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
Reconstruction era, which was followed by post-civil war, was meant to unite the states back together, reconstruct properties, and most importantly, abolish slavery in the South. Although the factors such as amendments legally freed former slaves, yet
This decision overruled the Plessy vs. Ferguson case which concluded that separatebut equal in the case of schools was constitutional. The Plessy vs. Ferguson case resulted in the
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
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 decision of the Court was in favor of the state because of the already standing Louisiana laws. I do believe that Homer Plessy’s thirteenth and fourteenth amendments were violated even though the Court stated it was only a distinction of color and not of
Keeping African Americans segregated and not treating their condition’s equal led to a even more discrimination resulting in a lack of rights. In the 1896, Plessey vs Ferguson case, the Supreme Court stated that all facilities could be segregated, but they had to be equal. “Requiring railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in that state to provide equal, but separate accommodations for the white and [African Americans] races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train.” (Document F). This quote shows that the train compartments were required to be kept separate but equal. Unfortunately, the results from Plessy vs Ferguson did not guarantee that they were actually treated equally. In reality, facilities were still not equal for African Americans and train compartments for African Americans were often more crowded and the facilities were not as nice. Another result from the Plessey vs. Ferguson case stated that passengers could only stay in seats determined by their race. This meant that if an African American did not sit in the African American assigned seats, they could be fined or sent to prison. This is proof that African Americans still were not treated equally. Many years later, African Americans still had not achieved equality. Keeping facilities segregated resulted in a long history and a
Ferguson had an unbelievable amount to do with the case of Brown v. Board of Education. The court case, involving Brown v. Board of Education took place in the year 1954. It was filed against the Topeka , Kansas school bored by Oliver Brown who was a parent to a child that was denied admission at a white school in Topeka. Brown argued that the racial segregation in Topeka disobeys the constitutions Equal Protection Clause. He states this because he did not believe that Topeka’s white schools and black schools were equal. The Court declined his argument. The Court determined that the segregated schools were considerably equal enough under the Plessy doctrine.
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
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. The verdict was as
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 v Fergusen was yet another court case where “separate but equal” was not implementing equality. It showed that they still thought of Black men and women as being less and not deserving the same rights as the White men. Homer Plessy was a free man, that was mainly White and because of a percentage he had of being Black he was treated as a Black man. He tried to sit in the train car of the White men and much like Rosa Parks was asked to go to the back where the Black men belonged in a different car. This case resulted in the Supreme Court defending the decision of the East Louisiana Railroad stating that they weren't violating any law by the ruling they had. This court case showed that even if Plessy was a part White because he was a part
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
The Plessy vs Ferguson court case originated in 1892. On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in a white car of a Louisiana train. Despite his white complexion, Plessy was considered to be “octoroon” which meant that he was 7/8 white and 1/8 black. Plessy intentionally sat on the white car and announced himself a black. Plessy challenged the separate car act which required that all railroads operating in the state provide “equal but separate accommodations” for White and African-American passengers and prohibited passengers from entering accommodations other than those to which they had been assigned on the basis of their race. Plessy sued the state of Louisiana because he felt that the rights given to him by the 13th and 14th amendments were being violated. In fact, all African-Americans’ rights were being violated in many southern states. Jim Crow laws prevented all African-Americans from attending schools with whites, serving as barbers for white women or girls, being in the same ward or room with a female nurse in a hospital and more discriminating laws that deprived African-Americans of their given rights. The lawsuit was planned by an unnamed black civil rights organization. Plessy would sit in the White compartment of the train and announce himself a black. Plessy would then be arrested which would
In order to illustrate the U.S. politics, especially in terms of racial and ethnic minority issues, many political models used as analytical tools to understand the political resources and opportunities of U.S. racial and ethnic groups in contemporary U.S. society had been proposed. Among these politically important models, two of the most fundamentally important are Pluralism and Two-tiered Pluralism (DeSipio, 2015: Week 2 Lectures; Shaw et. al., 2015). My thesis is that although both pluralism and two-tiered pluralism models’ strength is their ability to illustrate relationships between the majority and the
The case was significant to the impact of black, lives because even though this case had not changed anything it made many new cases evolve and those cases changed the lives of blacks .The specific case had not changed much during the start of the case they were already siding for one side .Plessy did not really have a fair chance from the beginning. His trial was at risk from the very start his attorney was not really on his side during the trial his attorney broke a few laws to make Ferguson look better because the attorney was really on his side and had just lied to Plessy.