"Separate" always meant "unequal." That's because racism was (and still is) systemic.

Here's a bit of history for people who didn't grow up in the south in the 50's-60's:

(1) Service stations provided separate bathrooms based on the construct of race. But the doors weren't marked "White" and "Colored" (the term most common for Black people among polite White people as a standardized descriptor), but "Men," "Women," and "Colored." (If you find an old service station in the south with bathrooms accessible from outside, you might notice not two but three doors--one of them no longer in use; these were the standard categories back then). The message is relative complex: "White men and women are too modest to use the same bathroom; Black men and women aren't"; but also, "Colored (Black) is not the opposite of "White"--it's the opposite of "Men and Women," i.e. the opposite of "people."

(2) The major department store in my small southern hometown had two (separate) water fountains: "White" and "Colored." The "White" water fountain was one of those tall, metal water coolers with refrigeration. The "Colored" water fountain was a simple spigot and basin, not cooled. The message here--well, it's obvious isn't it?

(3) "Separate but equal schools": don't get me started. You don't have to teach CRT per se to reveal the racial underpinnings of American society; just teach the history of American education.