Reconstruction created a new age of segregation with Black Americans’ political rights being affirmed by the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th constitutional amendments and black codes were passed by local and state lawmaker. The 13th amendment made slavery illegal in the United States, the14th Amendment guaranteed equal representation under the law for all Americans and finally, the 15th Amendment made is legal for Black men to vote. While these were all important steps in the years following the Civil War, racial discrimination was attacked on a particular broad front by the Civil Rights Act of 1875. This legislation made it a crime for an individual to deny “the full and equal enjoyment of any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, …show more content…
In some cases the cars were not heated nor did they have windows that opened, which only added to the terrible conditions. If a Black passenger did not want to ride in the “Black car”, there were punishments to make sure the black and white passengers remained separate. For example, if you were a black and you sat in the white car you would either have a fine of $25($540 in today’s money) or 20 days in jail. In 1891, a group of concerned young black men of New Orleans formed the “Citizens’ Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law.” In 1892, a 30-year old shoemaker named Homer Plessy was arrested for sitting in a car for only white people on the East Louisiana Railroad. He had refused to move to a black car. Even though he was seven-eighths white and only one-eighth black, he was put in jail. The Louisiana law stated that if you had any black ancestors, you were considered black. Because of this, Plessy was required to sit in the “colored” or “black” …show more content…
The White cars were nicer and cleaner than the Black cars. Judge John Howard Ferguson had recently ruled the law “unconstitutional on trains that traveled through many states,” but in this case, Judge Ferguson ruled that Plessy was guilty because the state had the right to regulate railroad companies that run only in the state. Mr. Plessy then appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court of Louisiana which also went against him, saying the separate but equal law was constitutional. Plessy finally appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, because he still believed that the “separate but equal” law violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, because it did not treat Blacks and Whites equally. However, in 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that Homer Plessy was guilty. The court said Mr. Plessy was found guilty, because the Louisiana law did not violate the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. In conclusion, a 7-1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of
Plessy V. Ferguson. In 1890, Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, which required whites and blacks to ride in separate train cars. In 1892, Homer Plessy was arrested for sitting in a “whites only” car. Plessy filed a lawsuit declaring that his constitutional rights had been violated. However, the US Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate accommodations were constitutional as long as they were equal.
This was one of the biggest court cases involving the civil war. Plessy vs. Ferguson was a court case in 1890 (History). It involved Homer Plessy, a man of a mixed race, and Judge John H. Ferguson. It took place in Louisiana state court. It was because of the Car Act (LII / Legal Information Institute).
In 1890, the state of Louisiana passed a law (the Separate Car Act) that required separate accommodations for blacks and whites on railroads, including separate railway cars.[2] Concerned, a group of prominent black, creole, and white New Orleans residents formed the Comité des Citoyens (Committee of Citizens) dedicated to repeal the law or fight its effect.[3] They persuaded Homer Plessy, a man of mixed race, to participate in an orchestrated test case. Plessy was born a free man and was an "octoroon" (of seven-eighths European descent and one-eighth African descent). However, under Louisiana law, he was classified as black, and thus required to sit in the "colored" car.[4]
This caused Homer Plessy to be convicted as guilty since it was against the law for Plessy to be in the wrong railroad car. Homer Plessy’s lawyers made a point that the Supreme Court was violating Homer Plessy’s fourteenth amendment. The fourteenth amendment stated that all citizens with citizenship had rights and equal protection under the law. Since the “separate but equal” was violated also the fourteenth amendment was violated since Homer Plessy wasn’t treated equally even though he was separate. The Louisiana law required that there should be “separate but equal” seating for the whites and African American citizens.
In 1896, the Plessy v. Ferguson became of. The first reason, an incident in which African American passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for blacks. Then, he was brought before John Ferguson state law. Later, the Court then avoided discussion of the protection granted by the clause in the 14th Amendment. Also, It was a 7-1 vote but the argument was false because of the “assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority”.
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 US 537 (1896), a case regarding constitutional law of the US Supreme Court, that was upheld on a seven to one vote. Homer Plessy (1862-1925), an African American passenger on a train, sat in the whites-only train and declined when told to sit in the Jim Crow car, this action broke Louisiana law, The Separate Car Act. Judge John H. Ferguson (1838-1915) of the Criminal Court of New Orleans, the defendant, upheld the law, which was being challenged by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment. Ferguson was an American Louisiana judge and lawyer who served in many cases, but is most known for Plessy v. Ferguson.
Even though the case of Plessy v Ferguson did not reach the Supreme Court until the year 1892, the real issue arose in 1890 when a Louisiana state statute was passed. This statue that was referred to as the Separate Car Act. The statue stated that rail companies carrying passengers in the state of Louisiana must
Many African-Americans were treated unequally after the Civil War. In source 1, the text states that racial tensions across the country were extremely high after the Civil War, and African Americans continued to deal with oppression (source 1, paragraph 1). This evidence proves that even though African Americans were no longer slaves after the Civil War, they still were being treated unfair. With that in mind, many African Americans had experienced horrible times during the 1800s just because of the color of their skin. According to source 1, back in the 1800s, there were “whites only train cars” and “blacks only train cars”, and the cars were not the same quality (source 1, paragraph 5).
Legal Opinion of Overturning Plessy v Ferguson Sentence By: Estephanos Bekele Homer Plessy was an innocent man living in the state of Louisiana. He was a Creole, meaning that he was 7/8th white and only 1/8th black. Nevertheless, in the eyes of the law, he was considered African American. The SAA was the Separate Accommodations Act, created in 1890, for the state of Louisiana, was meant to force the blacks to sit in the back of trains, while whites were allowed to sit in the front of vehicles (Wikipedia Contributors).
For example, the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court case which upheld the constitutionality of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. It stemmed from an 1892 incident in which African-American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car, breaking a Louisiana law. Jim Crow Laws were a system of government-sanctioned racial oppression and segregation in the United States. Rejecting Plessy’s argument that his constitutional rights were violated, the Court ruled that a state law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between whites and blacks did not conflict with the 13th (Abolishment of Slavery) and14th
The concept of citizenship and belonging is much different in today’s society than it was in 1865 to 1910. The black codes of 1865 were laws of the south basically keeping blacks from full freedom. They did everything possible to keep blacks working for little to nothing. The blacks they are trying to keep down at this point were named the freedmen. The disfranchisement began with Mississippi in 1890, where they took blacks voting rights under something called the Mississippi Plan.
Plessy vs. Ferguson and Brown vs. Board of Education In 1890, the state of Louisiana passed the "Separate Car Act." This act required and established the use of the notorious doctrine "separate, but equal." This meant that on railroads and train cars, blacks and whites could be separated as long as the divided facilities were equal and the same. It was like a way to segregate blacks and whites without being morally wrong.
During this time African Americans lost voting rights, separate public accommodations were instituted, legal segregation occurred, and the separate but equal aspect came into view. Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in the constitutional law that stated that racial segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. It guaranteed equal protection under the law to all citizens. For example, in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson it was ruled that racial segregated railway cars did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. In document 2D, Justice John Marshal Harlan writes “The arbitrary separation of citizens, on the basis of race, while they are on a public highway, is a badge of servitude wholly inconsistent with the civil freedom and the equality before the law established by the Constitution.
Beginning with different train cars to separate race, Homer Plessy sat in a car that was for whites only. He was challenged and harassed by the conductor, then later arrested for breaking the law. The majority vote was that they could not put the races together. It wasn 't until later that the segregation under state law was ended, but the judgment wasn 't an immediate response for Plessy.
Homer Plessy then sued the judge of his trial, Hon. John H. Ferguson at the Louisiana Supreme Court because he felt like his rights of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments had been violated. The lawsuit was going to be a challenge because they were trying to prove that the state of Louisiana denied Homer Plessy equal protection of the laws. On May 18,1896 the U.S Supreme