On March 1, 1875, the Civil Rights Act of 1875 became law. It declared:

all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement; subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law, and applicable alike to citizens of every race and color, regardless of any previous condition of servitude.

In 1883, in the Civil Rights Cases, the US Supreme Court ruled the 1875 Act unconstitutional and unauthorized by either the 13th or 14th Amendments. Congress passed no more civil rights legislation until 1957.