Southern Railway No. 1200, National Museum of African American History, Washington, D. C.
From the end of the Civil War to the mid-20th century trains were the primary mode of transportation for long-distance travel. This car ran on the Southern Railway. It was extensively rebuilt inside and out in 1940 to accommodate white and black passengers in separate sections with reclining seats and rest rooms. This practice was made the law of the land by the Plessy vs Ferguson Supreme Court decision of 1896 that upheld a Louisiana law which required provision of "separate but equal" accommodations for black and white passenger traveling by train. Segregated accommodations were legal and customary throughout the South and much of the Midwest into the 1950s. In 1954, Brown vs. Board of Education overturned Plessy, finding that "separate but equal" was invalid and banned racial segregation.
To view a photograph of a restored Jim Crow car go to www.flickr.com/photos/23711298@N07/4404817750/
Southern Railway No. 1200, National Museum of African American History, Washington, D. C.
From the end of the Civil War to the mid-20th century trains were the primary mode of transportation for long-distance travel. This car ran on the Southern Railway. It was extensively rebuilt inside and out in 1940 to accommodate white and black passengers in separate sections with reclining seats and rest rooms. This practice was made the law of the land by the Plessy vs Ferguson Supreme Court decision of 1896 that upheld a Louisiana law which required provision of "separate but equal" accommodations for black and white passenger traveling by train. Segregated accommodations were legal and customary throughout the South and much of the Midwest into the 1950s. In 1954, Brown vs. Board of Education overturned Plessy, finding that "separate but equal" was invalid and banned racial segregation.
To view a photograph of a restored Jim Crow car go to www.flickr.com/photos/23711298@N07/4404817750/