...Plessy v. Ferguson Case Brief Diego Yanez Arizona State University In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, Homer Adolph Plessy made the decision of suing the city of Ferguson when he, a 7/8th's Caucasian man, was arrested for sitting in a "whites only" car and for refusing to move to the "blacks" section of the train, something fairly familiar in the late 1800’s where “separate but equal” was enforced not only in trains and other forms of transportation, but in schools and even something as small as bathrooms and drinking fountains. In this case, Plessy argued that his Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments had been broken. The question throughout the case is if Louisiana’s law requiring racial segregation on public transportation was infringing upon the constitutional rights of African Americans. In a seven to one vote, the supreme court decided for Ferguson where Justice Henry Brown wrote a majority opinion and Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote a dissenting opinion. Justice Henry Brown pointed out that the Fourteenth Amendment did not have anything to do with social equality, the Amendment was referring to equality in the form of law. The seven Justices who decided to vote in favor of Ferguson, did not believe that the separation of race by law “stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority”. (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896) The Justices firmly believed that one case would not change racial prejudice throughout the city or state, much...
Words: 555 - Pages: 3
...States. This major case was actually several cases that were decided by the Supreme Court as one. These cases were argued by the NAACP and their expert team of lawyers led by Thurgood Marshall and his team the Legal Defense and Educational Fund. All the cases were filed by African American parents on behalf of their children. The parents of these children wished it to be brought before the courts that “separate but equal” was not fair. In the South though, Plessy v. Ferguson, “separate but equal” and Jim Crow laws reigned, they had a tough battle ahead.Leading up to Brown v. Board of EducationThe Jim Crow Laws were enacted in mostly the Southern and some of the border states of the United States and enforced between 1876 and 1965, slightly less than a hundred years (wikipedia). These laws mandated "separate but equal" status for black Americans. “In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were almost always inferior to those provided to white Americans. The most important laws required that public schools, public places and public transportation, like trains and buses, have separate facilities for whites and blacks” (wikipedia). In the Progressive Era the restrictions were formalized, and segregation was extended to the federal government by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913 (wikipedia).To discuss the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education, a brief history of the major case that had to be overturned to achieve the desired goal of Brown v. Board of Education...
Words: 2653 - Pages: 11
...1865 to 1900 Write a three to four (3-4) page paper on the period from Reconstruction through widespread industrialization in the Western United States (approximate time period: 1865-1900.) Your paper should cover the following: Identify at least (2) two major historical turning points in the period under discussion. Death of Lincoln in 1865. Lincoln’s death changed the course of the country trying to rebuild after the Civil War. President Andrew Johnson was not popular and could not convince Congress especially the southerners to go along with him. Lincoln had a plan to build up the South and end the hate. He ordered amnesty and that the south be rebuilt. He pardoned, with a few exceptions, any southerner who would swear allegiance to the Union and the United States Constitution. His plan was to let the Confederate states back into the Legislature, but it was not working too well. We will never know how that went because he was assassinated. His idea always was to try to “mend fences” and forgive. The entire civil rights movement was set back because of the death of Lincoln. The Railroad The two railroads, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific met in Utah in May of 1869. It was merely ceremonial, but the real occasion was that it meant the railroads now would run from coast to coast. The availability of the railroad changed the face of the west and the whole of the United States. Remote places now could ship farm products and receive goods from...
Words: 1090 - Pages: 5
...Phase 2 Individual Project Colorado Technical University Multicultural Issues Professor V. Vila Cathy Bairfoot July 31, 2014 Introduction The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was revolutionary piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed discrimination against African-Americans and women, including forms of segregation. The Civil Rights Act also terminated all unequal applications in regards to voter registration requirements and all forms of segregation in schools, in the workplace and any facilities that offered services to the general public. The American people before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was treated differently and was segregated. The blacks had to sit in the back of the bus, eat outside of restaurants if they were not in their own section of town. In schools blacks had their own water fountains, bathrooms, lockers, etc. Blacks in some areas had to get up as early as 5:00 a.m. to get the bus to get to school. The purpose of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is to enforce the Constitutional rights to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States to provide injuctive relief against discrimination...
Words: 588 - Pages: 3
...OF THE UNITED STATES Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (USSC+) 347 U.S. 483 Argued December 9, 1952 Reargued December 8, 1953 Decided May 17, 1954 APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS* Syllabus Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment -- even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors of white and Negro schools may be equal. (a) The history of the Fourteenth Amendment is inconclusive as to its intended effect on public education. (b) The question presented in these cases must be determined not on the basis of conditions existing when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, but in the light of the full development of public education and its present place in American life throughout the Nation. (c) Where a State has undertaken to provide an opportunity for an education in its public schools, such an opportunity is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms. (d) Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprives children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal. (e) The "separate but equal" doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, has no place in...
Words: 2200 - Pages: 9
...abolished after the Civil War but this abolition did not increase the standing of the Black Community. Schaefer (pg. 177) theorizes that slavery set the foundation for the problems with racial equality that we face today. After the Civil War, the African American community did not become the equal American citizens they imagined they would become. Segregation became common practice after the Reconstruction period that followed the Civil War (www.ourdocuments.gov, n.d.). This segregation included schools, restaurants, and quite infamously, public transportation. Public transportation was segregated in such a way that black and white people had separate seating areas on busses and trains were segregated by car. The landmark case of Plessy vs. Ferguson upheld a "separate but equal" statute in...
Words: 861 - Pages: 4
...The Case of Oliver Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka By Tahjia Roberts, The New York Times TOPEKA, KS — This is a landmark case in the United States Supreme Court that ruled that it was unconstitutional to have separate public schools for blacks and whites. Black students were concerned being denied the right to attend schools with white students under some laws that required and or permitted segregation by race. School segregation violated the fourteenth amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. This case was argued on December 9,1952. It overturned some previous ruling, one of the main ones being Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. Plessy v. Ferguson ruled that if separate races are treated equal, segregation did not violate the fourteenth...
Words: 451 - Pages: 2
...The Significance of the Brown V. Topeka Board of Education Ruling of 1954 Tamara Smith Colorado Technical Institute The Significance of the Brown V. Topeka Board of Education Ruling of 1954 The Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was, and still is considered to be a landmark case which stated state laws which had allowed the establishing of different public schools for African American and white pupils to be against the constitution. The verdict overruled the 1896 decision of Plessy v. Ferguson decision, a ruling that permitted state-sponsored segregation, provided it applied to public education. The Brown V. Topeka decision ruled that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal (CRMVet.org, n.d., p. 1954, para. 3)." Because of this decision, racial segregation was decreed to be in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Brown V. Topeka Board of Education ruling would lead the way for desegregation and became a vital triumph in the civil rights movement. At the time of the Brown ruling, much of the southern United States was segregated. Racial segregation was hardly a fresh occurrence; almost all African Americans had been subject to slavery prior to the Civil War. Nor was racial segregation a new concept, but one that has occurred as early (and likely earlier) as the days of the Tang Dynasty. Under segregation, signs were posted showing African...
Words: 1108 - Pages: 5
...Plessy v. Ferguson , an imperative instance of 1896 in which the Supreme Court of the United States maintained the lawfulness of racial isolation. At the season of the decision, isolation amongst blacks and whites as of now existed in many schools, eateries, and other open offices in the American South. In the Plessy choice, the Supreme Court decided that such isolation did not disregard the fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. This alteration gives measure up to insurance of the law to all U.S. natives, paying little mind to race. The court decided in Plessy that racial isolation was lawful the length of the different offices for blacks and whites were "equivalent." This "different yet equivalent" tenet, as it came to be known, was just in part actualized after the choice. Railroad autos,...
Words: 429 - Pages: 2
...[pic] |[pic] | | |3.5.3 Test (TS): Populism and | | |Progressivism | | |Test | | | | | | |[pic] | | |U.S. History since the Civil War (S2978848) | | |Billy Jean Bonilla-Davila | | | ...
Words: 692 - Pages: 3
...In 1896 the Supreme Court had held in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation was permissible as long as equal facilities were provided for both races. Although that decision involved only passenger accommodations on a rail road, the principle of "separate but equal" was applied thereafter to all aspects of public life in states with large black populations.Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, decided on May 17, 1954, was one of the most important cases in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. Linda Brown had been denied admission to an elementary school in Topeka because she was black. Brought together under the Brown designation were companion cases from South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware, all of which involved the same basic question: Does the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment prohibit racial segregation in the public schools?It was not until the late 1940's that the Court began to insist on equality of treatment, but it did not squarely face the constitutionality of the "separate but equal" doctrine until it decided the Brown case. In a brief, unanimous opinion delivered by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Court declared that: "separate education facilities are inherently unequal" and that racial segregation violates the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. In a moving passage, the chief justice argued that separating children in the schools solely on racial grounds "generates a felling of inferiority as to their status in the community...
Words: 306 - Pages: 2
...and its employees. Today, the EEOC enforces laws prohibiting discrimination in employment. The Impact of Law on Business Decisions The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces the illegality of discrimination in employment due to race, color, religion, national origin or sex and retaliation against a person who claims discrimination. It encompasses pregnancy, conditions caused by pregnancy or childbirth, disability and genetic tests of individuals or their family. Affirmative Action was later added, which required businesses to prove employment of women and minorities. A Timeline of Civil Rights One only needs a brief history review to understand why some laws exist today. After the Civil War, state and local laws forced a separation of the races. This was upheld in the Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson. In 1896, the Supreme Court determined that ‘separate but equal’ was indeed, constitutional and upheld laws requiring segregation of races in restaurants, public restrooms, train cars, and drinking fountains, schools, separate entrances into buildings, and much more. Separation was the law’. (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesssy_v._Ferguson)....
Words: 1849 - Pages: 8
...Affirmative Action and Social Psychology Tamara Hill PSY11017VA016-1134001(Social Psychology) Profess. Jason Hamilton June 08, 2012 Bottom of Form Over the years there are a number of laws that have been put in place that has shaped society and paved the way for many to succeed. The Affirmative Action Law is one of the laws that were established to provide an equal playing field in many environments such as schools, employment, businesses and our daily lives in society. For many years there have been unrepresented groups that experienced discrimination during times of enrollment into schools, on the job promotions and even when trying to receive bank loans to start up his or her own business. Since the establishment of Affirmative Action in 1961it has paved the way to ensure that unrepresented groups are represented throughout society as we know it today. This law has been amended several times to ensure that no minority group is unrepresented in any circumstance. In the 1960’s Affirmative Action in the United States was used as a tool to address the persistent discrimination against African Americans. This specific term was first used to describe US government policy in 1961. President John F. Kennedy in 1961 mandated "affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated equally during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin (Peters...
Words: 1137 - Pages: 5
...States. This major case was actually several cases that were decided by the Supreme Court as one. These cases were argued by the NAACP and their expert team of lawyers led by Thurgood Marshall and his team the Legal Defense and Educational Fund. All the cases were filed by African American parents on behalf of their children. The parents of these children wished it to be brought before the courts that “separate but equal” was not fair. In the South though, Plessy v. Ferguson, “separate but equal” and Jim Crow laws reigned, they had a tough battle ahead. Leading up to Brown v. Board of Education The Jim Crow Laws were enacted in mostly the Southern and some of the border states of the United States and enforced between 1876 and 1965, slightly less than a hundred years (wikipedia). These laws mandated "separate but equal" status for black Americans. “In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were almost always inferior to those provided to white Americans. The most important laws required that public schools, public places and public transportation, like trains and buses, have separate facilities for whites and blacks” (wikipedia). In the Progressive Era the restrictions were formalized, and segregation was extended to the federal government by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913 (wikipedia). To discuss the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education, a brief history of the major case that had to be overturned to achieve the desired goal of Brown v. Board of Education...
Words: 2256 - Pages: 10
...Similar cases around the country were combined into one case. While separate was considered equal at the time because of Plessy v. Ferguson, Thurgood Marshall argued for the African American families, that white school facilities were often created at a higher quality than the separate schools for blacks. Which led to the question, can schools really be equal if the students are segregated merely on the basis of skin...
Words: 616 - Pages: 3