The Jim Crow laws made segregation illegal.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a landmark civil rights and US labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race , color , religion , sex , or national origin . Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States . They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities in the states of the former Confederate States of America , starting in 1890 with a `` separate but equal '' status for African Americans in railroad cars . Jim Crow laws -- sometimes , as in Florida , part of state constitutions -- mandated the segregation of public schools , public places , and public transportation , and the segregation of restrooms , restaurants , and drinking fountains for whites and blacks .