Homer Plessy Vs. Fergusen: Supreme Court Case

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896, 163 US 537) For centuries people of African descent have suffered of inhumane treatment, discrimination, racism, and segregation. Although in the United States, and in other countries, mistreatment and marginalization towards African descendants has stopped, the racism and discriminations has not.

Plessy v. Ferguson had upheld segregation of our society. This case was in Louisiana a southern state, which had enacted a Jim Crow law the Separate Car Act which made whites and blacks have to ride in separate trains. Mr. Plessy was a mixed race man who was mostly white and was arrested for sitting in the all white train and refusing to move. This happened in 1892 and Plessy was brought to Criminal Court in New Orleans, where Judge Ferguson had upheld the law. Plessy challenged this ruling and was brought to the supreme court of the United States. Plessy argued that this law was unconstitutional because this type of racial segregation was against the 14th and 13th amendment since it stigmatized blacks and made them inferior.

Over the course of American history, various court cases have significantly impacted the countries future. Two court cases that greatly shaped the future of America are the Scopes trial, by determining boundaries between evolution and the bible, and the Plessy versus Ferguson trial, by affecting racial discrimination towards blacks.

Ferguson was a court case that arose in Louisiana, and it created a drastically different atmosphere in 1896. This court case gave state laws that required black and white people to use separate facilities. The case came into light when Homer Plessy, an African-American, never moved to the “colored only” section on a train. Plessy was said to have had his Fourteenth Amendment violated because the separated facilities were discriminating; however the Court stated that the separate facilities were separate yet equal. Separate yet equal means that people have the same rights, but are separated by their race, religion, and wealth.

The Plessy V. Ferguson trial was very politically contentious. There was claims that the law were unconstitutional and wrong. Dr. Berman E. Johnson stated that “The “separate but equal” doctrine was quickly extended to cover many areas of public life and encouraged many states to launch a large offensive to legally relegate all African

The landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court in 1896, upheld public segregation based on the color of one’s skin, is known as Plessy v. Ferguson ​ . The decision by the justices on the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of separate but equal facilities based on race ​ .​ The practice of segregation based on race stayed in effect for over sixty years until it was overturned in 1954 by the Supreme Court decision in

Ferguson. Plessy v. Ferguson is known as the case that put Jim Crow laws on the map and with is an era of discrimination and segregation in the United States. The case was brought to the Supreme Court in 1896, Mr.Plessy was a man from Louisiana who went on a train and took an empty seat where white people were normally accommodated , the interesting tidbit was that the rail line had no policy of distinguishing passengers based off of race or ethnicity. However a conductor of the train went up to Mr. Plessy and told him to move with the threat of ejection and or imprisonment. After refusing to move from his seat he was arrested and was taken to court to talk of issues regarding racial mixing

For nearly a century, the United States was occupied by the racial segregation of black and white people. The constitutionality of this “separation of humans into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life” had not been decided until a deliberate provocation to the law was made. The goal of this test was to have a mulatto, someone of mixed blood, defy the segregated train car law and raise a dispute on the fairness of being categorized as colored or not. This test went down in history as Plessy v. Ferguson, a planned challenge to the law during a period ruled by Jim Crow laws and the idea of “separate but equal” without equality for African Americans. This challenge forced the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of segregation, and in result of the case, caused the nation to have split opinions of support and

The Court declined his argument. The Court determined that the segregated schools were considerably equal enough under the Plessy doctrine. It wasn 't until the mid twentieth century when Brown v Board of Education came into play that Plessy’s argument was given the okay by the constitution. The Court tried to use Plessy v. Ferguson to deny the argument that Oliver Brown was giving during the Brown v. Board of Education case. Once the Courts decided that separating children by race could have an overall affect on the black children 's ability to learn.

Case Brief - Plessy v. Ferguson Homer A. Plessy v. John H. Ferguson was a US Supreme Court case between Homer Plessy, the plaintiff, and John Ferguson, the defendant. The year this case took was place was 18961. This case almost entirely deals with the Louisiana Law passed six years prior that provided “equal but separate” railway carriages for white and colored races. The constitutionality of this law was brought into this case as Homer Plessy, who refused to sit in the colored only rail car, argued it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

One of the Supreme Court Cases that were held was Plessy V. Ferguson, which was argued on April 18, 1896 until May 18, 1896. This issue was over the law that trains, would have to provide separate accommodations to both black and white races equally. One man who was mostly Caucasian and partially African had the rights of a white citizen. For this reason, he bought a ticket for first class, however was not allowed to be seated within this area due to the judgment of a conductor. The man who is Plessy, refused what he was told to do and as a result was taken off to be imprisoned in jail. The facts that support this is that, Plessy violated the act of the separation of blacks and whites. It also stated that what occurred conflicted with the 13th and 14th amendment. On top of this, “…the court sustained the demurrer, overruled the plea, and ordered petitioner to plead over to the facts set forth in the information…” (Plessy V. Ferguson). This was the information behind the case and would only be continued if the judge had a writ of prohibition.

Plessy vs. Ferguson, one of the bigger cases in the turning point for rights, gave the black community a big boost forward. There was a man named Homer Adoph Plessy that had a problem with the way things were going at the time and he wanted equal rights. But there was another man named John Ferguson who thought that everything was just skippy. They went to court to settle their quarrel.

However, the Plessy v. Ferguson case helped African Americans to step in the right direction. At the time of the Plessy Ferguson case the rights of African Americans were being eliminated by laws such as Jim Crow Laws of the the South. In Brown v. Board the U. S. Supreme court

Can separate really be equal? The landmark cases Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education show two sides of an argument that changes the way many people see things today. The Plessy v. Ferguson case set the precedent that segregation was legal when Homer Plessy was convicted for sitting in the white compartment of a train. The Brown v. Board of Education case tore down this precedent when it started the desegregation of schools after two girls had a dangerous walk to their all blacks school everyday. These two cases changed court precedents greatly, one setting a precedent, and the other tearing it down.

Plessy V. Ferguson Case of Plessy v. Ferguson is the case talking about the discrimination that happen between the black race and white race. It starts from Plessy a person who have mix race (not naturally white and not naturally black). Plessy think that in US they abolish the segregation happen in their country but unfortunately people in US still discriminate people base on the race that they have. To check the US especially Lousiana law, he try to buy railway first class ticket which is this ticket is only use for white people only. Since Pressy is mix race so Lousiana citizen think that he is one of black race not white race then he suppose to sit base on the black railway coach not in the first class railway coach.