separate but equal

American  

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.

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separate but equal Cultural  

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.)

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separate but equal Idioms  

1. 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).

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Example Sentences

He added that he hoped to have "separate but equal" meetings with both Putin and Zelensky but did not elaborate.

From Barron's • Oct. 17, 2025

However, in my view, the problem of separate but equal, for example, wasn't that people were thinking about race.

From Salon • Jul. 5, 2023

Board of Education decision, which declared that separate but equal facilities for providing public education were inherently unconstitutional.

From New York Times • Nov. 24, 2022

USA Gymnastics overhauled its women’s elite program over the winter, dividing the job of national team coordinator into three separate but equal gigs.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 19, 2022

Five days later, the Little Rock School Board published their statement saying that the district had been working on a plan to provide separate but equal opportunities for all the children in the city.

From "March Forward, Girl" by Melba Pattillo Beals