How did the Supreme Court address the issue of "separate but equal"?

The Supreme Court addressed the issue of "separate but equal" primarily through its ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. In this landmark case, the Court upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities, provided that the segregated facilities were of equal quality. This decision effectively legitimized the practice of segregation, reinforcing the idea that racial separation did not imply the inferiority of one race to another, thus enshrining the "separate but equal" doctrine in American jurisprudence.

This ruling had profound implications for civil rights, paving the way for the widespread implementation of segregation laws across the United States, especially in the South, while delaying significant progress toward racial equality until the mid-20th century. The "separate but equal" ruling remained in effect until it was eventually overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which declared that separate educational facilities were inherently unequal and unconstitutional.

The other options do not accurately reflect the historical actions of the Supreme Court. The Civil Rights Act was legislation passed to combat discrimination, but it was not a ruling by the Supreme Court that abolished segregation laws. The assertion that the Court declared separate but equal unconstitutional immediately is historically inaccurate, as this concept was upheld for