What landmark Supreme Court case upheld the "separate but equal" doctrine in 1896?

The landmark Supreme Court case that upheld the "separate but equal" doctrine in 1896 is Plessy v. Ferguson. In this case, the Court ruled that racial segregation in public facilities was constitutional as long as the facilities were equal in quality. This decision provided legal justification for the segregation laws that were widespread in the South, effectively entrenching a system of racial discrimination and inequality that persisted for decades.

The ruling highlighted the Court's interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, suggesting that segregation did not violate this clause as long as the separate facilities were deemed equal. Plessy v. Ferguson thus played a significant role in shaping the legal landscape regarding civil rights in the United States until it was eventually overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which declared that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.