In 1892, Homer Plessy rode in a “white’s only” car on a train on the East Louisiana Railroad and would not move to the colored car. He was then arrested. Although he was seven-eighths white and could pass as such, Louisiana law still considered him to be “colored”. Louisiana, a few years previously, had created the Separate Cars Act, making it legal to separate whites and blacks in railroad cars. Plessy sat in the white section as defiance to such act through a civil rights organization. The United States Supreme Court, 7-to-1, held that the Louisiana Separate Cars Act was Constitutional. Justice Brown wrote: “… The object of equality of the Fourteenth Amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law,
The Crucible was created to described what really happened in these witch trials, and the effects it had on the Colony itself. There was more than 50 men and women accused of witchcraft but less than 20 were hung. The town embraced their trials as a template for their envy of hate.
In 1892, there was a shoemaker who lived in a middle class neighborhood, his name was Homer Plessy. Homer was always presented as white in his community, but Homer isn't fully white. He is African American. One day, Homer was riding on a train. The train conductor would split off people in sections by segregation. There was always a black section and a white section on the train. Homer announced to the conductor that he belongs in the black section. The conductor then insisted that he move to the black section. Homer refused to sit in the black section, so he was arrested, and the case was brought to court.
“Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.” Said Justice John Marshall Harlan in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. (“Oyez, Oyez, Oh Yay!”) In 1890 Louisiana surprisingly got the ability to pass a law called the Separate Car Act that said that all railroad companies that carried passengers must provide separate but equal services for both white and non-white passengers. (“Landmark Cases”) The penalty for sitting in a white-designated railroad car when you were not of that ethnicity was a fine of twenty-five dollars or twenty days in jail. (“Landmark Cases”) There was a doctrine passed that everything was “separate but equal.” This doctrine was false however because in almost all situations the
What if your best friend went on an adventure. They had everything they had ever wanted. They didn't tell you or their family where they were going or how long they would be gone. They just picked up and left. Would you respect their decision to not tell anyone their plans? Would you think that this was a good idea of theirs, or would you think that this was a stupid decision on their part? Well this is what Christopher McCandless did. In 1968 McCandless was born. He was born to a good, wealthy, and happy family. He had everything any child could ever wish for. He was smart, athletic, and had a good education. In June 1990 he completed collage. In July of 1990 Christopher McCandless left his family and almost all belongings, and didn't tell anyone where he was going, or how long he'd be gone. Three years later McCandless was found dead in a blue bus located in Alaska. He had died of starvation. He went off and, ¨lived his life.¨ McCandless went out and lived in the wild. While Christopher McCandless died peacefully, the question has arose on whether McCandless was a noble adventurer or an arrogant fool. The evidence from many stories and social media clearly states that McCandless was in fact an arrogant fool. Christopher McCandless was an arrogant fool because he was not prepared, he
The struggle for equality has existed throughout history. The color of a person’s skin seems to depict everything about them. Not only was this an issue in earlier times, but the present as well. The battle to overcome inequity was made significantly more troublesome in the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896.
The Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson is known for having established the precedent of “separate but equal.” The case originated in Louisiana and was specifically made to the separate passenger cars that were for the black and white races. The Supreme Court, in this case, upheld the right of Louisiana to separate the races and “this decision provided the legal foundation to justify many other actions by state and local governments to socially separate blacks and whites” (Zimmerman, 1997). It was not until the famous Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954 that the highest court in the land outlawed the principal of segregation and the concept of “separate but equal.”
There was no clarification on what race would be considered white or what would be considered black. During this incident, “Homer Plessy, who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth African American, purchased a rail ticket for travel within Louisiana and took a seat in a car reserved for white passengers. (The state Supreme Court had ruled earlier that the law could not be applied to interstate travel.) After refusing to move to a car for African Americans, he was arrested and charged with violating the Separate Car Act.”(Duignan 2017). Judge Ferguson ruled that the separation was fair and did not violate the fourteenth amendment. The state Supreme Court also backed up this decision. The case was brought to the Supreme Court and "The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments. By a 7-1 vote, the Court said that a state law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between the two races did not conflict with the 13th Amendment forbidding involuntary servitude, nor did it tend to reestablish such a condition." (History.com Staff 2009). This decision set the key precedent of Separate but Equal in the United States. Racial segregation kept growing.
When you see yourself living out your dream, the thought of what you're most passionate about pulls you in. Passions in one's life change based on what had affected that person. Dreams are defined to change. However, the benefits of these thoughts is that they belong to you and only you. Not one person's opinions matter but your own. Chris McCandless simply was living out his own ideal life, the way he wanted; not to the idea of his parents, his friends or of society. McCandless wanted to escape society and civilization which he felt was tying him down, while also trying to discover himself. McCandless is not by any means a wacko. He was simply defying society and its ideal expectation it holds upon us as a whole.
In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court case upheld the constitution of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case. This case examined one key issue, was it constitutional to make black people sit in separate cars from white people? In 1890, Homer Plessy broke the law in Louisiana, by sitting in the white people car and he was 1/8 black and 7/8 white. The state of Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, which required railway companies to have "separate but equal." There was punishment for not following the law which if a person would sit in the wrong car they had to pay $25 fine or go to jail for 20 days. Plessy was asked to move, but he refused and was arrested. When he was sent to jail he argued that Separated car acts violated the 14th amendment. Plessy took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court and it was
Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan, the lone vote against the ruling, gave the dissenting opinion of the court. Harlan “insisted that the court had ignored the obvious purpose of the Separate Car Act, which was, under the guise of giving equal accommodation for whites and blacks, to compel the latter to keep to themselves while traveling in railroad passenger coaches. Because it presupposed—and was universally understood to presuppose—the inferiority of African Americans, the act imposed a badge of servitude upon them in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment.” (Duignan). He also stated, “The sure guaranty of the peace and security of each race is the clear, distinct, unconditional recognition by our governments, national and state, of every right that inheres in civil freedom, and of the equality before the law of all citizens of the United States, without regard to race. State enactments regulating the enjoyment of civil rights upon the basis of race, and cunningly devised to defeat legitimate results of the war, under the pretense of recognizing equality of rights, can have no other result than to render permanent peace impossible, and to keep alive a conflict of races, the continuance of which must do harm to all concerned” (Quotes from Plessy v. Fergusun). Harlan further explained what the constitution says by stating “Our Constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In
Ferguson case prove otherwise. Harlan concludes that these are several of the reasons he does not agree with the court decision. Overall, Harlan stays clear of biases because he includes information about rights for both races and does not defend one single side. However, there are potential biases because he did not directly include the court decision or Louisiana Separate Car Act in his dissent. It is also is unclear what Judge Harlan’s background is and what his opinions could have been before the specific case. In this document, it is obvious that the time period was facing a time of segregation in the country. The Louisiana Separate Car Act that is part of the Plessy vs. Ferguson case shows the physical separation between the races. During this time period, it was typical for whites and non-whites to have separate public resources because the Redeemers hoped to undo the Radical Reconstruction progress in African American and non-white rights. In addition, non-whites were disrespected and dehumanized, as shown by Harlan’s mention of the Louisiana Separate Car Act dismissal of the fact that whites could not sit with a non-white group of people.
This case right here is one of the cases that helped to inquire the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment (Duignan par. ) Let’s get started, so in Louisiana there use to be a law called Separate Car Act were African Americans couldn’t sit in the coaches that were for the white and had to sit in these areas. “If this law was broken the penalty was either you received a fine or imprisonment”(Supreme Court Plessy V. Ferguson). According to the article/ website Plessy V. Ferguson Law case “Homer Plessy was seven-eighths white and one-eighth African American.” Due to the fact that he was seven-eighths white when he bought his ticket he sat in the are assigned for white
Plessey boarded a car of the East Louisiana Railroad that was designated by whites for use by white patrons only. Although Plessey was one-eighth black and seven-eighths white, under Louisiana state law he was classified as an African-American, and thus required to sit in the "colored" car. When Plessey refused to leave the white car and move to the colored car, he was arrested and jailed. The Court rejected Plessey's arguments based on the Thirteenth Amendment, seeing no way in which the Louisiana statute violated it. In addition, the majority of the Court rejected the view that the Louisiana law implied any inferiority of blacks, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Instead, it contended that the law separated the two races as a matter of public policy.
The Supreme Court, in a 7-1 decision, favored Ferguson. The majority rejected Plessy’s argument about violating his 13th and 14th Amendment rights. Plessy’s 14th Amendment argument was rejected because the Supreme Court states that races could be separate and equal to each other. This set a precedent stating that separate but equal was lawful and constitutional. Justice Henry Brown wrote the majority opinion, which rejected Plessy’s argument that the Louisiana law conflicted with
Have you ever been so desperate that you were willing to give up? Alfred is seventeen year old boy who dropped out from high school. Alfred works at a grocery store and hangs out with street kids. Alfred begins to realize that he needs to do something he decided that he will be a Contender. He goes to Donatelli's gym to start his training. Donatelli is a very important person to Alfred throughout the story. He also gets good advice from him and learns a good important lesson.