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Ferguson Vs Plessy

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“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.”, says Maya Angelou putting in the spotlight the judgment of people based on how they look. The cases of Dred Scott vs. Sanford, Plessy vs. Ferguson, and Loving vs. Virginia all attempt to prove this point during the civil rights movement. These cases also make apparent the segregation of blacks in the court system.

In 1864, the question of having freedom was brought into the courtroom by Dred and Harriet Scott in St. Louis City. Dred and Harriet Scott had been held captive in free territory and then brought back to a slave state. The case started and progressed into a notorious decision that took 11 years to make by the United States Supreme Court. In the end, freedom was not achieved after several years of fighting for it.

The era of reconstruction brought the court case of Plessy vs. Ferguson which is a case of the law being tested by black American men whom test constitutionality by sending one of the men (a mulatto) in their group to sit in the white seating compartment and is challenged by the conductor, eventually arrested and charged with violating state law. Ferguson won the case in the end and in the not-so-immediate future, the Brown vs. Board case …show more content…

Ferguson, Scott vs. Sanford, and Plessy vs. Ferguson guarantee that the black community will fight for their rights when the time comes. Many of these cases started off as small tests of the law like sitting in the wrong racial compartment or just straight up starting a court case to fight for equality. Along with leading to the civil rights movement some of the cases were also the most notorious. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” -Martin Luther King

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