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Plessy Vs Ferguson Essay

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Plessy v. Ferguson was a tremendously monumental case for its time. Nearly 30 years after the civil war and the end of slavery, segregation was the new racial problem. Schools, churches, hospitals, and even restaurants were being segregated. Homer Plessy, a man that was one-eighth black, decided to take action. His act of “civil disobedience” was refusing to leave his seat in the white portion of a segregated Louisiana train. Plessy was arrested and then tried before Judge Ferguson in a New Orleans court. Ferguson upheld the state law that legalized “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races” on trains (Plessy v. Ferguson- History). Plessy argued that this violated his 13th and 14th amendment rights and the case was taken to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1896, the Supreme Court decided in a 7-1 vote that the state-imposed segregation law was in fact constitutional and that it didn’t violate the equal protection laws of the 14th Amendment (Plessy v. Ferguson- Oyez). Justice Henry Billings Brown argued that the 14th amendment was only securing the legal equality of African Americans and not the social equality (Plessy v. Ferguson- Britanica) basically saying that “segregation does not in itself constitute unlawful discrimination” (Plessy v. Ferguson- Oyez). …show more content…

Through separate but equal, almost every public place became highly segregated. At first it was just a social standard but the it became law in some areas. These laws were known as “Jim Crow Laws” (Jim Crow Laws and Racial Segregation). Marriage between blacks and whites was illegal in some states and in others it was “unlawful for a negro and a white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers” (Separate Is Not Equal). Some areas had signs made to say “Whites Only”, “Colored Waiting Room”, and in many places “No Colored

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Plessy v Fergusen was yet another court case where “separate but equal” was not implementing equality. It showed that they still thought of Black men and women as being less and not deserving the same rights as the White men. Homer Plessy was a free man, that was mainly White and because of a percentage he had of being Black he was treated as a Black man. He tried to sit in the train car of the White men and much like Rosa Parks was asked to go to the back where the Black men belonged in a different car. This case resulted in the Supreme Court defending the decision of the East Louisiana Railroad stating that they weren't violating any law by the ruling they had.

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Plesssy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of education both dealt with one of America 's biggest problems segregation. Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education both delt with segregation, Plessy v. Ferguson was on the Louisiana rail road act, Brown v. Board of Education was on the separate but equal clause, and they were both related. In Plessy v. Ferguson was a dispute between on Louisiana rail road act which made it illegal for whites and blacks to sit together in a rail car. Homer Plessy was a man who severed as the vice president for the Justice, Protective, Educational and Social Club in New Orleans.

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Case Brief - Plessy v. Ferguson Homer A. Plessy v. John H. Ferguson was a US Supreme Court case between Homer Plessy, the plaintiff, and John Ferguson, the defendant. The year this case took was place was 18961. This case almost entirely deals with the Louisiana Law passed six years prior that provided “equal but separate” railway carriages for white and colored races. The constitutionality of this law was brought into this case as Homer Plessy, who refused to sit in the colored only rail car, argued it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

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After purchasing a first class ticket on the East Louisiana Railroad, Plessy took his spot in the “whites only” car. Despite protesting, Plessy was kicked out of the train after refusing to move the the colored section. Because he had broken Louisiana law, Plessy was then jailed for the night before posting bail. After being convicted of violating the law, Plessy petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States. Here, Plessy legally fought against segregation.

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The Plessy v. Ferguson case is another example of segregation. In 1892, a black shoemaker named Homer Plessy was jailed for riding in a “white” car in Louisiana. Plessy was considered a Creole of Color because his ancestors traced back to French, Spanish, and Caribbean settlers of Louisiana. The case arose from resentment among black and Creole residents of Louisiana. He went up against the state of Louisiana saying that the Separate Car Act violated the 13th and 14th amendments.

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To understand the question, focusing on the court cases of Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, we must first understand each court case on its own. Plessy v. Ferguson resulted in the year 1896. The case involved the 1890s Louisiana law that basically stated that there were separate railway carriages that were specifically labeled for blacks only and whites only. Plessy v. Ferguson involved Homer Plessy, who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth black and appeared to look like a white man. Plessy took an open seat in a white only railway car.

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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.

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Plessy v. Ferguson The Supreme Court of Plessy v. Ferguson, argued on April 13, 1896, involved a man identified as Homer Adolph Plessy. Plessy was a man of seven - eighths Caucasian and one - eighths of African descent in the State of Louisiana who was denied to sit in a passenger train car reserved for “whites only.” The case questioned the Supreme Court whether Louisiana’s law mandating racial segregation infringes the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

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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

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Plessy v. Ferguson (1896, 163 US 537) For centuries people of African descent have suffered of inhumane treatment, discrimination, racism, and segregation. Although in the United States, and in other countries, mistreatment and marginalization towards African descendants has stopped, the racism and discriminations has not.

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In this case it 's shows you the phrase separated but equal really did more of the separate but not equal. They made it to were they were two separate fountains or bathrooms one for whites and one for blacks. All though they finally had got somewhere the blacks were still treated as if they were trash. For a long time it was like this, were even if they said it was equal it still was not. And In 1883, the Supreme Court struck down the 1875 act, ruling that the 14th Amendment did not give Congress authority to prevent discrimination by private individuals.

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Ferguson” written in 1896 by Mr. Justice Brown grotesquely discriminated against people of color and attempted to justify it using the 14th Amendment as a loophole for blatant racism. The document was written following the civil war in the southern state of Louisiana. The southern United States still had a rather old fashioned way of thinking towards equality and was not happy with the outcome of the Civil War years after its settlements. Racism against people of color was still heavily favored because they were still viewed as inhumane, and unworthy of equal treatment. The essential basis of the document “Plessy v. Ferguson” reinstates laws concerning the accommodations of railways for “colored people” and whites.

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A free person of color named Homer Plessy was able to sue Louisiana's law for being unconstitutional after boarding a train car made for white people only. Plessy resisted again Jim Crow segregation by doing what seemed right and suing Louisiana law. According to the text it states "The following year, Homer Plessy, a free person of color, was arrested in New Orleans for boarding a train car reserved for white passengers. He sued claiming that Louisiana's law was unconstitutional. In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that it was acceptable to have separate facilities for Black and white people as long as those facilities were equal"This type of resistance is effective because it makes changes.

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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).

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In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that segregation does not constitute unlawful discrimination. Previously, the state of Louisiana had established a law that required separate railway cars for white and black people. Homer Adolph Plessy, who was seven-eighths white, took a seat in a "whites only" car of a Louisiana train. He refused to move to the car reserved for blacks and was arrested. The Supreme Court decided that Louisiana state law is within constitutional boundaries.

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