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Plessy V. Ferguson Case Study

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The Homer A. Plessy V.S John H. Ferguson Case
This 1896 U.S. Supreme Court case upheld the constitutionality of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. It stemmed from an 1892 incident in which African American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car, breaking a Louisiana law. Plessy is widely regarded as one of the worst decisions in U.S. Supreme Court history. Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court issued in 1896. The Supreme Court ruled that Plessy's "separate but equal" doctrine was unconstitutional in the context of schools and educational facilities. The Plessy V. Ferguson case.
In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified and finally put an end to slavery. Despite these …show more content…

Ferguson allowed 'separate but equal, to become law in the United States. After this, Jim Crow laws, which were a system of laws meant to discriminate against African Americans, spread across the U.S. For decades, any type of public facility could be legally separated in whites only and blacks only. In 1954, Plessy v. Ferguson was finally struck down. Oliver Brown sued the Board of Education in Kansas because his young daughter was forced to walk for miles to a black school when a white school was closer to her home. Brown v. Board of Education ruled that 'separate but equal' did not apply to public schools and that public schools had to educate both white and African American children. (Study.com) These rules and laws were made because of the Plessy V. Ferguson case, and racial discrimination. White people almost always had access to the best facilities, especially in schools. Civil rights activists protested against segregation in the 1950s and 1960s and were often met with violence from white people who did not want the laws to change. (Study.com) Sadly, as a result of the Plessy decision, in the early twentieth century, the Supreme Court continued to uphold the legality of Jim Crow laws and other forms of racial

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