Question

Write three to five sentences describing your view of the Supreme Court's "separate but equal" principle in the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.

Answer 1

The separate but equal principle was made to say that whites and African Americans was desperate but it was not equal. This meant that theycould remain separated as long as they had equal accommodations. But these were not always equal. White bathrooms were much nicer than African American bathrooms. White restaurants were a lot nicer than African American restaurants.

Answer 2

The "separate but equal" principle declared that as long as public facilities were equal in quality, segregation of white and black individuals did not violate the Equal Protection Clause that had been included in the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution (Reconstruction Amendment). This clause guarateed equality of rights for all US citizens, without discrimination in terms of race, color or prevision condition of servitude.

The landmark decision adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, accepted the "separate but equal" principle and enabled segregation to proliferate under the constitutional framework.