Plessy Vs Ferguson

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. This clause states that “All persons born in or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” It then goes on to state that States are not allowed to make or enforce any law that takes away life, liberty, property, privileges, or immunities of US citizens without due process of law. The most important part of the clause though that is the most relevant is the final sentence which states “...nor deny to any person

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

By the 1950’s, America’s illusively plaid appearance was being disrupted by a growing multitude of problems: increasing visibility of poverty, rising frustrations from African American communities, and a growing angst concerning America’s position in the world. In response, the United States’ leaders sustained their constitutional promise to promote the general warfare of society, by confidently indorsing policies that directly attacked these problems-to the best of their ability. When President Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy’s successor, sworn into office, he believed in the active use of power and legislation. “Between 1963 and 1966, he compiled the most impressive legislative record of any president since Franklin Roosevelt” (Brinkley 784). Among

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 court case ended in that Plessy was convicted and had to pay a fine of $25.00. After being trialed he attempted a writ of prohibition but the Supreme Court sustained the verdict Judge Fergusen had decided on. The Supreme Court decided that the East Louisiana Railroad had not broken any laws by dividing the cars for Black and White men. They said each Railroad station had a right to make its own rules to protect their passengers and for the best results for the company. They also said that the 13th and 14th Amendments were not being violated by the rules the East Louisiana Railroad had at that

The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed by Congress in 1890. The Sherman Antitrust Act was the first measure put in place to allow free trade without any restrictions, and prohibited trusts in order to end them. This act gave Congress the right to regulate interstate commerce. Any restriction on free trade was marked as illegal and could result in fines and jail time. The Sherman Antitrust Act was basically a shield to protect people from the restriction of big corporations; in addition, this act had an immediate, threatening impact on the dominate businesses in the economy. The Standard Oil Company owned by John D. Rockefeller had a huge restriction on trade, resulting in violation of the Sherman Antitrust

The year of 1965 the black community let out a collective victory cry. They had finally gotten the rights they fought hard for. They could at last vote, go to school and college, and got the working condition they deserve. They couldn 't have done it without Martin Luther King Jr., but there were a slew of cases that were tried and further assisted in opening the black community 's opportunity pool. They were well known cases, like the Plessy vs. Ferguson, Brown vs. Board of Education, and the Regents of the University vs. Bakke, all very influential cases in the fight for rights.

This case, which concerned racial segregation laws for public facilities such as restrooms, restaurants, and water fountains, made its way all the way to the Supreme Court. As way of background, in 1890 Louisiana passed a law which required blacks and whites to ride in separate train cars. However, in 1892, Homer A. Plessy, who was a black man, boarded a car designated for whites only. He was asked to leave, but refused and was arrested immediately. In the case, Plessy vs Ferguson, Plessy’s position was that his rights were violated under the 13th and 14th amendments of the Constitution, which dictated equal treatment under the law. However, in 1896 Judge Ferguson of the Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana had the right to regulate railroads within state borders and created a “separate but equal” rule that lay the groundwork for future segregation. This shaped America’s future by aggravating the racial discrimination between blacks and whites. Specifically, laws were passed to keep blacks separate from whites in all sections of society, including education, restrooms, hotels, public transportation, and even cemeteries. Blacks were denied the right to vote and even had a curfew in some places. In summary, this court decision significantly worsened race relations and progress in society for many decades.

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

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 Supreme Court decision in 1896 of Plessy v. Ferguson strengthened the constitutionality of segregation laws in the United States. The law did not change for over fifty years until the Supreme Court finally recognized the inequality inherent in "separate but equal" legislation in 1954 with the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case. Homer Plessy was African American man who boarded a car for white Americans only of East Louisiana Railway Train. Plessy was arrested after informing the driver that he was an African American because his skin tone allowed him to be mistaken as white American. Plessy challenged the Separate Car Act, passed in 1890

In some cases the cars were not heated nor did they have windows that opened, which only added to the terrible conditions. If a Black passenger did not want to ride in the “Black car”, there were punishments to make sure the black and white passengers remained separate. For example, if you were a black and you sat in the white car you would either have a fine of $25($540 in today’s money) or 20 days in jail. In 1891, a group of concerned young black men of New Orleans formed the “Citizens’ Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law.” In 1892, a 30-year old shoemaker named Homer Plessy was arrested for sitting in a car for only white people on the East Louisiana Railroad. He had refused to move to a black car. Even though he was seven-eighths white and only one-eighth black, he was put in jail. The Louisiana law stated that if you had any black ancestors, you were considered black. Because of this, Plessy was required to sit in the “colored” or “black”

The state of Louisiana argued that each state has the right to make rules to protect public safety. Louisiana claimed it was its public will to have segregated facilities. They claimed the separate facilities were equal and satisfied the Fourteenth Amendment and white citizens. Justice Henry B. Brown of Michigan delivered the court decision. It was a 7 to 1 decision that stated Louisiana law did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. He stated that the Fourteenth Amendment was not intended to give African-Americans social equality but only political and civil equality with white people. Brown wrote that "legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences, and attempt to do so can only result in accentuating the difficulties of the present situation. " The court stated that segregation was legal and constitutional as long as "facilities were equal". Segregation remained after that for nearly sixty years. An example for my life would be that some high school students wore certain shorts to school. The school had a policy of the length of the shorts. Students were pulled out of classes and sent

The Plessy V. Ferguson trial was a civil rights case in Louisiana in the 1890’s concerning an African American man who refused to sit in a Jim Crow car. The courts ruled that Louisiana's separate but equal doctrine was constitutional; Ferguson won. This case affected humanity in a negative way culturally and politically. The trial established standards of “the separate but equal laws”.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), was a landmark case impacting the public school system with making segregation within the school system a violation against the law. It showed how separate but equal no longer made sense in America. Leading up to the groundbreaking court case, the country was divided by segregation. In the south, there were Jim Crow Laws and the white population tried to limit the power the African-American population had within the community. In the north there was a large migration of African Americans looking for a better life in the larger cities. Oliver Brown, Linda Brown’s father, wanted the best for his children and pushed for Brown v. Board of Education to be heard in the courts. As in any case,