Policies and practices that have disadvantaged Black Americans generation after generation help explain the racial wealth gap. Black veterans find it much harder to obtain benefits; one study finds Black claimants were twice as likely to have their applications queried. 1877Southern states begin enacting “Jim Crow” laws, which formalize racial segregation. The laws restrict civil liberties and limit job opportunities for Black people as employers relegate Black workers to lower-skilled roles. 1896The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Plessy v Ferguson that racial segregation is permissible.

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Persons: Black, vagrancy, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, Andrew Johnson, Jim Crow, Ferguson, Henry Ford, Woodrow Wilson, Smith, Bankhead Organizations: Civil, Union, Bureau, American Medical Association, Prudential, Companies, Black, American Federation of Labor, U.S, Supreme, Plessy, U.S . Department of Agriculture, U.S . Constitution, National Association of Real, Owners Loan Corporation, U.S . Commission, Housing Administration, Federal Housing Administration Locations: U.S, Southern, Black, Louisville , Kentucky, U.S ., Tulsa , Oklahoma, Los Angeles, Chicago, Levittown, New York’s