TY - JOUR T1 - “Separate, Therefore Equal”: American Spatial Segregation from Jim Crow to Kiryas Joel JF - RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences SP - 67 LP - 90 DO - 10.7758/RSF.2021.7.1.05 VL - 7 IS - 1 AU - Shai Stern Y1 - 2021/02/01 UR - http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/7/1/67.abstract N2 - In rejecting Plessy v. Ferguson’s “separate but equal” doctrine in Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court created a presumption that segregation equals discrimination. However, alongside this assertion, American space has become increasingly separate. A socio-legal analysis identifies three generations of spatial segregation in the United States and calls for recognizing the fourth generation—separate, therefore equal—in which minority communities require voluntary self-segregation to achieve equality. This fourth generation of spatial separation requires the law to embrace a protective role, by which it will defend the ability of minority communities to segregate spatially, the autonomy of individual community members, and the welfare of the society at large. ER -