Racial Segregation in the United States

             Segregation is defined as a legal or social practice of separating groups of people by custom or by law based on differences of race, religion, wealth, culture, or sexual orientation (www.worldbook.com). Segregation is usually the result of a long period of group conflict, with one group having more power and influence than another group. A prominent type of segregation that continually affects the world every day is racial segregation. Racial segregation in its modern form started in the late 1800'sand provides a means of maintaining the economic advantages and superior social status of the politically and socially dominant group, and in recent times it has been employed primarily by the white populations to maintain their ascendancy over other groups by means of legal and social color bars. There are two major types of segregation: de jure segregation and de facto segregation. Segregation by law, or de jure segregation, occurs when local, state, or national laws require racial separation, where the laws explicitly allow segregation. De jure segregation dates from the founding of the nation and was widespread in the South for about 80 years before the court of Congress prohibited legally sanctioned segregation in the 50s and 60s. The system of de jure segregation began to crumble in the 1900's. De facto segregation, or segregation in fact, occurs when social practice, political acts, or public policy result in the separation of people by race or ethnicity even though no laws require or authorize racial separation. This type of separation has developed more by custom than by law. De facto segregation has continued even when state and federal law has prohibited and has been a basic cause of numerous riots in American Cities since the 1960's. The riots have represented, among other things, a mixture of desperation and defiance (www.http://encarta.msn.com).
             De jure segregation rapidly became the rule in the south. After The Civil War, ...

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Racial Segregation in the United States. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 07:08, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/65768.html