Supreme Court approves racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson

The Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson on May 18, 1896, that Louisiana may require separate railway cars for Black and white passengers. The Court says racial segregation does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment if separate facilities are formally equal.\n\nJustice John Marshall Harlan dissents, arguing that the Constitution is color-blind and does not tolerate classes among citizens. The majority decision gives constitutional cover to Jim Crow segregation for more than half a century.\n\nThe event is a foundational moment in the legal history of racism because the Court legitimizes state-enforced racial separation until Brown v. Board of Education rejects school segregation in 1954.