What landmark Supreme Court case upheld the “separate but equal” doctrine?

• A. Brown v. Board of Education
• B. Plessy v. Ferguson
• C. Roe v. Wade
• D. Obergefell v. Hodges

Answer: (B)

The case that upheld the "separate but equal" doctrine is Plessy v. Ferguson, which was decided in 1896. This landmark ruling established that racial segregation was constitutional as long as the separate facilities for African Americans and whites were deemed to be equal. The case arose from a challenge to Louisiana's segregation laws, focusing on a specific incident where Homer Plessy, who was of mixed race, refused to sit in a segregated car. The Supreme Court's decision provided legal justification for Jim Crow laws across the southern United States, reinforcing systemic racial segregation for decades. The doctrine remained the legal standard until it was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which recognized that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.