ipl-logo

Plessy Vs. Ferguson: Racial Injustice In The 14th Amendment

1194 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Plessy v. ferguson paper

THE 14TH AMENDMENT
In this paper, I will be talking about the equal protection of laws clause in 14th amendment interpreted in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. This paper will focus on the concern over racial injustice in the judgment of Plessy v. Ferguson. Racial injustice is being looked in several aspects i.e. the argument of absolute equality, the objection to inferiority argument, the personal liberty argument and the good faith argument. In the end, I will conclude that the decision of Plessy v. Ferguson is a pernicious decision.
A general interpretation of the Equal Protection of Laws clause would mean that every individual must be treated in the same manner as others in similar conditions and circumstances. A breach of this clause would take place if the individual is forbidden from entering a certain area only because he/she belongs to a particular race etc. However, the US Supreme Courts have interpreted this clause in a different way. The equal protection clause was interpreted as an equal application of all laws. It denied the states to discriminate in application of laws but followed the doctrine of separate but equal …show more content…

Hence there is no discrimination. However, the point that the Supreme Court seems to be missing is the freedom of personal liberty. (“Life, Liberty of Property without due process of Law”)While the object of the 14th amendment was to enforce absolute equality, it included personal liberty. If the amendment is enforced in its true meaning, it means to protect all civil rights that pertain to freedom and citizenship. Liberty consists of the power to move around and follow one’s own will under without any restraint unless prohibited by law. By discriminating only on the grounds of race for a seat in railway coach, it is restricting not only equality but also the right to personal

Show More
Related
730 Words | 3 Pages

The fourteenth amendment states in the equal protection clause that states may not discriminate against any citizen for any reason, and must allow the same privileges, rights, and conservation. Hogan was on a mission to gain relief as well as compensation for the damages caused. The case was argued on March 22, 1982. The argument from Joe Hogan was proposed by advocate, Wilbur Colom. The petitioner’s side was presented by Hunter M. Gholson, in representation for Mississippi University for Women.

Read More
300 Words | 2 Pages

Thurgood Marshall was born on July 2, 1908. In 1930 he states for to the University of Maryland Law School but was denied because of him being black. However years later when he applied to Howard University when he graduated, he opens up a small law practice in Baltimore. Marshall won the first Major case in civil rights was due to the precedent of Plessy v Ferguson where it states racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal", where he sued University of Maryland Law School to admit a young African American named Donald Gaines Murray. With his well-known skills as a lawyer and his passion for the civil rights Marshall because the chief of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,

Read More
1170 Words | 5 Pages

"The question here is whether a Chinese citizen of the United Stаtes is denied equal protection of the lаws when he is clаssed аmong the colored rаces and furnished fаcilities for education equаl to thаt offered to аll, whether whitе, brown, yеllow, or black. Wеre this a nеw quеstion, it would call for very full argumеnt and considеration, but we think that it is the sаme quеstion which has bеen many timеs decidеd to be within the constitutional powеr of the stаte Legislature to sеttle, without intervеntion of the fedеral courts undеr the fedеral Constitution." The Court аligned this case under the lаnguage of Plessy v. Ferguson, which it sаid involved the "more difficult question" of segregаtion on railway carriers. In Plessy, the Court had listed many cases from state courts, upholding the prаctice of segregаting schools.

Read More
125 Words | 1 Pages

Homer Plessy was a brave man willing to stand up against southern Jim Crow laws, and that is fate in the Supreme Court is unfair. The Separate Car Act dictates that separate races must sit in separate cars, which is segregatory, and passed by the state of Louisiana. This is in direct violation of the 14th, and rightfully deserved to be challenged. African Americans everywhere should be able to use their rights earned by four long years of bloodshed, and not be dampened by the courts. But the court overlooked the fact that it was an state law, and not private policy, and deemed the segregation private and thus legal.

Read More
493 Words | 2 Pages

The 14th Amendment right to equal protection as recognized under Baker v Carr designed on the surface to ensure fair participation in the democratic process, however, it is more so a check on the majority. As Baker v Carr introduces, the 14th Amendment does not cover all types of discrimination. For example, discrimination by the means of improper districting of a state, intentional or not, is not covered by the Constitution. However, what the 14th Amendment does do effectively is put a check on the majority will through rights. The majority rules and the only way to prevent this is through rights, which dictate what people are and are not allowed to do.

Read More
1087 Words | 5 Pages

The year was 1955 when fourteen year old Emmett Till was murdered in cold blood by Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. Emmett was born on July 25, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois to Mamie and Louis Till. He was spending the summer in Money, Mississippi with his extended family after relentlessly begging his mother for hours on end, until she finally agreed to the proposition. Mamie warned Emmett to be careful of the way he acted in Mississippi, because she knew how racially segregated it was due to the Jim Crow laws that were passed in the south at the time. It all started three days after arriving in Money with his uncle Moses Wright and multiple cousins.

Read More
721 Words | 3 Pages

The Brown decision reversed the separate but equal doctrine established by the Plessy decision. Forming the 14th amendment guaranteeing equal protection under the law, and the Court ruled that separate facilities based on race was unequal. This law and the Brown case were significant when fighting the rights of Hernandez because it labeled Mexican Americans as minority

Read More
1551 Words | 7 Pages

For nearly a century, the United States was occupied by the racial segregation of black and white people. The constitutionality of this “separation of humans into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life” had not been decided until a deliberate provocation to the law was made. The goal of this test was to have a mulatto, someone of mixed blood, defy the segregated train car law and raise a dispute on the fairness of being categorized as colored or not. This test went down in history as Plessy v. Ferguson, a planned challenge to the law during a period ruled by Jim Crow laws and the idea of “separate but equal” without equality for African Americans. This challenge forced the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of segregation, and in result of the case, caused the nation to have split opinions of support and

Read More
681 Words | 3 Pages

Davis, 426 U.S. 299 (1976) in which the Court decided that an action would not be deemed unconstitutional solely because it results in a racially disproportionate impact, the court held that in order to show a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, proof of racially discriminatory intent or purpose is required. 2.) However, the Court held that an official decision resulting in an unequal impact on any group may provide a starting point, if the burden of proof that discriminatory purpose was a motivating factor in the decision, and a clear pattern of disproportionate impact, which can only be explained by discriminatory intent, is present. 3.)

Read More
516 Words | 3 Pages

It was a 7 to 1 decision. The decision was that separate but equal was legal as long as no discrimination was shown. They believed that "so long as separate facilities were actually qualitatively equal, the constitution did not prohibit segregation in the view of the majority of the court," as stated in the second

Read More
1634 Words | 7 Pages

Plessy v. Ferguson, argued in 1896, stated that Homer Plessy violated the “Separate Car Act” when he sat in a “white” railway car. According to the government, this law still satisfied the pre-existing doctrine, “Separate But Equal” (Jim Crow Stories). The term “Separate but Equal” justified having separate facilities for different races, as long as both races had the same amount of amenities. According to the government, this did not contradict the 14th Amendment as both races were receiving “equal” access to what claimed to be “equal” services, though white facilities were often better kept than black ones. Plessy was arrested for refusing to get up from a seat reserved for white people, and over time, the controversial case made it to the Supreme Court (American History).

Read More
51 Words | 1 Pages

“The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees an independent constitutional right that similarly situated citizens be treated similarly under the law. Within welfare law, states may not have directly attempted to violate the Equal Protection Clause, but nevertheless created separate rules for its recipients based on gender, socioeconomic status.”

Read More
1147 Words | 5 Pages

Have you ever imagined what it was like for an African American person back in the 1800’s when they were considered “free”? Back then, black people were used as slaves, and they didn’t gain their absolute freedom from slavery until 1865 when it was completely abolished. They gave Africans certain rights that weren’t completely fair. It really makes you question whether black people were really free in that time. When all blacks were released from slavery, what rights did they really have?

Read More
537 Words | 3 Pages

In 1891, a group of concerned young black men of New Orleans immediately formed the “Citizens’ Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law.” They raised money and engaged Albion W. Tourgée, a prominent Radical Republican author and politician, as their lawyer. The poeple involved in this case are the young concerned black men the us government and the states. On May 15, 1892, the Louisiana State Supreme Court decided in favor of the Pullman Company’s claim that the Separate Car Law was unconstitutional. The importance of this case is that In 1883, the Supreme Court finally ruled that the 14th Amendment did not give Congress authority to prevent discrimination by private individuals(Plessy v.

Read More
517 Words | 3 Pages

The scope of Equal Protection under the law today is very broad but it can be described as a phrase in the fourteenth amendment that makes sure all citizens in the United States are equal under the law and are guaranteed the same rights, privileges, and protections no matter race, gender, skin color, etc. This means that no states may pass laws that are unequal or segregate citizens for any reasons. This helps the United States be a safer place to live for all citizens. Equal Protection being used can be seen in various points of history. Equality was the one thing everyone wanted but not everybody had.

Read More

More about Plessy Vs. Ferguson: Racial Injustice In The 14th Amendment

Related Topics

Open Document