Segregation was extremely difficult for those of color to endure in the late 1900s. Segregation was defined as a legal or social practice of separating people by race, class or ethnic group by custom or law. It was usually the result of a long period of intergroup conflict, in which one group had more power and influence over the other group. After the abolition of slavery, African Americans were still treated poorly. Basically, white people thought they should be separated from black people because their skin was a different color than theirs. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay A common type of segregation that continues to impact the world every day is racial segregation. There are two main types of segregation; De jure segregation and de facto segregation. De jure segregation is when segregation policies are enforced by law. On the other hand, de facto segregation occurs when segregation policies are not enforced by law but are customary in society and relate to widespread individual preferences. The separation of the races led to many changes in the United States, such as the civil rights movement, however, harsh acts of violence occurred first. After the Civil War in America, de jure segregation became widely used. It was associated primarily with the South, where blacks faced a system of laws and customs that enforced segregation and racial discrimination. These laws were called Jim Crow laws. It prohibited any kind of unity between whites and African Americans. Additionally, fixtures such as drinking fountains were segregated under the term “separate but equal.” As long as any public facility provided equal services to each race, the races could be physically segregated. Every public space, including hotels, waiting rooms, bathrooms, shops, elevators, schools, churches, and hospitals, was reserved for either whites or blacks, but never both. “All marriages between a white person and a Negro, or between a white person and a person of Negro descent up to and including the third generation, are forever prohibited.” (Florida). Therefore, if anyone broke the law, they would be sent to prison since it was a crime. Eventually, after African Americans faced continued challenges to segregation, the Supreme Court became convinced that separate facilities could not be equal. Thus the meaning of de jure segregation which discriminated on a racial basis was lost. Meanwhile, the importance of de facto segregation increased. Although de jure segregation ended in 1964 with the Civil Rights Act, whites still continued to separate themselves from African Americans with de facto segregation. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was a group of individuals, founded between 1865 and 1866, who engaged in the harassment of African Americans to protect the rights and advance the interests of white Americans through violence and intimidation. They murdered many black landowners, politicians and community leaders. They even killed some white people to stop them from voting and supporting racial equality. Another example of de facto segregation could be seen as the “Flight of the Whites”. It was the migration of white Americans after the schools integrated. Whites enrolled their children in private schools. Although this was not a legal issue, white Southern Americans were willing to remain separate. Blacks faced threats of violence as they attempted to question established laws, which created a huge challenge for Blacks in fighting for their rights..