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What Is The Plessy Vs Ferguson 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 …show more content…
Racial discrimination was attacked by the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The legislation made it a crime to deny “the full and equal enjoyment, accommodations, advantages, facilities, houses, and water to any race and colored citizen.” The Supreme Court took down the 1875 act, because the 14th Amendment stated that they did not have authority to prevent discrimination against private individuals. People that were discriminated against sought relief not from the government, but from the front, he stated. The one behind the case was the man himself, Homer Plessy, a Louisiana man of mixed race who challenged the state's Separate Car Act of 1890. The law required Railway companies to provide equal but separate accommodations for white and black passengers. Plessy himself deliberately boarded a white train car and refused to move when asked, which led to his arrest and subsequent legal challenge. As the case made its way to the Supreme Court, the main problem was whether Louisiana segregation law violated the equal protection Clause of the 14th

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