"In this work, historian Jerrold M. Packard examines an appalling stain on American history: the laws and customs known as "Jim Crow." For the hundred years following the end of the Civil War, a quarter of all Americans lived under this system of legalized segregation. Together with its rigidly enforced canon of racial "etiquette," these rules governed nearly every aspect of life - and outlined the draconian punishments for infractions as well.".

"The purpose of Jim Crow was to keep African-Americans subjugated at a level as close as possible to their former slave status. Exceeding even South Africa's notorious apartheid in the humiliation, degradation, and suffering it brought, Jim Crow left scars on the American psyche that are still felt today.".

"American Nightmare examines and explains Jim Crow from its beginnings to its end: how it came into being, how it was lived, how it was justified, and how, at long last, it was overcome only a few short decades ago. Most important, this book reveals how a nation founded on principles of equality and freedom came to enact as law a pervasive system of inequality and virtual slavery."--BOOK JACKET.