What term refers to laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States after the Civil War?

The term that refers to the laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States after the Civil War is Jim Crow Laws. These laws were established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to uphold a system of racial discrimination and segregation in various public spaces, including schools, transportation, and facilities. They were designed to marginalize African Americans and maintain white supremacy following the Reconstruction era, during which African Americans had gained some political and social rights. Jim Crow Laws effectively institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s began to dismantle them.

In contrast, the Voting Rights Act aims to eliminate barriers preventing African Americans from voting but does not discuss segregation laws. Black Codes were laws enacted in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, aimed at restricting the rights of freed slaves, but they precede Jim Crow Laws and were more focused on labor and civil rights rather than segregation specifically. The Reconstruction Amendments (the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments) sought to secure rights for newly freed African Americans but were ultimately not sufficient to prevent the enactment of Jim Crow Laws, which reversed many of the gains made during Reconstruction.