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Supreme Court Cases: The Plessy V. Ferguson Case

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Can be separate but equal? The supreme court thought so in 1892.Just before The Supreme court decided this the 14th amendment was passed. It stated that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States”(The United States Constitution) were considered citizens. In the next coming years tension grew as African Americans soon found out that their separate stations were not equal to the white stations. Homer Plessy was the first to stand up and voice his opinion.The Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case challenged segregation laws.

The Plessy v. Ferguson case started when Homer Plessy was arrested for disregarding a segregation law. Plessy was arrested because he “refused to sit in a Jim Crow car, breaking a Louisiana law” (Plessy v. Ferguson). This explains that Plessy was arrested for not following the segregation law that he knew about but denied to comply to.The …show more content…

Ferguson gave a ‘constitutional nod, to racial segregation in public places; foreclosing legal challenges against increasingly-segregated institutions throughout the South” (Plessy v. Ferguson). This explains that the verdict of the case slowed civil rights movements for a longer amount of time had Plessy v. Ferguson been decided differently. “The rail cars in Plessy notwithstanding, the black facilities in these institutions were decidedly inferior to white ones, creating a kind of racial caste society” (Plessy v. Ferguson).This illuminates that although the facilities of black and white people were separate they were not equal, creating tension.“After four decades…the Supreme Court has consistently ruled racial segregation in public settings to be unconstitutional”(Alex McBride).This shows that although Plessy v. Ferguson was not decided to benefit everyone it eventually made a change. Over all, Plessy v. Ferguson indirectly started something bigger than itself although being ruled differently in the

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