All Topics  
Separate but equal

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Separate but equal
 
 
  Topics Separate but equal Topic Home

Separate but equal is a set phrase that systems of segregation
Racial segregation

File:Segregated cinema entrance3.jpgRacial segregation is the separation of different Race s in daily life, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a drinking fountain, using a rest room, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home....
 giving different "colored only" facilities or services with the declaration that the quality of each group's public facilities remain equal. The phrase also came from the article written by an anonymous person in 1869. The article titled "Separate but Equal" was about how people had equal rights but were separated because of race.

American Civil War
American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
 (1861–1865) policy yielded the cessation of most legal slavery
History of slavery in the United States

Slavery in the United States began soon after British colonization of the Americas first settled Colony of Virginia in 1607 and lasted as a legal institution until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865....
 in the U.S., upon which the separate but equal laws became officially established throughout the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and represented the institutionalization of the segregation period.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Separate but equal'
Start a new discussion about 'Separate but equal'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Separate but equal is a set phrase that systems of segregation
Racial segregation

File:Segregated cinema entrance3.jpgRacial segregation is the separation of different Race s in daily life, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a drinking fountain, using a rest room, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home....
 giving different "colored only" facilities or services with the declaration that the quality of each group's public facilities remain equal. The phrase also came from the article written by an anonymous person in 1869. The article titled "Separate but Equal" was about how people had equal rights but were separated because of race.

United States

The American Civil War
American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
 (1861–1865) policy yielded the cessation of most legal slavery
History of slavery in the United States

Slavery in the United States began soon after British colonization of the Americas first settled Colony of Virginia in 1607 and lasted as a legal institution until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865....
 in the U.S., upon which the separate but equal laws became officially established throughout the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and represented the institutionalization of the segregation period. Blacks were entitled to receive the same public services such as schools, bathrooms, and water fountains, but the 'separate but equal' doctrine mandated different facilities for the two groups. The legitimacy of such laws was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy v. Ferguson, Case citation , is a landmark Supreme Court of the United States decision in the case law of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation even in public accommodations , under the doctrine of "separate but equal"....
, 163 U.S. 537.

The facilities and social services exclusive to African-Americans were of lower quality than those reserved for whites; for example, many African-American schools received less public funding per student than nearby white schools.

The repeal of "separate but equal" laws was a key focus of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. In Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education

'Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka', Case citation , was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, which overturned earlier rulings going back to Plessy v....
, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), attorneys for the NAACP referred to the phrase "equal but separate" used in Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy v. Ferguson, Case citation , is a landmark Supreme Court of the United States decision in the case law of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation even in public accommodations , under the doctrine of "separate but equal"....
 as a custom de jure
De jure

De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".The terms de jure and de facto are used instead of "in principle" and "in practice", respectively, when one is describing politics or legal situations....
 racial segregation
Racial segregation

File:Segregated cinema entrance3.jpgRacial segregation is the separation of different Race s in daily life, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a drinking fountain, using a rest room, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home....
 enacted into law. The NAACP, led by the soon-to-be first black Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall

'Thurgood Marshall' was an United States jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Before becoming a judge, he was a lawyer who was best remembered for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v....
, was successful in challenging the constitutional
Constitutionality

Constitutionality is the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or guidelines set forth in the applicable constitution....
 viability of the separate but equal doctrine, and the court voted to overturn sixty years of law that had developed under Plessy. The Supreme Court outlawed segregated public education facilities for blacks and whites at the state level. The companion case of Bolling v. Sharpe
Bolling v. Sharpe

Bolling v. Sharpe, Case citation was an influential Supreme Court of the United States landmark case dealing with civil rights concerning segregation in public schools....
, 347 U.S. 497 outlawed such practices at the Federal level in the District of Columbia. In 1967 under Loving v. Virginia
Loving v. Virginia

'Loving v. Virginia', , was a Landmark decision civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924", unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v....
, the United States Supreme Court declared Virginia
Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
's anti-miscegenation statute, the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924
Racial Integrity Act of 1924

On March 20, 1924 the Virginia Legislature passed two closely related eugenics laws: SB 219, entitled "The Racial Integrity Act" and SB 281, "An ACT to provide for the sexual sterilization of inmates of State institutions in certain cases", henceforth referred to as "The Sterilization Act"....
", unconstitutional, thereby ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage
Marriage

Marriage is a social, spirituality, or law union of individuals. This union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks its beginning is usually called a wedding and the married status created is sometimes called wedlock....
 ("anti-miscegenation laws
Anti-miscegenation laws

Anti-miscegenation laws, also known as miscegenation laws, were laws that banned interracial marriage and sometimes interracial sex between White people and members of other races....
") in the United States.

The phrase "separate but equal" has been more recently used by supporters of same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage and gay marriage are terms for a Law or socially recognized marriage between two people of the same sex. While state-sanctioned same-sex marriage is a relatively new phenomenon in the modern world, same-sex unions have been documented throughout human history....
  to argue for full marriage rights for same-sex couples.