The Plessy v. Ferguson ruling in 1896 upheld the doctrine of "separate but equal," legitimizing racial segregation laws across the United States. This Supreme Court decision arose from a case where Homer Plessy, an African American man, challenged Louisiana's segregation laws for public transportation. The court ruled that racial segregation did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, thus institutionalizing Jim Crow laws and legal segregation for decades. This ruling had enduring implications for civil rights, reinforcing systemic racism and discrimination until it was eventually overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.