Retreat to Separate but Equal.

Separate educational systems for whites and Negroes became the norm throughout the South and much of the North during the last third of the 19th century. Because the American tradition incorporates a deep and not easily ignored concern for equality and equal treatment under the law, and because there was something called a Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, the educational authorities had to assuage their consciences about a black school system. It was quite acceptable that it be separate, for that was in a hallowed educational tradition, but at least for the sake of appearances, it was necessary also to affirm that it was equal.