My earlier post, “Dinner at Dale’s,” was about my surprise
experience at Dale’s Steakhouse a few days after passage of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964. Dale had new customers and seemed to be happy about it. In the
days and months that followed, the whole community adjusted quickly and
smoothly to the new rules. It was as if nothing new had occurred, black and
white children playing in the same parks, blacks and whites dining peacefully
together in restaurants - in Alabama - in 1964.
Thinking back on it made me wonder if other businesses also welcomed
the end of Jim Crow segregation laws. After all, businesses exist to make
profits, whether or not business owners hold racist views. So perhaps business
never wanted Jim Crow.
Some people, especially libertarians, oppose the Act’s ban
on racial segregation in privately owned public accommodations. They believe
that it violates private property rights that are protected by the constitution.
But Jim Crows laws, enacted by state and local governments, required businesses
to segregate based on race, against their better business judgment. Was that not a
violation of their property rights?
When Jim Crow laws were being proposed, many business owners
opposed them in the legislatures. But the laws were passed anyway because Black
Americans, who were denied the right to vote, did not count politically. Therefore
a small, active minority of whites could have its way with lawmakers, as the
majority of whites simply remained silent. Even after passage, some business
owners refused to enforce the new rules until they were threatened with jail.
In the Plessy vs. Ferguson case, the Supreme Court ruled
that state laws requiring racial segregation in publicly available facilities were
constitutional. Louisiana’s Separate Car Act (1890), required that black
patrons and white patrons be seated in separate rail cars. Homer Plessy, a
black man, had violated the law by boarding a “white’s only” car and was
arrested. The railway company opposed the law, saying it would require the
purchase of additional rail cars. The company fought the law in the legislature
and the courts, but was unsuccessful.
The Plessy ruling created the “separate but equal” doctrine
and gave new impetus to the enactment of racial segregation laws in several
states. The Civil Rights Act Public Accommodations Provision invalidated those
laws, apparently to the delight of many, if not most, private owners of public
accommodations.
For future posts:
How did business issues affect the Montgomery
Bus Boycott?
What was the real political impact of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964?
Why do I write this stuff?
