Final answer:
The Plessy v. Ferguson case upheld the 'separate but equal' doctrine in racial segregation, ruling that segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment if segregated facilities were equal. The 1896 Supreme Court decision was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
Step-by-step explanation:
Plessy v. Ferguson Case Summary
The Plessy v. Ferguson case, decided in 1896, is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine. The case stemmed from a 1892 incident where Homer Plessy, who was of mixed racial heritage, refused to leave a railroad car designated for whites, thereby challenging Louisiana's segregation law. The Supreme Court's decision in Plessy v. Ferguson ruled that as long as the segregated facilities for whites and blacks were equal, segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. This verdict endorsed de jure segregation and stood until it was overturned by the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954.
Plessy's argument that his equal protection of the laws was violated by segregation did not convince the majority of the justices. The court maintained that if any inequality was implied by the segregation, it was not a result of the law itself but of the interpretation by those affected by it. Despite the intentions behind the Fourteenth Amendment, the court's endorsement of the "separate but equal" doctrine facilitated systemic discrimination against African Americans for many decades until the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum in the mid-20th century.