As late as the 1950s, society in the Southern United States remained racially segregated by law. The segregation laws in these states were supported by an 1896 Supreme Court ruling. In the case of PLessy vs. Ferguson, the Court had ruled that "seperate but equal" public facilities for blacks and whites did not violate the Constitution. This ruling set a pattern that forced Southern black Americans to live almost totally segregated from white society. A strong civil rights movement in the United States had developed by the 1950s, and ending segregation in public schools became one of its primary targets. The National Association for the A