Supreme Court strikes down Civil Rights Act of 1875 protections

The Supreme Court decides the Civil Rights Cases on October 15, 1883, striking down key parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The law had barred racial discrimination in public accommodations such as inns, theaters, and railroads.\n\nThe Court rules that the Fourteenth Amendment limits state action, not private discrimination. Justice John Marshall Harlan dissents, warning that the ruling abandons Black Americans to private racial exclusion after Reconstruction.\n\nThe decision matters because it helps clear the way for Jim Crow segregation by weakening federal civil rights enforcement against private discrimination.