Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark Supreme Court case that focused on the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The clause states that "No State shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
The case arose from a Louisiana law that required railroads to provide separate but equal accommodations for white and black passengers. Homer Plessy, a light-skinned man of mixed race, was arrested for refusing to leave a whites-only car on a train. He challenged the law on the grounds that it violated the Equal Protection Clause.
In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Louisiana, upholding the constitutionality of the law. The Court reasoned that separate but equal accommodations did not violate the Equal Protection Clause, as long as they were truly equal. However, in practice, the "separate but equal" doctrine was used to justify racial segregation and discrimination in many areas of American life.
The Plessy v. Ferguson decision was eventually overturned in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. The Brown Court ruled that separate but equal accommodations were inherently unequal and violated the Equal Protection Clause. This decision marked the beginning of the end of legal segregation in the United States.
The Plessy v. Ferguson case is a significant reminder of the power of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution and shape the course of American history. It is also a reminder of the importance of the Equal Protection Clause in ensuring that all Americans are treated equally under the law.