The US Supreme Court, (Chief Justice: Melville Weston Fuller) rules in Plessy v. Ferguson by a vote of 7-1, upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation under the doctrine of "separate but equal". This ruling allowed for the continued discrimination against African Americans and solidified Jim Crow laws in the South.
The court reasoned that segregation did not violate the 14th Amendment as long as facilities for both races were equal. Justice John Marshall Harlan was the lone dissenter from the Court's decision, arguing that the Constitution was color-blind and that the United States had no class system. Accordingly, all citizens should have equal access to civil rights. More
