According to the ruling in the Plessy v. Ferguson case, why was segregation acceptable?
A. Segregation was legal because African Americans were not citizens.
B. Segregation was legal as long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal.
C. Segregation was acceptable in private facilities only.
D. Segregation was acceptable on a state by state basis.
B. Segregation was legal as long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal.
According to the ruling in the Plessy v. Ferguson case, the answer is B. Segregation was legal as long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal.
The correct answer is B. Segregation was legal as long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal.
To arrive at this answer, it is important to understand the context of the Plessy v. Ferguson case. In 1892, a man named Homer Plessy, who was of mixed African American and white heritage, purchased a first-class train ticket and deliberately sat in a whites-only railway car in Louisiana, as a form of protest against segregation laws. He was subsequently arrested and his case resulted in a Supreme Court decision in 1896.
In the ruling for the Plessy v. Ferguson case, the Supreme Court established the "separate but equal" doctrine, which stated that segregation was permissible as long as the separate facilities provided for different racial groups were equal in quality. This ruling essentially legalized segregation and set the stage for the discriminatory practices that prevailed in the United States for decades.
It is worth noting that option A is incorrect because the ruling did not make a distinction based on citizenship. Option C is incorrect because the ruling applied to both public and private facilities. Option D is also incorrect because the ruling applied to the entire country, not just on a state-by-state basis.