Which term denotes the legal and social separation of races in daily life, especially in schools and public facilities?

• A. Integration
• B. Civil disobedience
• C. Segregation
• D. Desegregation

Answer: (C)

Segregation is the legal and social separation of races in daily life, especially in schools and public facilities. In U.S. history, this meant laws and practices that kept Black and white people in separate spaces, services, and schools. The idea of “separate but equal” was used to justify these separations, though the facilities for people of color were almost always unequal. The movement against segregation led to desegregation—the process of ending these legal and social separations—and to integration, where people of different races share institutions. Civil disobedience, meanwhile, is a protest tactic used to challenge unjust laws, not the practice of separating races itself.