Separate but Equal

Separate but Equal is a 1991 television drama about the legal battle that ended racial segregation in American public schools. In South Carolina in the late 1940s, a Black school principal tries to secure a bus for his pupils. When his requests are refused, he joins forces with a lawyer and civil rights advocate from New York who intends to use the case to challenge segregation itself, carrying the fight to the Supreme Court.

Sidney Poitier plays Thurgood Marshall, with Burt Lancaster as John W. Davis, Richard Kiley as Chief Justice Earl Warren, Cleavon Little as Robert L. Carter, Gloria Foster as Vivian Marshall and John McMartin as Governor James F. Byrnes, among a credited cast of 42. George Stevens Jr. directed and wrote the screenplay. Running 186 minutes, the film was released on April 7, 1991.

On IMDb the film holds 7.6 out of 10 from 933 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.5 out of 10 from 14 votes. The two figures rest on very different numbers of viewers; the larger sample reflects a durable reputation for a historical television production of this scale.