Judicial · Federal
Plessy v. Ferguson enshrines 'separate but equal'
- Direction
- -2 — major harm to Freedmen
- Force
- 1.00 — enacted, vetoed, or final
- Status
- Decided
- Date
- 1896-05-18
Why this rating
Decided May 18, 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson upheld racial segregation under the 'separate but equal' doctrine, giving constitutional cover to Jim Crow for the next half-century. Rated -2: a direct, large-scale entrenchment of legalized discrimination against the lineage, with force of Supreme Court precedent.
Summary
Decided May 18, 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson upheld racial segregation under the 'separate but equal' doctrine, giving constitutional cover to Jim Crow for the next half-century. Rated -2: a direct, large-scale entrenchment of legalized discrimination against the lineage, with force of Supreme Court precedent.
Sources
- Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) — National Archives — court opinion · primary · historical
Rated under the published impact rubric. Direction records what a measure would do if fully effective; force records how far it has actually travelled. Neither is inferred — both trace to the sources above. Think something here is wrong? Tell us and we will log the correction.