1875 - Human Rights, Social Justice

Human Rights, Social Justice

Comanche chief Quanah Parker ends his resistance to settlement of the Texas prairie by white ranchers (see 1874). The chief brings his warriors into a reservation established by the government.

Some 850 Cheyenne surrender to U.S. Army forces March 6 and turn over Catherine and Sophia German, who were taken nearly 6 months ago along with their two younger sisters (see 1874). One of the girls is reportedly pregnant and the surviving members of the German family are reunited at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Colonel Nelson Appleton Miles, 35, secures a congressional appropriation of $10,000 to set up a fund for their care.

Congress passes a Civil Rights Act March 1 that guarantees blacks equal rights in public places and bans their exclusion from jury duty. The new law will be widely flouted in both the North and South (see Supreme Court decision, 1883).

Tennessee enacts the first "Jim Crow" law, a measure prejudicial to blacks (see 1880; Theater, 1832). Legislatures of former Confederate states will enact similar laws, mandating segregation of "coloreds" from "whites" in the use of public facilities such as drinking fountains, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, restrooms, and schools (see Florida, 1887).