Final answer:
Jim Crow laws were meant to enforce racial segregation and maintain white supremacy rather than promoting social welfare.
They provided legal grounds for discrimination and inequality, undermining the rights of African Americans until being abolished by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Step-by-step explanation:
Jim Crow laws were a set of segregation ordinances enacted primarily in the Southern United States after the Reconstruction era. These laws did not serve to promote the general welfare or protect society from an evil. Instead, Jim Crow laws were designed to enforce racial segregation under the guise of "separate but equal," leading to a system that drastically undermined the social and civil rights of African Americans.
They were a means to maintain white supremacy by legally enforcing inferior treatment and conditions for black citizens in every aspect of life, from education to housing.
The laws were justified by the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, which set a precedent for these discriminatory practices by stating that provided the separate facilities for African Americans were equal, segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment.
However, in practice, the facilities and services provided to black Americans were far from equal to those provided to white Americans. The true purpose of Jim Crow laws was not to promote societal welfare, but to maintain a societal hierarchy based on race.
It wasn't until the landmark legislation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that the Jim Crow laws were legally abolished, although the impact and consequences of these laws continued to be felt long after.