Question

What do you think it means this quote from the test means: “The State of Louisiana passed a law saying that whites and blacks had to ride in different cars on trains, but required that the train cars be ‘equal.’”

Answer 1

The quote describes a Louisiana law requiring segregated train cars, which was central to the Plessy v. Ferguson case. The Supreme Court's ruling formalized the 'separate but equal' doctrine, allowing segregation as long as the separated facilities were deemed equal, influencing U.S. segregation policies until the mid-20th century.

Step-by-step explanation:

The quote refers to the historical context of Plessy v. Ferguson, a landmark 1896 Supreme Court case that dealt with racial segregation laws in the United States. The Louisiana law, which required racial segregation on trains, stated that the segregated train cars must be equal in quality. This was challenged by Homer Plessy, who argued that the law violated the principle of equal protection under the law as stipulated by the Fourteenth Amendment. However, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of maintaining segregation under the pretext of 'separate but equal,' which ultimately sustained the state-enforced segregation until it was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.