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How did segregated schools differ in resources for Black and white students during the Jim Crow era?

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Plessy v. Ferguson judgment — Plessy v. Ferguson *Plessy* v. *Ferguson* judgment, issued by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 18, 1896, advancing the controversial “separate but equal” doctrine for assessing the constitutionality of racial segregation laws.

During the Jim Crow era, the doctrine of separate but equal served as a legal framework for racial segregation, yet it functioned as a sham in practice. While state and local laws mandated that Black and white students attend separate schools, these facilities were never truly equal.12

In reality, the system enforced a racial caste system that systematically disadvantaged Black students. Schools for white students were provided with significantly more resources, while the facilities and treatment afforded to Black citizens were consistently inferior. This disparity was a fundamental component of the Jim Crow era, ensuring that Black students were denied the same educational opportunities and quality of instruction as their white counterparts.1

The inherent inequality of this system was eventually addressed by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954). The Court concluded that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, rejecting the notion that segregation could be constitutional as long as resources were theoretically equal.12