Plessy v. Ferguson

In 1896 the Supreme Court announced its decision in a case called Plessy v. Ferguson. It ruled that the Constitution allowed separate facilities and services to be provided for black and white people, so long as the facilities and services were of equal quality. The Plessy v. Ferguson decision made racial segregation a legal part of the American way of life for more than half a century.

Southern states immediately began making separate but unequal provision for blacks. They passed laws to enforce segregation in every possible aspect of life - public transportation, theaters, hotels, eating places, parks, schools.

The "separate but equal" decision reached in Plessy v. Ferguson was at last overturned by another Supreme Court decision in 1954. In the case of Brown v. Topeka, the Supreme Court ruled that it was impossible for black children to receive an equal education in segregated schools. It ordered that all public schools in the United States should be opened to children of all races.

This 1954 decision to abandon Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark in the black Civil Rights movement of the 1950s. It marked the beginning of a campaign to end all forms of legally enforced segregation in American life.

Bryn O'Callaghan: An illustrated history of the USA; Longman, Harlow, 1990/1996, page 57