Compare And Contrast Plessy Vs Ferguson And Brown Vs Board Of Education

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The Road to Ending Institutional Racism in America The road to end institutional racism in America was rocky, to say the least. It was filled with many setbacks, and triumphant victories that would shape the course of American history. Two court cases in particular, Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, played a significant role in challenging Americas “separate but equal” doctrine. The ruling and precedent first set by Plessy v. Ferguson, was then challenged by Brown v. Board of Education, resulting in them relating to each other based on a changed precedent. The first time separate but equal laws were scrutinized was in 1892. On the afternoon of June 7th, 1892, Homer Plessy, a shoemaker from Louisiana, …show more content…

Some of his and Justice John Harlan's arguments, laid the groundwork for future actions against an oppressive government. Oliver Brown used many of the same arguments as Homer Plessy, such as stating that separate but equal doctrine was unconstitutional because it violated the plaintiffs 13th and 14th amendment rights. While these arguments were before unsuccessful in Plessy v. Ferguson, they were later successfully backed up by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, overruling the earlier set precedent. After the separate but equal precedent was over ruled, separate but equal school facilities were forced to be integrated. Long before this groundbreaking ruling, Justice John Harlan thought that the U.S. constitution should be “color-blind”, and his dreams were one step closer, though he was not there to see it. Both court cases, Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, showed the power that ordinary people with a dream can hold over an unjust society. First Plessy v. Ferguson challenged Americas separate but equal doctrine but failed to do so successfully, prompting the case Brown v. Board of education which successfully overruled the previous precedent, relating the two cases to one another. The eventual success of the people involved in the cases opened the door for substantial changes in American