A midnight ramble was a segregation

Racial segregation

Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...

-era midnight showing of films for an African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 audience, often in a cinema where, under Jim Crow laws

Jim Crow laws

The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...

 they would never have been admitted at other times.. The films shown were often from among the over 500 films that were made between 1910 and 1950 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

with Black producers, writers, actors and directors.