...low as to hate him.” —Martin Luther King, Jr. (Nguyen). Many African Americans had many troubles when trying to fight for their rights. Therefore three court cases have changed many perspectives on how black people should be treated. “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” —Martin Luther King, Jr. (Nguyen). These cases influenced many changes in the civil rights movements for African American people. Plessy v. Ferguson case was about how the Court upheld a Louisiana law requiring restaurants, hotels, hospitals, and other public places to serve African Americans in separate, but ostensibly equal, accommodations. Thus, African American people staged boycotts with other white people who believed in and like black people. Although this helped many black people get the same equal rights as white people when being served at a public place. This also changed the way black people were looked at in the same way as white people. In summary the case judgement Plessy v. Ferguson helped colored people with getting the same rights as white people in public places (Plessy v. Ferguson). Brown v. Broad of Education case was about the unfair ways of how the different races were harassed in school. This happened because African American children were given poor learning environments and the...
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...Case Title: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Plaintiff: Homer Adolph Plessy (man of mixed race) Defendant: John Howard Ferguson (louisiana judge) The Law: This case involves racial segregation laws and was the first major case to look into the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment’s (1868) equal-protection clause. The equal-protection clause prohibits the states from denying “equal protection of the laws” to any person within their jurisdictions. It also allowed for laws to be implemented that would achieve racial segregation by means of separate and supposedly equal facilities and services. The Facts of the Case: In 1891, 5 years before this case, a group in New Orleans created the Citizens’ Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law. Homer Plessy purchased a railroad ticket for travel within Louisiana and decided to sit in a car reserved for white passengers only. Although Plessy appeared white he was one-eighth African American, meaning he should have been sitting...
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...Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Facts: On June 7, 1892 Homer Plessy, a biracial man from Louisiana attempted to sit in a first class all-white railroad car. After refusing to remove himself to the black passenger car, Plessy was arrested. Plessy had violated Louisiana’s Separate Cars Act; which required railroad companies to provide separate, but equal accommodations for its Black and White passengers. Procedural History: In the case of Homer Adolph Plessy v. The State of Louisiana, U.S. District Court, Judge John H. Ferguson dismissed his contention that the act was unconstitutional. Ferguson maintained that Louisiana had the right to regulate railroad companies while they operated within state boundaries....
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...Plessy V. Ferguson was a case during 1896 that caused a lot of controversy. This case stated that an octoroon (⅛ black) who wasn’t happy with how states were handling African Americans newly found freedom. To Plessy it seemed as if even though the Declaration of Independence had affirmed that “all men are created equal,” Americans didn’t see it that way. There was still prejudice in America and so black’s were forced to sit separately from whites or drink from different fountains. Little pointless details were made into a big deal. Plessy being ⅛ black, but still looking like an American, was never told to move to use the colored facilities until one day he was asked if he was part African American, and Plessy admitted to it. However, that didn’t stop Plessy from sitting at the front of the railcar, and because of his refusal he was arrested and brought to the United States Supreme Court, claiming the fourteenth amendment. Custom, Precedent, and Federalism the three systems of ruling were embodied into the discussion and the outcome of the case. Each...
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...America stands at a historical crossroad, a point where the nation must navigate through many complexities and social issues. Many points in our past have the government made decisions that went against the nation’s own constitution, breaking its foundational principles. The US fought with the aftermath of the Civil War and the complexities of reconstructing itself. There was one instance in the late 1890s that changed the legal system. One of the more notable court cases was Plessy v. Ferguson. This case made its decision on May 18, 1896. In the case, the court was confronted with the constitutionality of Louisiana's “separate but equal” laws. Laws which mandated racial segregation within the public facilities, such as train cars. Homer Plessy was a Louisiana resident, an American with African descent. He purposely violated the law by refusing to leave the “White Only” train cars. He was then arrested and charged with violating the separate car act, Plessy challenged the law by advocating for a constitutional check on these acts. Arguing that the “separate but equal” laws were in direct violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth...
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...Plessy v. Ferguson: To begin you must understand the significance of the court case Plessy vs. Ferguson in order to see the true importance of it. In 1890, Louisiana passed an act named the Separate Car Act. The law stated that all rail companies carrying passengers in Louisiana had to have separate but equal seating arrangements for white and non-white passengers. Also under this law declared that those who violated the act were to pay a fine or spend 20 days in jail. People especially blacks at the time felt that this act was unfair and unconstitutional. So one day a name by the name of Homer Plessy who was one-eighth black bought a first class ticket and boarded an all-white car. The rail company knew what was going to happen so upon his...
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...The case of Plessy v. Ferguson served as a catalyst for the implementation of “separate but equal” segregation laws that were deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court and which profoundly divided White and Colored America throughout the late 1800’s to mid 1900’s. Freshly out of the Civil War, Black America gradually sought after more forms of freedom after the bondage of slavery was destroyed. While Black males especially were granted more citizenship liberties through the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, just when they thought White America could evolve into an accepting and open-minded society, all efforts were shut down by the Jim Crow laws. That is where the Plessy v. Ferguson case starts, the Supreme Court’s endorsement...
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...Before there was Brown v. Board of education there was the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and Plessy v. Ferguson case. At the current time, state governments was passing laws that was promoting inequality between the races. Laws requiring the building of separate schools for each race were most common; however, segregated areas were extended to cover most public and semi-public facilities. The beginning of such places started with the Jim Crow law that stated that rail roads must furnish separate areas for each race. In 1891, a group of black men from New Orleans formed the “Citizens Committee” to test the Civil Rights Act of 1875 “separate but equal” law. They raised money to hire Albion W. Tourgee. Which at the time he was known for being a prominent Radical Republican, author, and politician. Plessy, a mulatto (7/8 white), seated himself in a white compartment. The conductor told him he couldn’t do that, and he was arrested and charged with violating the state law. In the District Court for the Parish of Orleans, Tourgée stated that the law requiring “separate but equal accommodations” was unconstitutional....
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...Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court was dealing with the principle of a court declaring “an act of Congress void if it is inconsistent with the Constitution.” Marbury asked the Supreme Court to issue a “writ of mandamus” (an order from a court to compel a judicial/government officer to fulfill their duty to the petitioner) towards James Madison. John Marshall (chief justice) denied Marbury’s writ of mandamus. The Supreme Court did not have the authority to exercise its original jurisdiction over the case. Questions: 1. Did Marbury have the right to the commission? 2. If he did, and his right had been violated, did the law provide him with remedy? 3. Is Marbury entitled to mandamus from the Supreme Court? Decision: 4-0; Unanimously, the court ruled that Madison did not have to deliver the commission to Marbury. The court explained that Marbury had the right to receive his commission, but they were not allowed to force Madison into delivering...
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...In 1890, New Orleans Society was a complete mess. They enforced segregation and pretty much broke the laws of the constitution. The issues with the Plessy v. Ferguson case was that the state of Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act which enforced a law that states, “that all railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in this state, shall provide equal but separate accommodations for the white, and colored races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train, or by dividing the passenger coaches by a partition so as to secure separate accommodations…” In disagreement, Plessy found a way to fight on the Act. On June 7, 1892, the defendant purchased a first class ticket from New Orleans to Covington, Louisiana....
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...John Marshall Harlan and the Plessy v. Ferguson Case The Plessy v Ferguson case took place in 1896, during a time when the idea of slavery was beginning to fade away, but the thought of two different races being equal was still unforeseen. It all began when an African American male refused to sit in a Jim Crow car on a train – a train car specifically made for blacks so that they would be separated from the whites on the train. People of color had previously spent hundreds of years fighting for their equality and their freedom from slavery. Even to this day there are many obvious barriers to them receiving the equality they deserve. Shortly after gaining freedom in 1865, began the idea of blacks and whites being “separate, but equal.” This meant that although blacks and whites were now equal as human beings, they were still separated by the color of their skin – causing the need of separate facilities for whites and blacks (Voices of Freedom, 53). Marshall Harlan was a very reputable man, as he brought light to the obvious issues with the term “separate, but equal”, stating that it was still extremely unlawful and went against...
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...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...
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...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,...
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...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....
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...The Plessy V. Ferguson stands as one of the most pivotal moments in American legal history and shaped the course of civil rights and segregation in the U.S. This case was decided in 1896 as it established the doctrine of separate but equal which sanction racial segregation in public facilities. While seeking relief, the states were passing legislation that coded inequalities between races. These legislations stated that there would be separate schools for separate races. This case originated in 1892 as a challenge to the Louisiana Separate Car Act which was in 1890 the law required that all railroads operating in the state provide equal but separate accommodations for white and African American passengers and prohibited passengers from entering accommodations other than...
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