contributions made in lieu of tax payments. This photo shows black students attending school in a one-room shack.Bettmann/Getty Images 25 of 34A young man drinks from a “colored” at a streetcar terminal. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 1939.Russell Lee/Library of Congress 26 of 34Instead of employing a separate entrance, some entire establishments were simply designated for “colored people.” Mississippi. Circa 1937.Dorothea Lange/Library of Congress 27 of 34To gain access to the “colored” entrance of this theater, you’d better be able to ascend an outdoor flight of stairs. Mississippi. 1939. Marion Post Wolcott/Wikimedia Commons 28 of 34A sign directly opposite the Sojourner Truth homes, a new U.S. federal housing project in Detroit, Michigan. A riot was caused by white neighbors’ attempts to prevent African-American tenants from moving in. 1942.Arthur S. Siegel/Library of Congress 29 of 34Demonstrators picketing over lunch counter segregation. Georgia. 1960.Donald Uhrbrock/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images 30 of 34A white teenager tears up the sign of a black protestor picketing variety stores protesting their segregation policies. Tallahassee, Florida. 1960.Underwood Archives/Getty Image 31 of 34A boy watches as crowds of segregationist demonstrators walk to Arkansas’ Little Rock Central High to protest the first African-American students in a white school. 1957.Wikimedia Commons 32 of 34A woman and a child, both of whom refused to identify themselves, march in front of the Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock in protest of the scheduled integration of this city’s high schools. 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images 33 of 34Soldiers escort the first African-American students to integrate Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central High School on September 24, 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images 34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:
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1 of 34African-American children look through the fence at a playground legally forbidden from them. Alabama. 1956.Gordon Parks/Getty Images
2 of 34Two men drink from segregated water fountains. Location and date unspecified.
3 of 34Elizabeth Eckford ignores the hostile screams and stares of fellow students on her first day of school. She was one of the nine African-American students whose integration into Arkansas’ Little Rock Central High School was ordered by a federal court following legal action by the NAACP. September 6, 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images
4 of 34During the Freedom Riders’ travels throughout the South to protest segregated busses, one bus was set on fire by an angry mob. Luckily, everyone on the bus was able to escape without injury. Location unspecified. 1961.Bettmann/Getty Images
5 of 34Fifteen-year-old Johnny Gray points a warning finger at one of the two white boys who tried to force him and his sister, Mary, from the sidewalk as they walked to school in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 16, 1958.Bettmann/Getty Images
6 of 34Alabama Governor George Wallace stands at the door of the University of Alabama in protest of integration. June 11, 1963.Warren K. Leffler/Wikimedia Commons
7 of 34The spring of 1963 brought protest against police brutality and discrimination to Birmingham, Alabama. Police chief Bull Connor famously turned fire hoses on protesters, and used attack dogs and his own fists to physically beat unarmed people – including women and children.Charles Moore/Getty Images
8 of 34A nervous young girl sits in the front row. She is the only black girl in her newly integrated class. Tennessee. 1957.
Don Cravens/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
9 of 34Benny Oliver, former Jackson, Mississippi policeman, viciously kicks Memphis Norman, an African-American student from nearby Wiggins who had been waiting along with two other students to be served at a segregated lunch counter. The rumor of possible civil rights actions in the town caused onlookers to cheer the beating. May 28, 1963.Bettmann/Getty Images
10 of 34Demonstrators protest against the integration of Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central High School. 1959.Wikimedia Commons
11 of 34[Original caption] “Despite a court ruling on desegregating buses, white and blacks continue to be divided by their own choice.” Texas. 1956.Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
12 of 34A classroom sits nearly empty after white students refuse to attend their newly desegregated school. New York. 1964.Bettmann/Getty Images
13 of 34Durham, North Carolina. 1940.Jack Delano/PhotoQuest/Getty Images
14 of 34African-American students arrive at Baltimore, Maryland’s newly integrated Southern High School as white students walk behind with a sign reading “Southern don’t want negroes.” 1954.Bettmann/Getty Images
15 of 34Six-year-old Ruby Bridges is escorted from school by US Marshals. Bridges was the first African-American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis in 1960.Wikimedia Commons
16 of 34A white woman hurriedly bars the way as African-American people were about to enter the lunch counter of this downtown department store in Memphis to protest the segregation policy of the establishment. 1961.Bettmann/Getty Images
17 of 34Kenyan student David Mbiti encounters segregation for the first time in a bus terminal. Georgia. 1960. Ted Russell/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
18 of 34A boy drinks from a “colored” water fountain in Halifax, North Carolina. 1938.John Vachon/Library of Congress
19 of 34An African-American military policeman on a motorcycle in front of the “colored” MP entrance. Columbus, Georgia. 1942.Wikimedia Commons
20 of 34Atlanta, Georgia. 1956.Bettmann/Getty Images
21 of 34New York. Date unspecified.New York Public Library
22 of 34"White Only” taxis. Georgia. 1962.Warren K Leffler/PhotoQuest/Getty Images
23 of 34Inside an all-black classroom. Virginia. 1953. Hank Walker/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
24 of 34From 1959 to 1961, there were no public school facilities in Prince Edward County, Virginia for the estimated 1,700 black children there. The 1,400 white children attended private schools financed by state, county, and private contributions made in lieu of tax payments. This photo shows black students attending school in a one-room shack.Bettmann/Getty Images
25 of 34A young man drinks from a “colored” at a streetcar terminal. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 1939.Russell Lee/Library of Congress
26 of 34Instead of employing a separate entrance, some entire establishments were simply designated for “colored people.” Mississippi. Circa 1937.Dorothea Lange/Library of Congress
27 of 34To gain access to the “colored” entrance of this theater, you’d better be able to ascend an outdoor flight of stairs. Mississippi. 1939. Marion Post Wolcott/Wikimedia Commons
28 of 34A sign directly opposite the Sojourner Truth homes, a new U.S. federal housing project in Detroit, Michigan. A riot was caused by white neighbors’ attempts to prevent African-American tenants from moving in. 1942.Arthur S. Siegel/Library of Congress
29 of 34Demonstrators picketing over lunch counter segregation. Georgia. 1960.Donald Uhrbrock/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
30 of 34A white teenager tears up the sign of a black protestor picketing variety stores protesting their segregation policies. Tallahassee, Florida. 1960.Underwood Archives/Getty Image
31 of 34A boy watches as crowds of segregationist demonstrators walk to Arkansas’ Little Rock Central High to protest the first African-American students in a white school. 1957.Wikimedia Commons
32 of 34A woman and a child, both of whom refused to identify themselves, march in front of the Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock in protest of the scheduled integration of this city’s high schools. 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images
33 of 34Soldiers escort the first African-American students to integrate Little Rock, Arkansas’ Central High School on September 24, 1957.Bettmann/Getty Images
34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:
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33 Photos Of Segregation That Show A Country Divided By Race View Gallery
33 Photos Of Segregation That Show A Country Divided By Race View Gallery
33 Photos Of Segregation That Show A Country Divided By Race View Gallery
33 Photos Of Segregation That Show A Country Divided By Race View Gallery
33 Photos Of Segregation That Show A Country Divided By Race
View Gallery
In reality, some of the last of the major legal restrictions on African-Americans were torn down less than just 50 years ago with the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which disallowed racial discrimination in terms of housing opportunities. The landmark Voting Right Act of 1965, which did away with most racial discrimination at the polls, came just a few years earlier, as did the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
But for nearly a century before those three acts were passed, the Jim Crow era of racial segregation in America reigned supreme.
When the Jim Crow laws were put into effect following the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, African-Americans’ status, especially in the South, was defined largely as “separate but equal.”
However, as the photos above suggest, racial segregation in America was indeed separate — but not equal at all. Instead, the Jim Crow laws led to discrimination within almost every facet of segregated society, in ways that can still be felt today.
Since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, legislators and businesses have used less blatantly racist laws and policies to effectively uphold segregation in America. These include policies like “redlining,” a policy that continued into the 1980s in which African-American neighborhoods were singled out to receive fewer loans, worse insurance policies, and less healthcare.
In more recent years, voter ID laws have generated controversy amid reports showing that they discriminate against racial minorities in ways that keep them away from the polls.
And just a few decades ago, laws like these were far more overt than they are today. The powerful images of segregation above are certainly proof of that.
For more on Jim Crow laws, check out this short — and chilling — documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChWXyeUTKg8
After this look at segregation in America, see some of the most powerful images from the early days of school integration in the 1950s. Then, discover how the Great Depression impacted African-Americans.
