Plessy v. Ferguson judgment, issued by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 18, 1896, advancing the controversial “separate but equal” doctrine for assessing the constitutionality of racial segregation laws.
Plessy v. Ferguson, (1896) U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the legality of racial segregation so long as facilities were “separate but equal.” The case involved a challenge to Louisiana laws requiring separate railcars for African Americans and whites. Though the laws were upheld by a majority of 8 to 1, a famous dissent by John Marshall Harlan advanced the idea that the U.S. Constitution is “color-blind.” The Plessy decision was overturned in 1954 by Brown v. Board of Education.
