Which term describes the racial segregation framework that persisted after the Civil War through laws and customs?

• A. Jim Crow laws
• B. Black Codes
• C. Federalism
• D. The Great Compromise

Answer: (A)

Jim Crow describes the system of racial segregation that persisted after the Civil War through laws and customs. It refers to state and local laws that required separate facilities—schools, transportation, housing, and public spaces—and to the social practices and enforceable norms that kept Black Americans treated as second-class citizens for decades. This framework was designed to maintain white supremacy even after slavery ended, and it lasted well into the mid-20th century, until civil rights efforts began dismantling it.

The other term points to earlier postwar efforts to control freedpeople, aimed at shaping labor and behavior right after emancipation, but those Black Codes were part of the Reconstruction era and did not endure in the same nationwide, system-wide way. The remaining options describe political structures or agreements unrelated to the postwar segregation regime.