The Supreme Court's decision in Plessey v Ferguson 1896?

The Supreme Court's decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine. The case arose when Homer Plessy, who was of mixed race, was arrested for sitting in a "whites-only" railway car. The Court ruled that as long as the separate facilities for blacks and whites were equal, segregation did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This decision legitimized state-sponsored racial discrimination and remained in effect until it was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.