Final answer:
The Supreme Court's ruling in the Civil Rights Cases of 1883 determined that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 did not apply to private persons or corporations, leading to the 'separate but equal' doctrine and segregation of African Americans and other minorities, with option B) as the correct answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
Supreme Court Rulings on the Civil Rights Act and Segregation
According to the Supreme Court's rulings in the 1880s, specifically the Civil Rights Cases of 1883, it was determined that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 did not apply to private persons or corporations. This meant that private businesses and individuals were free to practice discrimination, which led to widespread Jim Crow laws and the segregation of African Americans.
These laws mandated the separation of races in public spaces and were upheld by the Supreme Court in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case, which established the doctrine of 'separate but equal'. Under this legal framework, the law did not solely apply to African Americans, but included other minorities as well when it came to segregation and discrimination. The rulings effectively allowed state-enforced segregation provided that the segregated facilities were equal, although in reality, facilities for African Americans were typically inferior.
These Supreme Court rulings allowed the application of the law to be used to reinforce racial segregation while upholding a façade of equality, hence answer option B) 'The law applied to other minorities besides African Americans.' is correct.