Plessy vs. Ferguson Essay examples

The case “Plessy v. Ferguson” was a test of a Louisiana law’s constitutionality. It took 50 years to realize it, but the constitutionally and morally right way was to end segregation. This case was never about Plessy not being able to ride on a white only car on a train headed to Covington, Louisiana. It was about a group of black citizens trying to stop segregation from ever

In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court case upheld the constitution of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case. This case examined one key issue, was it constitutional to make black people sit in separate cars from white people? In 1890, Homer Plessy broke the law in Louisiana, by sitting in the white people car and he was 1/8 black and 7/8 white. The state of Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, which required railway companies to have "separate but equal." There was punishment for not following the law which if a person would sit in the wrong car they had to pay $25 fine or go to jail for 20 days. Plessy was asked to move, but he refused and was arrested. When he was sent to jail he argued that Separated car acts violated the 14th amendment. Plessy took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court and it was

One of the most historic cases in Supreme Court history is the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896. Plessy v. Ferguson was a trial that ruled segregation as legal, as long as separate, equal facilities were provided for both races. After the Reconstruction era had dispersed, the Jim Crow laws appeared. The Separate Car Act was one of the Jim Crow laws enacted upon by the Louisiana State Legislature. This law stated that blacks and whites

In 1892, Homer Plessy sought a seat in a “white” train car. Plessy was only 1/8 black, and appeared to be a Caucasian man. Even after being belittled and threatened, Plessy refused to transfer to a “colored” car. Violating the Separate Car Act, Plessy was arrested. He stated that this act violated his 13th and 14th amendment constitutional rights. His statements entailed that the act stripped away his 13th amendment right opposing slavery and his 14th amendment right for equal protection under the law. These arguments were revoked twice in lower courts until he decided he would take his plea to the Louisiana Supreme Court. (pbs.org)

African Americans were never treated the same as other Americans. One day a black man who looked white named Homer Plessy got sick of sitting in a Jim Crow car so he decided to purchase a first class ticket in the white’s only section on the train. Plessy told the conductor that he was 1/8 black and he refused to move from the car. Removed from the train Plessy was in jail overnight and was released on a 500 dollar bond. Homer Plessy protested that his 13th and his 14th amendments rights were violated. This case became known as Plessy v. Ferguson. This case upheld the constitutionality of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine.

In 1896 the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutionally legal to segregate African Americans with their white counterparts. In the court case of Plessy v. Ferguson an African American man in Louisiana named Homer Plessy refused to follow the mandated Jim Crow laws which enforced that African Americans have to sit in a designated area when riding on a train. Plessy argued that his fourteenth amendment right was violated equal-protection clause, which “prohibits the states from denying “equal protection of the laws” to any person within their jurisdictions”(Duignan, 2016). However, when Plessy’s case moved to the Supreme Court they ruled“ the object of the Fourteenth Amendment was to create "absolute equality of the two races before the law," such equality extended only so far as political and civil rights (e.g., voting and serving on juries), not "social rights" (e.g., sitting in a railway car one chooses) (McBride, n.d. ). As a result, Plessy v. Ferguson

Supreme Court case upheld the constitutionality of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. The Court ruled that a state law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between whites and blacks did not conflict with the 13th and14th Amendments. Restrictive legislation based on race continued following the Plessy decision, it was not overturned until Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954. The case came from Louisiana, which in 1890 adopted a law providing for “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races” on its railroads. In 1892, passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car. He was brought before Judge John H. Ferguson of the Criminal Court for New Orleans, who upheld the state law. The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th

In 1892 the Supreme Court ruled 7-1 against Homer Plessy, a one-eighth black man who fought to sit in a train car reserved for white people in Louisiana 1. Since he was not allowed to ride in said cars, his 14th amendment right against discrimination of any American citizen was violated 1. The Supreme Court rejected Plessy's argument that Louisiana law conflicted with the thirteenth amendment and the fourteenth amendment 1. The justices claimed however, that separation of races does not make someone feel

In the case Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896 took place during the era of Jim Crow laws which advocated for separate but equal laws. Plessy was presumed colored due to the one-eighth black factor under the Louisiana law. It was held that Plessy was guilty since the race-based Jim Crow laws, which were applied in his conviction, were not in violation of the Constitution as long as the State of Louisiana proffered the separate but equal treatment. However, in the ruling, one jury member chose to dissent by stating that the Constitution is color blind and thus could not allow for different treatment of classes of citizens based on skin color.

The State of Louisiana passed a law “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 … No person or persons, shall be admitted to occupy seats in coaches other than the ones assigned to them on account of the race they belong to.” The Plessy v. Ferguson case was brought before the high court to decide if Mr. Plessy civil rights under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth was violated when Plessy was assigned a seat in the black car and when he refused was subsequently arrested for violating the law. The court felt the Thirteenth Amendment was about abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude which the court proved was not applicable to apply to this case. Since the case Roberts v. Boston, 59 Mass. (5 Cush.) 198 (1850) the states had widely accepted the concept of separate but equal education system, and the separation of races in places of entertainment have become widely approved throughout the country. Based on these examples, the court felt no infringement of equal rights was inflicted on Mr. Plessy as stated in the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court affirms the lower courts ruling that Mr. Plessy civil rights were not

1) How did the majority opinion in the Supreme Court’s 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision legally shape race

The next critical Supreme Court ruling on the issue of civil rights was in 1892 with the Plessy v. Ferguson case. Homer Adolph Plessy was a shoemaker from the state of Louisiana. Although Plessy was seven eighths white and only one eighth black. According to the law in Louisiana, he was still required to use the facilities designated as "colored". In an attempt to challenge the law, Plessy, with the support of civil rights activists, bought a ticket for the first class coach on the East Louisiana Rail Road. Plessy boarded and sat down in the first class coach. Just after the train departed the station the conductor confronted Plessy. The conductor asked him if he was black, Plessy told him he was and that he refused to leave the coach. The train was stopped; Plessy was arrested and formally charged at the fifth street police station.

The Plessy versus Ferguson case started with an incident where an African American passenger on a train, Homer Plessy, broke Louisiana law by refusing to sit in a Jim Crow car, a separate cart on the train where African Americans had to sit. This

In 1892, Homer Plessy was a passenger in a railroad and who refused to sit in a Jim Crow car. He brought before Judge John H. Ferguson of the Criminal Court from New Orleans, who upheld the state law. The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments. Although, the Supreme Court had ruled in 1896, Plessy v Ferguson inculcated the “separate but equal” doctrine and passed laws entailing the segregation of races, arguing that Jim Crow laws were constitutional. The case was devastating for African Americans allowing the oppression of an entire race. The Supreme Court system in practice was separate and unequal;

One of the cases against segregated rail travel was Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that "separate but equal" accommodations were constitutional. However, in 1952, the Supreme Court heard a number of school-segregation cases, including Brown v. Board of Topeka, Kansas. It decided unanimously in 1954 that segregation was unconstitutional, overthrowing the 1869 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that had set the "separate but equal" precedent.