Was public accommodations segregated during the Jim crow era?

Answer 1

Jim Crow Laws were about making racial segregation a part of every aspect of black people's lives, throughout the south. The Supreme Court had decided in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case of 1896 that segregation was legal-- although the decision said that accommodations were supposed to be "separate but equal." Unfortunately, most cities in the south kept the "separate" part, but ignored the "equal." Black schools received minimal funds, for example-- students were forced to use old books, had poorly paid and poorly trained teachers, and learned in buildings that often had no heat or electricity. Many black schools didn't even have college-preparatory classes, because the myth was that blacks were inferior in intelligence and were only going to be maids or janitors. (Black students who wanted to attend college had to either come north or go to the few historically all-black colleges.)

In addition to restricting educational opportunities, Jim Crow laws restricted black people from using libraries (except on a certain day each week); shopping in certain stores; drinking from water fountains; eating in most restaurants; staying at most hotels; and waiting for a bus in a comfortable waiting room. Throughout the south, there were signs that reminded black people that those who were "colored" belonged in the older, less modern, dirtier, more uncomfortable places, while white people generally got the newer and better facilities.