Ace the 2026 Michigan Teacher Certification in Social Studies – Elevate Your Teaching Dreams!

The principle of "separate but equal" was affirmed by the ruling in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson. This landmark Supreme Court decision, decided in 1896, established that racial segregation in public facilities was constitutional as long as the separate facilities were deemed equal. The case arose when Homer Plessy, who was of mixed race, challenged Louisiana's segregation laws by sitting in a "whites only" railway car. The Court's ruling justified the legality of segregated facilities and upheld state laws that enforced racial discrimination, which had significant implications for civil rights and segregation policies in the United States for decades to follow.

Other cases such as Brown vs. Board of Education later challenged and eventually overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine, but Plessy vs. Ferguson represented the court's endorsement of segregation at the time. Schenck vs. United States focused on free speech during wartime, while Marbury vs. Madison established the principle of judicial review, neither of which pertained to the issue of segregation in public facilities.