Plessy v. Ferguson 'Separate But Equal' Doctrine Enforced Through Pervasive Violence

The 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision legitimating 'separate but equal' racial segregation defined American public life in the early twentieth century. In practice, separate facilities were never equal: Black schools received a fraction of per-pupil funding, Black rail cars were inferior, Black hospitals lacked equipment. The doctrine was enforced not through state inspection of equality but through violence and economic coercion. Any Black person who challenged the arrangement risked physical assault, job loss, or death. The Supreme Court did not overturn Plessy until Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.