Which legal ruling established the doctrine that segregation was permissible if facilities were equal?

• A. Plessy v. Ferguson
• B. Brown v. Board of Education
• C. Dred Scott decision
• D. Korematsu v. United States

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is the creation of a legal standard that allowed segregation as long as the facilities were equal. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) established this by ruling that state laws requiring separate facilities for Black and white people were constitutional if the separate facilities were equal in quality. This “separate but equal” justification became the basis for Jim Crow laws for decades, even though in reality the facilities and opportunities offered to Black Americans were far from equal.

Brown v. Board of Education later overturned this doctrine, declaring that separate facilities are inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional in public education. The other two cases differ in topic and outcome: Dred Scott concerned citizenship and slavery in new lands, and Korematsu dealt with wartime internment during World War II, not with segregation in public facilities.