<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>
the separate but equal doctrine in the united states was legally established by
the separate but equal doctrine in the united states was legally established by
the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision of 1896
the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision of 1896