What was the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson?

The Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson established that racial segregation was permissible as long as the separate facilities for the segregated races were equal, a legal principle known as the "separate but equal" doctrine. This case, decided in 1896, involved Homer Plessy, who was arrested for sitting in a "whites only" railroad car in Louisiana. The Court upheld state laws requiring racial segregation, asserting that such segregation did not violate the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause as long as the separate accommodations were of equal quality.

This ruling provided a legal foundation for the continued practice of racial segregation throughout the United States for many decades. It effectively legitimized the Jim Crow laws that enforced racial discrimination in various public facilities and services. The "separate but equal" doctrine remained in place until it was ultimately challenged and overturned by the Court in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.