Question

What is the separate-but-equal doctrine, and why do you think it was it accepted for so long?

Answer 1

its basically segregation, providing separate facilities but "equal", it was accepted because white americans were the ones making the laws and in the government, and lots of them were racist

Answer 2

In the United States, the "separate but equal" doctrine refers to legally sanctioned segregation arising (in part) from the US Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, (1896). "Separate but equal" allowed states to pass laws requiring separate accommodations and facilities for people on the basis of race or color in order to prevent African-Americans, who had recently been freed from slavery, from intermingling with whites, who believed themselves superior to African-Americans.