segregate

Segregate is the verb meaning to separate or set apart from others, often by category, function, or location. Segregation refers to the act or policy of enforcing such separation, most commonly applied to groups of people or biological materials. The term derives from Latin segregare, “to separate.”

Historically, segregation is most closely associated with racial policies that separated people by race, particularly in the United States and in South Africa. In the U.S., de jure segregation was established by statutes and court rulings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was challenged by civil rights movements. It often affected education, housing, transportation, and public accommodations.

Key legal milestones include Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which upheld “separate but equal,” and Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which ruled that state-sanctioned segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Enforcement occurred through federal legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Beyond the United States, apartheid in South Africa represented a state-enforced system of racial segregation from 1948 until the early 1990s.

Segregation can also occur outside race, including housing, schooling, employment, or public facilities, driven by laws or social practices. In science and industry, segregation describes separating components of a mixture, or isolating cells or lines for study. In business, segregation of duties helps prevent fraud by dividing responsibilities.

In contemporary discourse, segregation is evaluated in terms of civil rights, social equality, and the persistence of unequal outcomes despite formal legal equality. Critics argue that segregation can persist covertly through practices and structures even after explicit laws are repealed.

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