...America has struggled with achieving equality since its founding. The news is full of different examples of racial difficulties, which also can be found in court cases throughout history and even now in more modern cases. Many of these cases can be traced back to the main concept of separate but equal, which was established by the Plessy vs. Ferguson case. Plessy vs. Ferguson was the main point that really brought the concept of separate but equal into light. The case was a debate on whether segregation was constitutional. In 1892 Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow train car, which at the time was a train car that all African Americans were required to sit in, as they were not allowed to sit with the white people. This was against...
Words: 772 - Pages: 4
...Arguably one of the most important rulings in the struggle for African American civil rights was Plessy v. Ferguson by the US Supreme Court in 1896. Civil Rights activists hope to use the Homer Plessy incident to test the laws that blocked true equal treatment and opportunities for African Americans. Plessy’s lawyer argued his constitutional rights were violated under the 13th and 14th amendments. The judge ruled against Plessy. The court ruled the arrest was constitutional for racial segregation under “separate but equal” doctrine. White people and African Americans may be equal before the law but it did not intend for the races to be equal in society. This ruling was a profound setback for African American right. The ruling by the US Supreme...
Words: 337 - Pages: 2
...In 1896, Homer Plessy was asked to participate in a test case orchestrated by Comite des Citoyens (Committee of Citizens), which included him trying to sit in the white-only car of a train. At this time, African Americans, or anyone considered black, were by law supposed to sit in the “colored” car. When he was asked and refused to leave the car, a hired detective arrested him. When Plessy was first tried by the State of Louisiana, his attorneys argued that he was denied his 13th and 14th Amendment rights. Judge John Ferguson ruled that the railroad companies had a right to decide while they were operated within Louisiana borders. Eventually his case made it to the Supreme Court where, in a 7 to 1 vote, it was decided that “separate but equal” was constitutional. However, in 1954, the ruling from Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned by the Court’s findings in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS. The case was brought against the Topeka Board of Education by parents. When the case eventually made its way to the Supreme Court, Justice Earl Warren announced the unanimous ruling against the “separate but equal” principle. The Supreme Court ruled that separating children because of race was unconstitutional. This overturning of the standard set by the Plessy v. Ferguson symbolized the end of racial...
Words: 445 - Pages: 2
...The Plessy Vs. Ferguson court case was an unjust and predjudice trial. An African American man who sat in the first-class section of a train on June 7, 1892 was asked to be seated in the Jim Crow Cars although he had already bought a first-class ticket. After refusing peacefully, Plessy was arrested and trial was set for five months later. The case ultimately moved up to the United States Supreme Court. Plessy Vs. Ferguson hearing would “challenge the definition of race itself” and eventually the case was overturned in 1954. The United States Supreme Court’s ruling was an unjustified verdict based on relativism and deontological ethics. Homer Plessy boarded a train that was on it’s way to Covington, Louisiana. He bought a first-class train ticket and was well dressed, but he was not accepted into first class because he was an African American. The train conductor, John J. Dowling asked Plessy if he was in the proper coach not because of his train ticket but because of his race which wasn’t easily seen. Plessy was so...
Words: 884 - Pages: 4
...Equal protection of the laws-minorities Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Adolph Plessy who is ⅞ white, was arrested when he refused to sit in the “blacks only” railroad car. He said this violated his 14th amendment. Verdict: 7-1 decision for Ferguson, majority by Henry B. Brown. The court ruled that if the cars are separate yet equal then the louisiana law does not violate the 14th amendment. Brown v. board of education of Topeka, I (1954) African children were denied admittance into certain public schools that were segregated. The parents argued that denying them admittance was violating their 14th amendment. Verdict: unanimous decision for Brown , majority by Earl Warren. They said that separate but equal educational facilities was obviously unequal...
Words: 607 - Pages: 3
...Throughout history, many laws and acts have been decided upon and put into place by the court systems in the United States; the Plessy v. Ferguson case was no exception. The actions of the Committee of Citizens are what brought the Plessy v. Ferguson case into existence. As a result of these actions and the unjust case, many unfair regulations and laws were created and enforced. Some of those laws include the Separate-but-Equal doctrine and the Jim Crow laws. Every event surrounding the Plessy v. Ferguson case had a great impact on situations that occurred later in history. A certain circumstance surrounding the Committee of Citizens and their use of Homer Plessy in their fight against the Separate Car Act, along with segregation laws altogether,...
Words: 659 - Pages: 3
...Sergio Alvarado 02/20/16 Bailey 3rd Preface : 1. Why was the Supreme Court case, Plessy Vs. Ferguson, important? Plessy v. Ferguson accomplished the ?separated but equal?. 2. What was the impact of Plessy Vs. Ferguson on the lives of African Americans and minority groups such as Hispanic, Japanese, and Chinese? The separated but equal gave more rights to the people making it spread also to other races. Chapter 1 Rosa parks Rosa parks was a lady born from Louise McCauley. She is famous for her bravery on not refusing her seat after a long day at work. As the driver asked her to get up and she denied because she said she didn?t had to give a white passenger her seat for them to be Comfortable. After that she was arrested but recognize...
Words: 1987 - Pages: 8
...Plessy Versus Ferguson During the Plessy versus Ferguson case which began in 1892 when a man by the name of Homer Plessy sat on the white’s only side of the railroad. The separate car act was passed in the state of Louisiana in 1890 which legally allowed segregation in common carriers. The term the used to justify it all was “equal but separate” an irony of its own sorts. The argument was the car act was in violation the fourteenth and thirteenth amendment. In 1896 the case was heard by the Supreme Court. In the argument of the case, with a seven to one vote the court implied that the state law did not conflict with the fourteenth and thirteenth amendment. The fourteenth amendment clearly forbids and state to make laws depriving American...
Words: 386 - Pages: 2
...1. In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson and Cumming v. Richmond equal but separated was being demonstrated. However, in reality, it is never separate and equal instead unequal. In Plessy v. Ferguson case, Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car, by violating the Louisiana law. However by declining Plessy’s argument that his constitutional rights were violated, the Court ruled that the state law did not violate the rights. Furthermore, the Supreme Court upheld the state’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson because the constitution provides separation of power between the state and the federal government. Also, according to the 14th amendment, it provides equal protection for all. This means as long as rights are being preserved it is not a violation...
Words: 333 - Pages: 2
...Plessy vs. Ferguson was one of the most life changing cases for whites and blacks. The Plessy vs. Ferguson case was brought up in order to keep laws the same so that blacks and whites could use the same facilities. Both the North and the South wanted to bring these laws in places because they felt that separate but equal was a loop hole to the fourteenth amendment. The supreme court decided to use this loop hole because they could say whites and blacks can be equal without having to share things. In that case that wasn’t always true. Whites had cleaner and nicer facilities such as bathrooms, restaurants, trains, hospitals, and even drinking fountains. In result of this law being passed is caused Jim Crow laws which are laws that enforced racial...
Words: 330 - Pages: 2
...Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Background • June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in “White” section of the East Louisiana Railroad • Considered black despite of his light complexion • He was “creole”- black person w/ background of French, Spanish & Caribbean • Violated 13th & 14th amendment Decision • The precedent that “separate” facilities for blacks & whites were constitutional as long as they were “equal” • This satisfies the 14th amendment • Facilities were always inferior to whites( restrooms, theaters, public schools) Chapter 3: Industrialization, Workers, & New Immigration Industrial Revolution • 18th and 19th century • Major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport & technology • Marks turning point in human...
Words: 463 - Pages: 2
...Homer Plessy, a legally African American citizen from New Orleans, LA, challenged status quo when he sat in a train car specifically designated for white citizens (Plessy v. Ferguson 1896). The laws that forbid him from sitting in the white citizens' train car were known as the Jim Crow laws. First created in 1877 and named after a derogatory blackface character, the Jim Crow laws segregated black and white citizens in all aspects of life. For example, the laws designated specific drinking fountains for blacks and whites and restricted them from attending the same schools. After Homer Plessy was arrested, his trial quickly rose to the Supreme Court in 1896. In the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson case, the justices ruled it constitutional to segregate...
Words: 1444 - Pages: 6
...Plessy v. Ferguson In 1896 the United States Supreme Court upheld a case that changed segregation. The Plessy v. Ferguson case declared that separate facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional as long as they were equal. This court case set the “Separate but Equal” laws. After this court case was unjustified the black communities became outraged. In 1892 a man named Homer Plessy was taking a train to from New Orleans, LA to Covington, LA. Plessy could easily pass for white but he was considered black by the law. Plessy decided that he was going to sit in the white car instead of the black car. He identified himself as a black male and was arrested. Plessy was arrested for violating and 1890 Louisiana statue. The statue provided...
Words: 334 - Pages: 2
...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
...On June 7th 1892 Plessy versus Ferguson was a Supreme Court case in the 80s. Homer argued on separated but equal restrooms etc. like that were not. The top priority for this was the separate car act passed in the early 1890, making Caucasians and African Americans sit separate on buses. With this new law whites were concerned and fought against it, but born free was an African American thing. Caucasians got sat only on railway cars and when he sat down he immediately got arrested and was put on trial however he fought on how the law was unfair and denied his fourteenth amendment. He got denied and got a fine up to twenty-five dollars. He plead to the Supreme Courts and a decision was made and he was denied once again to a seven to one ratio....
Words: 270 - Pages: 2
