separate but equal

adjective

1. pertaining to a racial policy, formerly practiced in some parts of the United States, by which Black people could be segregated if granted equal opportunities and facilities, as for education, transportation, or jobs.

separate but equal

1. The doctrine that racial segregation is constitutional as long as the facilities provided for blacks and whites are roughly equal. This doctrine was long used to support segregation in the public schools and a variety of public facilities, such as transportation and restaurants, where the facilities and services for blacks were often clearly inferior. For decades, the Supreme Court refused to rule the separate but equal doctrine unconstitutional, on the grounds that such civil rights issues were the responsibility of the states. In the decision of Brown versus Board of Education, in 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled separate but equal schools unconstitutional. This ruling was followed by several civil rights laws in the 1960s. (See also Plessy versus Ferguson.)

Idioms and Phrases

Relating to or affected by a policy whereby two groups may be segregated if they are given equal facilities and opportunities. For example, They've divided up the physical education budget so that the girls' teams are separate but equal to the boys. This idiom comes from a Louisiana law of 1890, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson, “requiring all railway companies carrying passengers on their trains in this state, to provide equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races.” Subsequently it was widely used to separate African-Americans from the white population through a general policy of racial segregation. In 1954, in a unanimous ruling to end school segregation, the Supreme Court finally overturned the law (in Brown v. Board of Education).

Example Sentences

Ferguson that separate but equal was constitutional, ushering in seven decades of Jim Crow discrimination and violence.

From Salon

Board of Education led to the Court deeming segregation in public education to be unconstitutional, dismantling the separate but equal doctrine and marking the end of the Jim Crow era.

From Salon

Ferguson, standing alone when the court’s majority allowed the racist charade of “separate but equal.”

From Los Angeles Times

Ferguson established “separate but equal” as the foundational doublespeak of segregation.

From Los Angeles Times

Ferguson, which created the “separate but equal” doctrine justifying Jim Crow; state-level legislative efforts to strip rights from transgender adults, meanwhile, will continue.

From Slate