This is a revealing study of the crucial period in the educational development of the South as it involved the separate but equal" doctrine. It is based on extensive research in newspapers, public documents, official reports, and manuscripts, and it provides detailed evidence that the states studied ignored their obligations to black schools under this doctrine."This is a revealing study of the crucial period in the educational development of the South as it involved the separate but equal" doctrine. It is based on extensive research in newspapers, public documents, official reports, and manuscripts, and it provides detailed evidence that the states studied ignored their obligations to black schools under this doctrine.