 Although nothing approaching precise data exists, it is estimated that in the late 1930s less than one percent of blacks in the Deep South and around five percent in the Rim South were registered to vote, and that the proportion actually voting even in general elections, which were of no consequence due to complete Democratic dominance, was much smaller still.Secondly, the Democratic legislatures passed Jim Crow laws to assert white supremacy, establish racial segregation in public facilities, and treat blacks as second-class citizens.The landmark court decision in "Plessy v. Ferguson" (1896) held that "separate but equal" facilities, as on railroad cars, were constitutional.