WITNESSarchive

Segregated Drinking Fountains

Oklahoma and North Carolina, southern United States

W–012

At the public bathhouses in Hot Springs, facilities were divided four ways: for white women, white men, Black women and Black men. Across the American South, racial segregation determined which restrooms, waiting rooms and drinking fountains people could use. “White” marked a fountain for white people; “Colored” marked one for Black people.

1. Two fountains in Wilmington

A Black man drinks from a worn basin marked “Colored.” Beside it stands a larger fountain marked “White”; a shared drainpipe is visible beneath them. Photograph by Elliott Erwitt, 1950.
A Black man drinks from a worn basin marked “Colored.” Beside it stands a larger fountain marked “White”; a shared drainpipe is visible beneath them. Photograph by Elliott Erwitt, 1950.Elliott Erwitt · Magnum Photos · Wilmington, North Carolina, 1950
Provenance and sources for frame 1

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In 1896, the US Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson established the doctrine of “separate but equal.” It allowed separation by race on the condition that services were equal. In practice, the facilities and the treatment people received were not.

Railway stations, courthouses, shops and workplaces provided separate entrances, rooms and restrooms. Some laws explicitly required employers to maintain separate toilets. Where a statute did not require separation, local rules, custom, policing and the threat of violence could sustain it.

2. A cooler marked “Colored”

A man drinks from a paper cup beside a cooler marked “Colored.” Signs for white and Black women and men hang on the wall. The archival record does not name him. Photograph by Russell Lee.
A man drinks from a paper cup beside a cooler marked “Colored.” Signs for white and Black women and men hang on the wall. The archival record does not name him. Photograph by Russell Lee.Russell Lee · FSA/OWI · Library of Congress · Oklahoma City, July 1939
Provenance and sources for frame 2

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Elliott Erwitt photographed two such fountains in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1950. Looking back, he spoke about the failure of the “separate but equal” formula. The signs demanded separation; the fountains themselves revealed the inequality.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited racial discrimination in hotels, restaurants and other public accommodations within its scope. Discrimination did not disappear, but people could now invoke federal law in demanding equal service.

3. Two fountains at once

A white man and a Black man drink from separate fountains at the same moment. The nearer fountain is marked “For Colored Only.” The archive dates the image to about 1960; its photographer and precise location are unknown.
A white man and a Black man drink from separate fountains at the same moment. The nearer fountain is marked “For Colored Only.” The archive dates the image to about 1960; its photographer and precise location are unknown.Photographer unknown · Bettmann Archive / Getty Images · Southern United States, c. 1960
Provenance and sources for frame 3

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