Final answer:
The Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson validated the 'separate but equal' doctrine, allowing racial segregation as long as the segregated facilities were equal. The ruling stood until it was overturned in 1954 by the Brown v. Board of Education decision.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson
In the landmark case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled by a vote of 7-1 that de jure segregation was constitutional under the doctrine of "separate but equal." The case contested a Louisiana law that required segregated seating on trains, which was challenged by Homer Plessy, a light-skinned African American. Plessy's arrest for sitting in a whites-only car led to his argument that the segregation law violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation did not violate equal protection provided that the facilities for both races were equal.
The Plessy decision effectively legitimized state laws that enforced racial segregation and lasted until it was overturned in 1954 by the Brown v. Board of Education case, which ruled that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.