Which court case led to the doctrine of 'separate but equal'?

The doctrine of "separate but equal" originated from the case Plessy vs. Ferguson, decided in 1896. This landmark decision upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities, as long as the segregated facilities were considered equal in quality. The case involved a man named Homer Plessy, who was arrested for sitting in a "whites-only" railroad car, challenging the segregation laws of Louisiana.

The ruling effectively allowed states to maintain racially segregated public facilities under the premise that the separate facilities for black and white individuals were equal, which reinforced the systemic discrimination against African Americans and set a legal precedent that lasted for decades. This doctrine was not fully overturned until the Brown vs. Board of Education case in 1954, which ruled that separate educational facilities were inherently unequal, contrary to what was established in Plessy.