Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark Supreme Court case that formalized segregation. The judge in this case stated if faculties were separate and equal for both black and white people, then it was fine to be segregated. The case started in 1892 shortly after Homer Plessy's arrest on June 7th of 1892. The case eventually made its way through, and on May 18th, 1896 the supreme court ruled that Louisiana did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment or Thirteenth Amendment. Throughout United States history, the law has been used to restrict African American rights, and Plessy v. The Ferguson case is the perfect example. Homer Plessy's and the Committee of Citizens impacted the lives of African Americans for decades from their involvement in the case. …show more content…
This case ended up making it to the Supreme Court in 1896, this shows how seriously the Committee of citizens took this because they pushed the appeal. His lawyers argued that the Separate Car Act was made because they wanted white Americans to be superior to black Americans. Plessy's lawyer also argued that the Louisiana segregation law violated the 14th and 13th amendments. The 14th Amendment gave black Americans full citizenship instead of three fifths a person. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery. The Supreme Court did not care and argued every single one of the plessy lawyers' reasons on why they were wrong. Justice Henry Brown decided that it was okay to have separate facilities as long as they were equal. John Marshall Harlan was the only justice that voted in favor, whose father owned slaves. He compared it to the Dred Scott decision. He also argued that the rights of the Constitution applied to everyone. The case was decided seven to one, meaning they were in favor of the original judge who originally ruled against Plessy, which was Ferguson. This case led to the establishment of the Jim Crow era. This made it legal to separate black and white people from public