<P> The doctrine was confirmed in the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision of 1896 , which allowed state - sponsored segregation . Though segregation laws existed before that case , the decision emboldened segregation states during the Jim Crow era , which had commenced in 1876 and supplanted the Black Codes , which restricted the civil rights and civil liberties of African - Americans during the Reconstruction Era . 18 states had segregation laws . </P>
<P> The doctrine was confirmed in the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision of 1896 , which allowed state - sponsored segregation . Though segregation laws existed before that case , the decision emboldened segregation states during the Jim Crow era , which had commenced in 1876 and supplanted the Black Codes , which restricted the civil rights and civil liberties of African - Americans during the Reconstruction Era . 18 states had segregation laws . </P>
which supreme court case established the separate but equal doctrine
which supreme court case established the separate but equal doctrine
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson