This work investigates the systemic evolution of racial segregation in the United States from the end of the Civil War through the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Allen Weinstein and Frank Otto Gatell, both established historians, compile a comprehensive collection of primary and secondary source materials to analyze the legal, social, and economic frameworks that sustained the Jim Crow era. The text argues that segregation was not merely a regional custom but a deeply entrenched institutional structure that required constant political and social reinforcement to maintain.

Historians and educators frequently cite this volume as a foundational reader for understanding the structural complexities of the segregation era. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which makes it a standard resource for undergraduate history curricula.