[Dixielandjazz] Questions about laws regarding musicians andsegregation

[philwilking]

I am not a lawyer, but I am from Louisiana and I am old enough to have lived 
through the period which (officially) ended segregation by race in the USA.

To your second and last questions:.

A source of confusion is that each state (indeed, each jurisdiction [city, 
county, etc.]) had its own segregation laws and regulations, all different, 
all enforced with different strictness, and the federal government had its 
own such laws and regulations, also enforced variously in different places. 
Some of these laws were in place before the American Revolutionary War, and 
that's just in the British colonies; the other European colonies had their 
own laws.

In the late nineteenth century, a U.S. Supreme Court decision had upheld the 
proposition that requiring racial separation of public facilities (schools, 
public waiting rooms, etc.) complied with the U.S. Constitution, so long as 
the separate facilities were "equal." Note that this applied only to 
"public" facilities. An interesting "wrinkle:" a private club which owned 
its own building might restrict its membership and entrance to its clubhouse 
however it saw fit. This is still so, BUT - the instant it rents out any 
part of the building to any non-member for any purpose that building has 
become a "public" facility and must admit anyone.

Officially, this started to change in the late 1940's. President Truman 
ordered the military to desegregate. Kicking, screaming, and whining they 
(slowly) obeyed.
In the very late 1940's, some people in the State of Kansas got so tired of 
the inferior education provided in the public schools for Negro (the term 
used at the time) children that they went to court and maintained that 
separate facilities by their very nature CAN'T be equal, and in practice 
certainly ARE not. When the suit reached the Supreme Court on appeal, that 
court agreed and thereby made all "separate but equal" laws invalid in the 
USA.

In practice, this has not ended segregation, because now each alleged case 
must be the subject of its own lawsuit. Please note that these cases happen 
all across the USA, not just in the old "Deep South." I vividly recall 
overhearing a "black" fellow worker on the telephone 30 years ago. He was 
moving from New York to Virginia. I couldn't resist asking why he would 
voluntarily go to Virginia, given the prevailing racial attitudes. His 
answer was: "At least they are honest about it there."

So the short answer to question 2 is "No.." The answer to question 4 is some 
segregation laws in the USA have existed since "colonial times," and the 
process of ending them began seriously in the late 1940's and continues 
today.

Others are more qualified to take on your remaining questions.

Phil Wilking - K5MZF
www.nolabanjo.com

"Only two things are infinite:
the Universe and Human Stupidity.
And I am not sure about the Former."
Albert Einstein

-----Original Message----- 
From: Bert

So, to me this leads to questions:

was it officially forbidden for white and black musicians to share a stage? 
If yes, was it actively enforced? (Like prohobition, it was law, but not all 
the States did actually enforce the law)
was it the same in all the states?
To share a stage during jam sessions was not illegal for musicians from 
different backgrounds?
is there a certain timeframe when these regulations/laws started/ended?

Any help on these questions would be greatly appreciated,

Bert Brandsma