Civil Rights Cases of 1883
October 15, 1883 · 19th Century
On October 15, 1883, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 — which had prohibited racial discrimination in public accommodations — was unconstitutional. Justice Joseph Bradley wrote that the Fourteenth Amendment only prevented state-sponsored discrimination, not private acts. The sole dissenter, Justice John Marshall Harlan, argued the ruling betrayed the Reconstruction Amendments. The decision opened the legal door to Jim Crow laws and left Black Americans without federal protection from private discrimination for nearly eighty years.
Key Figures
John Marshall HarlanMorrison WaiteJoseph P. BradleySamuel R. Ward
Locations
United States Supreme Court, Washington D.C.
Topics
supreme courtcivil rightssegregationUSAjim crowafrican american historyreconstruction
Connected Events — 9 Connections
Narrowed scope of protections from Thirteenth Amendment Ratified
The 1883 ruling struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875, establishing the legal precedent that the 14th Amendment did not prohibit private discrimination — the foundation Plessy extended to state law Plessy v Ferguson Supreme Court Decision
Precedent reversed eighty years later by Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Cases established that private businesses could discriminate without constitutional violation, creating the legal environment where corporations needed constitutional protections of their own—leading to the headnote interpretation in Santa Clara that granted them Fourteenth Amendment personhood Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad
Gutted equal protection clause of Fourteenth Amendment Ratified
Preceded by one year and mirrored logic of Chinese Exclusion Act Signed into Law
Founded in direct response to legal failures beginning with NAACP Founded
Conditions of lawlessness enabled by The Great Migration Begins
Absence of federal protection for Black citizens traced to Rodney King Beating by LAPD Officers
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