Plessy v. Ferguson was a pivotal case heard by [[The Supreme Court]] in 1896 that upheld the constitutionality of racial [[segregation]] in the United States under the "[[separate but equal]]" doctrine. This ruling played a significant role in perpetuating racial segregation and inequality in the country for more than half a century. The case originated in Louisiana when Homer Plessy, a man of mixed-race heritage, deliberately violated the state's Separate Car Act of 1890. This law required railway companies to provide separate accommodations for white and African American passengers. Plessy was arrested for sitting in a "whites-only" car, despite being only one-eighth African American. He challenged his arrest, arguing that the law violated his rights under the [[13th Amendment]] and 14th Amendments to the [[Constitution]]. ## "Separate but equal" doctrine The case eventually reached the United States Supreme Court, which was tasked with determining whether the Louisiana law was constitutional. The Court, in a 7-1 decision, upheld the state's segregation law. Justice Henry Billings Brown delivered the majority opinion, arguing that the law did not violate the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause as long as the separate facilities were equal in quality. The Court's decision in Plessy v. Ferguson had far-reaching consequences for race relations in the United States. It legitimized the "separate but equal" doctrine, which allowed state and local governments to enforce racial segregation in various aspects of public life, including education, transportation, and housing. This led to the establishment of a rigid system of racial segregation in the South known as [[Jim Crow]], which persisted until the [[civil rights]] movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The "[[separate but equal]]" doctrine was ultimately overturned in the 1954 Supreme Court case [[Brown v. Board of Education]], which declared that racial segregation in public schools was inherently unequal and thus unconstitutional. However, the struggle to dismantle the broader system of racial segregation and inequality in the United States continued long after the Plessy decision was overturned. See also: [[Civil Rights Act]]