The Plessy V. Ferguson Supreme Court Case

To fully comprehend the American Civil Rights Movement, an understanding of the times before 1954 is needed. Only through understanding the history before what is now known as the American Civil Rights Movement can one truly understand the motivations for the peoples need for change. Before the Civil Rights Movement, the American social environment was radically different then the social environment America has today. An important factor to understanding the previous social environment within America is to understand the effects of the Jim Crow system. The Jim Crow system would reinforce the divide among American people based solely upon the colour of someone’s skin. The countries most affected by the Jim Crow system were from the South, which

Ferguson supreme court case. The Plessy v. Ferguson supreme court case would see the laws that enable racial segregation challenged, because of the laws discriminating nature. In the year 1890, the state of Louisiana created a new segregation law called the Separate Car Act. This new law created in Louisiana required “separate railway cars for blacks and whites”, an new addition to the list of segregation laws. An man named Homer Adolph Plessy would challenge this new law of segregation. Plessy himself was “seven – eighths Caucasian”, the one – eighths being of African descent. Although Plessy was only one -eighths of African descent, he was still classified as black under Louisiana law. Plessy’s classification as an African American meant that the Louisiana segregation laws applied to him, meaning under the Separate Car Act, Plessy would be required by law to sit in the coloured train car. Opposing the Louisiana Separate Car Act on June 7, 1892, Plessy purchased a first-class train ticket. This first-class ticket would take Plessy to Covington, Louisiana in a whites-only car “of the East Louisiana Railroad”. Plessy’s plan to oppose the Separate Car Act was known, therefore steps were made to handle the

According to the Supreme Court on May 18, 1896 in a 7 – 1 decision, the state of Louisiana was within its constitutional boundaries. The Supreme Court claimed that the state of Louisiana was within its constitutional rights because of an idea that would be called the separate but equal doctrine. The Supreme Court made it clear the segregation was not a violation of the fourteenth Amendment as long as both parties were treated “equally”. In the case of Plessy and the Separate Car Act, the Supreme Court states that if people of colour are provided their own train car of equal value to travel within, no constitutional rights are violated. In the eyes of the American Supreme Court, segregation was deemed acceptable if the people of colour were treated equally under the law and service. Although both parties of colour are provided “equal” services under the law, this idea of separate but equal is problematic. By Federal law, African America’s were provided the same services as their white counterparts, although they could be segregated. Where this idea of separate but equal become problematic is regarding the quality of the “equal” service