Jim Crow Law: The Plessy Vs. Ferguson Case

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

Homer Plessy was seven-eighths white and one-eighth black and agreed to test the constitution parts of the Separate Car Law. In 1892, Homer Plessy was arrested because he bought a ticket for a trip and sat down in an empty seat in a white-only train car. Hon. John H. Ferguson of the U.S. District Court dismissed Homer’s claims that his arrest was unconstitutional. Homer Plessy then sued the judge of his trial, Hon. John H. Ferguson at the Louisiana Supreme Court because he felt like his rights of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments had been violated. The lawsuit was going to be a challenge because they were trying to prove that the state of Louisiana denied Homer Plessy equal protection of the laws. On May 18,1896 the U.S Supreme

To understand the question, focusing on the court cases of Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, we must first understand each court case on its own. Plessy v. Ferguson resulted in the year 1896. The case involved the 1890s Louisiana law that basically stated that there were separate railway carriages that were specifically labeled for blacks only and whites only. Plessy v. Ferguson involved Homer Plessy, who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth black and appeared to look like a white man. Plessy took an open seat in a white only railway car. He was soon arrested for violating the 1890 law. When Plessy was convicted of violating the 1890 law during his trial, he soon filed a petition against the judge, John H. Ferguson. Ferguson

Since the late 1950s, when the case for African American rights to receive the same education as their graduates began and ended, or so we thought. Schools today still remain widely segregated throughout the U.S. nation. In 1954 in Topeka, Kansas, the supreme court began to review many cases dealing with segregation in public education. Oliver Brown was one who went against the supreme court for not only his daughter, but for many other African American children to receive equal education in the ray of society. The Brown v. Board of Education case marked the end of racial discrimination in public schools which impacted African Americans to get an equal education in the American society.

Ferguson was a case of the Supreme Court in 1892 after passenger Homer Plessy traveled on the Louisiana railroad and refused to sit in a car for blacks only. Homer Plessy was brought before Judge John H. Ferguson to a Criminal Court in New Orleans to be trailed for refusing to follow the state law of Louisiana “separate but equal.” Such conflict challenged the violation of the 13th and 14th amendment where they ensure equality for recently emancipated slaves. They stated, “Separate facilities for blacks and whites satisfied the Fourteenth Amendment so long as they were equal.” “In the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races unsatisfactory to either.” Therefore, in the final decision of the case the opinion of the majority voted that the separate accommodations imposed by the state of Louisiana did not violate the clause of equal protection for all races. The decision of the justices was based on the on the separate but equal doctrine concluding that segregation is not an unconstitutional way of

The Supreme Court case, Brown vs. Board of Education 349 U.S 294, dealt with the

Broad education. Its decision created an atmosphere of confidence among black families who were worrying about the future of their loved children in the public education sector. The chief justice of the United State Supreme Court Mr. Earl Warren was clear about why the court voted for terminating segregation in the public schools. He stated, “Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprives children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities, even though the physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may be equal. The ‘separate but equal’ doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson has no place in the field of public education.” The court decision was a pivotal decision in the field of civil rights. It created a monumental change in the American nation. Furthermore, it broke all the traditional views about segregation by supporting equality among Americans. The bottom line, this landmark case made the previous doctrine ‘separate but equal’ unconstitutional. Additionally, the decision was a great chance for American society to come to terms with its dark past in the field of segregation and slavery. It also was a window of opportunity for all the society’s components to show their real desire to support freedom and create a cohesive society where justice prevails among all regardless of their race or color. Everyone now who is enjoying all kinds of rights should be grateful for those who fought to remove all kinds of legal barriers for the next

Plessy vs Ferguson is a similar topic of the book To Kill A Mockingbird. In both cases there was a bunch of segregation. Both people were found guilty because everyone on the jury was racist.

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.

Prior to the Reconstruction Era, the Union and the Confederate states had just engaged in a war concerning slavery and the unity of the United States, which is also known as the Civil War. The damage from the war was economically, socially and politically devastating to the United States of America as a whole. The newly liberated African Americans were harassed, tormented and even killed in the communities they had developed after the Civil War. Literacy tests were implemented as a way to prevented the miseducated African American male from suffrage. Lastly, early Jim Crow laws originated during this time period. The Reconstruction Era not only did not solve any of the existing economical, political or social problems but also introduced several

Have you ever thought or heard about Plessy v. Ferguson or Brown v. Board of Education? Well these were two major Supreme Court cases that involved discrimination. Discrimination has been going on for a long time and still to this day. Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education are similar in cases because they both involve discrimination.

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. Without these cases, segregation might still be prevalent in America today.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on July 28, 1868. The amendment granted citizenship to everyone who was born or naturalized in the United States, which included former slaves and African Americans who were freed after the Civil War. Also, the amendment allowed African Americans to be treated equally as all other citizens. However, the Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, and the result of the Plessy v. Ferguson case took away these rights that were guaranteed to African Americans.

The Brown vs. Board of Education started in Topeka, Kansas on May 17 of 1954. This case is a landmark in the Supreme Court, which declared separate schools for Black and White students to be unconstitutional. Before the 14th Amendment was established colored children could only go to a colored school, and white children could only go to an all-white school. Doing this made it very difficult on students who had to travel far to go to school, some had to walk miles to get there. Brown vs. Board of education started with Oliver Brown, who is one of many parents who's his child was denied access to Topeka's white schools. Brown vs. Board of education influenced and changed the lives of millions in the United States, without this case, schools may still have been segregated still today. This case has impacted the United States and it still does today.

The Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case was a very important case for Americans. This case was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in this court case changed majorly the history of race relations in the United States. On May 17, 1954, the Court got rid of constitutional sanctions for segregation by race, and made equal all education opportunities as the law of the land. Without this case, we would not be where we are today. It shaped the United States completely as a whole. It was the first time something regarding race was put a lot