Plessy Vs. Ferguson: Supreme Court Case

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.

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.

Both cases were taken to the United States Supreme Court and was decided by the nine justices. Having this segregation caused fights, disagreements, and more cases brought into court because if race, but it was the start of a new world. The case of Plessy versus Ferguson started around the 1890s when the Separate Car Act statute was passed in Louisiana. This act stated that any companies carrying people in Louisiana must have separate but equal areas for the whites and blacks. Homer Plessy, in 1992, was one-eight black and purchased a ticket for first class and, sat in the white only area.

The case occurred when Homer Plessy refused to sit in the Jim Crow car, which violated the Louisiana law and was put before Judge John H. Ferguson to challenge whether the state law conflicted with the Constitution or not. Indeed, in 1896, Ferguson concluded that the law was merely a legal distinction between two races and did not conflict with 13th amendment law. Society then adopted a system of “separate but equal” that emphasized separate facilities for blacks and whites

During this time, the Supreme Court case Plessy VS Ferguson resulted in African Americans and Whites having separate bathrooms. In the South, African Americans were living under Jim Crow Laws and enforced racial segregation in all public facilities. This

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

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.”

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

The south raging about segregation and “separate but equal” slogan used to make the segregated group feel as if there is no wrong doing, or no violations of their civil rights. All of the controversy started over the railroad cars that existed before segregation was brought to the forefront. Meanwhile, in New Orleans there was a case pushing for a challenge, known as Plessy v. Ferguson. Homer Plessy, an African American man, refused to move from a white only car to a colored car. In all disappointment the case was rule eight to one in Supreme Court.

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

In Louisiana the law required separate rail cars for whites and blacks. Homer Plessy refused to give into the rules and not confining to his ‘appropriate’ rail car. Plessy sued the Judge that was assigned to look over his trial, Judge John H. Ferguson. His plea was denied and He appealed to the Supreme

When Louisiana passed a law known as the Separate Car Act which legally segregated common carriers in 1892, a group of activists decided to challenge the law. Plessy deliberately sat in the white section and identified is self as white he was identified as a light skinned black man in Louisiana law. Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 was a huge landmark in United States Supreme Court decision which upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of “separate but equal.” The decision was voted on 7 to 1 with majority opinion written by Justice Henry Billings Brown. The separate but equal doctrine remained the standard in United States Law until 1954s Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education.

Plessy v. Ferguson and The Separate but Equal Laws A pivotal moment of the history of the United States is the segregation of blacks. Although they were both provided with race-containing facilities, blacks were still not equal to whites. This is because of the Plessy v. Ferguson case and separate but equal laws. It came to the Supreme Court when it was said that the 13th and 14th Amendments were violated; the court enacted upon the separate but equal laws after the trial to isolate blacks from whites.

It was a 7 to 1 decision. The decision was that separate but equal was legal as long as no discrimination was shown. They believed that "so long as separate facilities were actually qualitatively equal, the constitution did not prohibit segregation in the view of the majority of the court," as stated in the second