Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1875 protecting public accommodations

Congress passes the Civil Rights Act of 1875 on March 1, 1875, during the final phase of Reconstruction. The law prohibits racial discrimination in inns, public transportation, theaters, and other public accommodations, and bars racial exclusion from juries. The statute represents an ambitious federal attempt to protect Black civil rights against private exclusion and public discrimination. Its protections narrow when the Supreme Court strikes down main public-accommodations provisions in the Civil Rights Cases. Congress briefly tries to use federal power to guarantee equal access before the rise of Jim Crow segregation.