Presents the history of the South divided under a series of discriminatory Jim Crow laws passed from 1877 to 1965, addressing the origins of legal inequality, the white justification for segregation, and the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

Jim Crow laws : meaning, origins, and purpose -- From the Civil Rights Cases to legal segregation, 1883-1896 -- Jim Crow triumphant, 1896 to 1918 -- From the great migration to the Great Depression : 19115-1933 -- Jim Crow : from the New Deal to the double "V," 1933-1945 -- The long, slow decline of Jim Crow, 1945-1954 -- After Brown : Jim Crow is overcome.