It was a milestone in the history of racial segregation. In 1896 the US Supreme Court took a decision that support the constitutionality of racial segregation in the time of ¨separate but equal¨ doctrine. The case originated when an African-American train traveller refused to sit in a car for blacks. The Supreme court refused Plessy's argument stating that a law that indicates a legal distinction between whites and blacks was not unconstitutional.