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Plessy Vs Ferguson

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Plessy v Ferguson 1896 June 7, 1892 Homer Plessy boarded a Louisiana train and as a black man chose to sit in the whites-only car. This was not the first time a black person broke the law to try to change it nor would it be the last. It was a particularly memorable incident because the term “separate but equal” came about and there was a negative impact on the lives of black Americans for many decades. Plessy was arrested for violating the Separate Car Act of 1890 and with the help of the Comite` des Citoyens, he hoped to change the world for black citizens in the United States. Unfortunately, John Howard Ferguson, then, later the United States Supreme Court got in Plessy’s way. Dred Scott was the case before Homer Plessy. Scott was a slave …show more content…

The Act mandated equal but separate rail travel in Louisiana by forcing the railway to provide separate cars for its black and white citizens. It also gave railway officers the “authority to refuse to carry any passenger that refused to sit within their designated race”. (Medley, 2003) This Act incensed a group of eighteen elite black men and in September 1891 they came together to form the Comite` des Citoyens. The Comite`, also called the Citizens Committee for the Annulment of Act 111, opposed the Separate Car Act of 1890. They raised funds, held rallies, composed legal tactics, and decided to run two test cases. The first test case was thrown out by Judge Ferguson. Daniel Desdunes, a black man, boarded a white-only train car in Louisiana headed for Mobile, Alabama. He was arrested for violating the Separate Car Act of 1890 but the case went nowhere because he was not traveling within Louisiana state lines. Homer Plessy, the second test case, was chosen for his ability to look white enough to gain access to the train but black enough to be arrested and his travel would be within state …show more content…

Linda Brown, a black child, lived only seven blocks from an all-white elementary school and when her father tried to enroll her he was turned away, so he went to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who agreed to help. The United States Supreme Court reached a unanimous 9-0 decision stating that “separate but equal facilities are inherently unequal and violate the protections of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment”. (Tushnet,

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