Separate but equal

Definition

Separate but equal was a legal doctrine that justified and permitted racial segregation, claiming that services, facilities, and public accommodations could be segregated by race as long as the quality of each group's public facilities was equal. This doctrine was established in the United States with the 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson and remained in effect until it was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

Related terms

Jim Crow Laws: State and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States.

Plessy v. Ferguson:

The 1896 Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine.

Brown v. Board of Education:

The landmark 1954 Supreme Court case that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional, effectively overturning the "separate but equal" doctrine.