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The Plessy V. Ferguson Court Case

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The Civil Rights Movement was a time where African Americans tried to gain equality during the 1950’s to 1960’s. As time progressed, African Americans fought and fought for their rights. Unfortunately, others were not very welcoming of this idea. As a demonstration of beliefs and struggle, blacks began to boycott and protest. One man, Homer Plessy refused to move to a black train car when asked. This eventually started the Plessy v. Ferguson Court Case. Plessy V. Ferguson decided the “separate but equal” doctrine, meaning that the black and whites could have separate facilities, as long as they were the same in equality. In 1890, U.S government officials decided to put the Separate Car Act into place in Louisiana. One year later, a group of Creole professionals came together to decide if the Act was unconstitutional. They then decided it did not violate any ideas or statements in the Constitution of the United States. Then, in 1896, the topic had to be discussed when Homer Plessy (⅞ white, ⅛ black) was asked to go to a train car for blacks. After refusing to leave his seat, he was …show more content…

On May 18th, the final decision was a 7-1 vote, saying “separate but equal”, one court member was absent due to illness. Justice Henry Billings Brown concluded the case by saying, “Segregation does not in itself constitute unlawful discrimination,” (Oyez.org). This decision upheld state imposed racial segregation (Oyez). It also formed the basis of segregation for about fifty years (worldbookonline). The “separate but equal” doctrine stated that black and whites could have separate facilities, as long as they were equal (Oyez). Before the case, almost all white facilities were in much better condition than the ones belonging to the blacks. This dramatically changed civil rights because although blacks were still separated, they had at least some equality that went a long way in their fight

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