ipl-logo

Research Paper On Plessy V Ferguson Trial

1638 Words7 Pages

Plessy Against The Court

Think of a time when people were separated by the way they looked and the way they were born. During the twentieth century, many African Americans were discriminated because of their race and were separated from others in many ways. Others would determine where they belonged in society by the color of their skin. At this time, state legislatures promoted an act called the “Separate Car-Act” supporting that the 13th and 14th Amendment do not count against transportation separation. A man named Homer Plessy tested how far it takes to change the way the South is controlled. It is evident that the “Plessy V. Ferguson” trial is directly caused by Plessy's actions.

To start, the “Plessy V. Ferguson” trial is directly caused by Plessy's original intentions on the train. Homer Plessy was able to buy a train ticket for only Caucasians. Since Plessy was seven-eighths Caucasian and only one-eighths African American, he was able to pass through as Caucasian. Plessy was asked to move out of the train seat, but when asked he heavily refused the officer. Dawn M. Sherman, in his American History journal article, “ Plessy V. Ferguson,” explains that Homer “On June 7, 1892, Homer …show more content…

Ferguson” trial played a huge role in changing American History. The trial showed how corrupt the state laws were but also showed how corrupt the court was run as well. After the trial ended, it was able to give hope to many different americans to be able to change the way we treat one another as a whole instead of the way we look. It affected the way laws were formed and how the court was able to prosecute someone not based on the color of their skin. Even though the trial was not on a huge global scale of an issue, it was truly the push that set off a wild fire for change in the near future of America. Clearly, the trial played a huge role in changing history as it used to be and changed many discrimination laws against African

Show More
Related
265 Words | 2 Pages

The Abbott case however didn't apply to intrastate commerce, travel that is entirely inside the borders of Louisiana, so Martimet and Tourgée began to look for yet another lighter skinned black to test the law. In the end they found Homer Plessy, a member of the citizens' committee that raised the money for the original case. Plessy walked into Press Street Depot on June 7, 1892 and bought a first class ticket to Covington, he boarded the East Louisiana Railroad train. As the train preceded to pull away a conductor approached Plessy and asked if he was a colored man. Plessy told the man he was and was asked to move to the colored car, but Plessy refused to do so.

Read More
355 Words | 2 Pages

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

Read More
416 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
552 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
654 Words | 3 Pages

The Scottsboro Case: The Landmark Case and Its Impact on Capital Punishment The Scottsboro Case was a huge injustice and was deemed the most significant case on fighting racism in southern courtrooms and capital punishment. This case had numerous mistakes by prosecutors, witnesses, jurors, etc. It illustrates how race impacted the outcomes of many court cases dating back to the 1930s.

Read More
688 Words | 3 Pages

Plessy vs. Ferguson, one of the bigger cases in the turning point for rights, gave the black community a big boost forward. There was a man named Homer Adoph Plessy that had a problem with the way things were going at the time and he wanted equal rights. But there was another man named John Ferguson who thought that everything was just skippy. They went to court to settle their quarrel.

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
1146 Words | 5 Pages

Short Essays Identify and give the significance of Plessy v. Ferguson In 1892, even though slavery has ended but there are still racial discrimination in the society. Homer Plessy sat in the railroad car that for only for “white”. Even though he is not fully black but he has some ancestors from France and Spain, he was consider Creole and has to sit in the area for “colored”. He did not move when he was told too.

Read More
1519 Words | 7 Pages

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).

Read More
555 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1221 Words | 5 Pages

Plessy’s case would be heard at the District Court. Plessy's side argued “That the law requiring “separate but equal accommodations” was unconstitutional” (Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). However, when it came time for the verdict, Judge John H. Ferguson ruled against Plessy. This wouldn't be the final verdict Homer Plessy was willing to accept, so he filed for a Writ of Prohibition and Certiorari. These would both be granted, and his appeal would be headed to the Supreme Court.

Read More
669 Words | 3 Pages

One of the most important cases about Jim Crow Laws was Plessy v. Ferguson. Plessy v. Ferguson was one of the most problematic Supreme Court cases. The case was brought up by Homer Plessy, who had been arrested for sitting in a “whites-only” part of a train. He claimed that this violated his 13th amendment rights. However, the court ruled that racial segregation did not violate the United States Constitution, as although

Read More
1146 Words | 5 Pages

In the early 1930s, a group of African American boys were accused of raping two women aboard a train in southern Alabama being called the “Scottsboro Boys.” The boys were not given a fair trial because of the racial injustice in the south during this time. The trial was even brought to the supreme court which would help overturn the verdicts in favor of the boys. This trial was extremely significant because it really brought to light the racial injustice and inequality present during this time, especially in the legal system, as well as being a kind of spark for the civil rights movement in America.

Read More
1972 Words | 8 Pages

This case was extremely important and made is so children of all races could attend the same schools. This decision affected the Criminal Justice system as well as society as a whole and allows people to live they way they do

Read More
960 Words | 4 Pages

Without this case, we would not be where we are today. It shaped the United States completely as a whole. It was the first time something regarding race was put a lot

Read More

More about Research Paper On Plessy V Ferguson Trial

Related Topics

Open Document