re: #264 sagehen

In the Jim Crow states segregation was required by law; it took a change in the law to end it.

In the other states the law didn’t require or forbid it; business owners established whatever policies they preferred.

That’s why Frank Sinatra was able to single-handedly desegregate Las Vegas; he was a big enough star that “Let’s Make Frank Happy” was the policy every business owner preferred.

Even in Dixie, where Jim Crow wasn’t explicitly law, it was the de facto state.

The “Negro Motorist Green Book” came out because of de facto Jim Crow even when the law didn’t mandate that.

For example, you had two motels in a town. One of them would allow anyone with money to stay, the other only allowed whites.

The whites-only motel would spread around “you don’t want to stay at that other place do you? They let anyone stay there (read African-American).”

Same with businesses, &c.

Jim Crow was much more than laws; it was the attitude of all of society in Dixie.