Need some good information fast on African American history? We've got what you're looking for with our selection of more than 300 reference articles. Article provided by: Encyclopaedia Britannica Plessy v. Ferguson U.S. Supreme Court decision (1896) that established the legality of racial segregation so long as facilities were “separate but equal.” The case involved a challenge to Louisiana laws requiring separate rail cars for blacks and whites. Though the laws were upheld, a famous dissent by John Marshall Harlan advanced the idea that the U.S. Constitution is “color-blind.” The Plessy decision was overturned in 1954 by Brown v. Board of Education. Copyright © 2002 Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.