Plessy V Ferguson Case Study

Since the founding of the United States, there has been many supreme court cases that impacted America. Cases like Brown V Board of Ed., and Plessy V Ferguson. On May 17, 1954, Brown V board of education was a supreme Court case in which the Court declared that laws separating public schools for black and white students were unconstitutional. In 1890, Homer Plessy was arrested and tried for violating louisiana law ‘separate but equal’ by sitting in an all white railroad car, which led to the Plessy V Ferguson case.

I agree to read about is Supreme Court from Plessy v. Ferguson of the United States a long time ago in a between is African-Americas without people is whites and colored of his skin in the national. The government to activists is the different being to be an opinion in a story from the history of Civil Rights effect on the American conscience. Becuase has systems of segregation was a few year later in the world for New North or South is against made by the Supreme Court with the 13th and 14th Amendments. The colored race in South African become the laws in support of their racism most parts of the American South was made challenged.

7 out of 8 judges in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case said that segregation was constitutional. The Supreme Court Case between Homer Adolf Plessy and John Howard Ferguson. The object of the case was to try to decide whether or not segregation was constitutional. Mr. Plessy was 30 years old when the case started. He was the prosecutor in the case. The case was originally called “Plessy v. The State of Louisiana”. Homer Adolf Plessy was a determined man who worked hard at abolishing segregation base on your race and would do anything, including getting arrested, to get the message out that segregation was a bad thing, and it needed to come to an end.

Plessy did not get the arrest overturned even though it was a violation of the 14th amendment where all people are equal under the law and under the government. Paradoxically, the court that didn 't have the arrest overturned saw the constitution as a document that only protected its creators like in the Dred Scott case. They saw it as a document, that was a very important document that kept white citizens equal under the law. In 1841 John Quincy Adams made an argument involving the fact that since the constitution didn 't acknowledge the fact that slaves existed then they must be people who "enjoy" their rights like a free, rich, white male would. In the times of Plessy it was custom of the white people to not accept black or colored people and it was certainly not a time where they could go to school together or sit in the same train car. It was also not a custom of the government to protect the rights and feelings of colored people, this was the purpose of Separate but Equal.

Because the segregation had an effect on making classes, he judged, that it was unconstitutional and the law needed to be changed. In the 7-1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ferguson. The majority of the people rejected Plessy’s Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment arguments, they decided instead putting its stamp of approval on the doctrine of “separate but equal”.

The Supreme Court Case of Plessy versus Ferguson in 1896 is one of the most known cases that later influenced future decisions of equality, race and freedom. The plaintiff Homer Adolph Plessy was born March 17, 1862 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was a successful shoemaker who planned an act of civil disobedience against the system of racial segregation. Plessy was seventh eights white and only one eight African American. His great grandmother was from Africa and according to the state of Louisiana and the law he was classified black regardless of his light skin appearance. John Howard Ferguson was an American lawyer who was a judge in Louisiana. He was born on June10, 1838 in Chilmark, Massachusetts. Involved in the Knights of Pythias he also

After Reconstruction, African-American rights gained during that period withered, as many states did not enforce the laws enacted to guarantee their rights. If they happened to live in the South, their rights were as good as gone. Not only did those states not impose the laws, they circumvented it and created a new system of oppression for Blacks and other colored people. Moreover, the infamous ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) made racial segregation legal in public accommodations. The fight for equal education for students regardless of their race was a long battle and it extended into the Deep South state of Texas. Sweatt v. Painter was among a number of important legal cases that occurred during the twentieth century, in which African-Americans

Warren came to this case with the attitude that there was a simple decision to be made, because separate but equal just didn’t work and to continue Plessy v. Ferguson was to allow an injustice to continue (White, 1982). But beyond this, he recognized that the real problem was that if Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned and segregation was outlawed in public schools how could this be implemented across the country?

Millions of people go to court to fight for something they believe in or disagree with, but don't get their voices heard. The constitution made amendments to ensure fairness and it's not right if we don't have those fairnesses. In Brown v board of education and Plessy v Ferguson they were fighting to have rights and fairness, but Plessy v Ferguson got their rights heard right away and the Brown v board of Education didn't get there voices heard in till many years after they went to court. In the 1890's Plessy got on the wrong train car and decided he didn't want to move. The authorities said that Plessy would have to pay $25 or go to jail for 20 days, so when he refused they put him in jail. This violated the 14th amendment because, its unequal that white children had better things. In 1950-1951 segregation was a big problem even with little kids going to different schools just because of the

In 1896, Plessy lost the case Plessy v. Ferguson by a vote of 7-1, which ruled that

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.

The 1896 ruling further cemented and supported a long history of racism, discrimination, and violence against minorities in the United States, particularly the southern states. The case was based on a Louisiana law passed on 1890 called the “Separate Car Act” which created a division of transportation that required black passengers to ride in a separate car from white passengers. Mr. Homer Adolph Plessy, who claimed to be 7/8 white and 1/8 black, entered the “whites only” passenger car of the East Louisiana Railroad. The law considered him black because he was not “100% white,” and therefore ineligible to be a passenger in the “whites only” car. Mr. Plessy’s argument was that the Louisiana law violated his United States Constitution 13th and 14th Amendment rights providing for freedom from slavery and equal treatment under the law. The case was tried before Judge John Howard Ferguson who ruled against Mr. Plessy stating that he was receiving equal treatment under the law by being allowed to be a passenger on the train, although he was segregated from the white passengers. The appeal was brought before the Supreme Court of Louisiana where the lower court decision was upheld. The

In the Plessy vs Ferguson case, Plessy wanted to be able to have the same opportunities as the white folks do, no matter his ethnicity. Plessy is white and 1/8ths black. He felt that since he’s majority white he would be able to sit in the same transportation as other white people. He was forced to get up from his seat, but he refused. The Supreme Court saw it as “separate, but equal” and Plessy lost. Segregation started to spread throughout the U.S.

Racism has been a part of our country since the early ages. Historically, racism and equality have been central issues that have divided our country. Many actions from the past such as the decision in the Plessy versus Ferguson case, and present day actions like The Mississippi school system case have been the ongoing battle in today 's society. The struggle to achieve equality was made even more difficult by the legislation that is now considered racist in the Plessy versus Ferguson case.

This was considered illegal and Plessy got arrested. Plessy chose to fight his case in court, because the segregation laws violated the fourteenth amendment. Four years later, the case was brought to the Supreme Court. The justices ruled against Homer Plessy. Their decision was that segregation is legal as long as equal facilities were provided. Justice Henry Billings Brown summarized, "The object of the [Fourteenth] amendment was undoubtedly to enforce the equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to endorse social, as distinguished from political, equality. . . If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane."