Segregation

Segregation, separation of people according to race, religion, or ethnic origin. Custom or law may restrict the group's place of residence, use of public facilities and institutions, employment, movement, ownership of property, marriage, and the exercise of citizenship. Segregation has occurred throughout history and in most multiracial societies, especially those in which one group has seized or attained social, economic, and political dominance. In the United States from the early 1800s to the mid-1900s, laws required blacks and whites to use separate public facilities. This is known as de jure (by law) segregation. From the mid-1950s on, several Supreme Court decisions were made and federal laws passed that forbade segregation in voting, education, and the use of public facilities, and prohibited job discrimination in federally funded programs. While legal reforms and social patterns have made racial segregation less common in the world, it has not been eradicated. De facto segregation—segregation passed along through customs, not laws—actually increased in the mid-1960s and was one of the main causes of the race riots of the 1960s and early 1980s.