Civil Rights Cases of 1883

Naomi Zimmermann

Civil Rights Cases of 1883

The Civil Rights Cases of 1883 were some of the most influential cases in the course of US history. They in effect allowed for segregation and for institutionalized racism in the form of Jim Crow laws, as long as it came from private institutions and not public state laws. African Americans, many of which were former slaves, had only enjoyed limited rights since the passage of the 13th amendment at the end of the civil war which had formally abolished slavery.

The Civil Rights Cases of 1883 declared the Civil Rights Cases of 1775 unconstitutional. It had been enacted to ensure that African Americans were treated equally in respects to public services and transport. It was declared unconstitutional under the court’s argument that the 14th amendment protected African Americans from equal protection under the law for all state acts and legislature, but not for private and individual discrimination. So, in effect, the Civil Rights Act of 1883 allowed individuals and non-state and government corporations could deny service or accommodations to African Americans and it legal. These services included private railroads, hotels, and restaurants.

The decision in the cases was 8:1, 8 in favor of the ruling and Justice John Harlan being the only dissenter. He argued that “private” services were open to public access and therefore should be considered public services. So, he argued that African Americans should be provided equal access to these services under the 14th amendment. His other argument was that freedmen weren’t being treated equally to how their former slave masters has been treated, which, if the 14th Amendment was being enforced properly, shouldn’t be occurring.

Link:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Civil-Rights-Cases