Separate But Equal: The Plessy Vs. Ferguson Case

In 1896, the historic ruling of the Plessy versus Ferguson case made by the Supreme Court significantly affected the generations to come. In the case, the Supreme Court made the ruling of “separate but equal.” This was when segregation came out in full force. Despite the amendments made before, the Supreme Court made the decision that African Americans were supposed to be separated from whites in daily life. This included schools, churches, entrances made specifically for one race, and even public transportation was segregated (Brock, “New South”). Even though the ruling was “separate but equal” there was no doubt that the quality between what the whites used, opposed to what the African Americans used, were very different. And in every instance,

These laws were mainly prominent in the south and originated from the notorious Black Codes, and enforced racial segregation. Many of the laws had to do with voting and was meant to keep African Americans from gaining political power (Brock, “New South”). Anne Moody experienced segregation throughout her life. Starting at an early age, she noticed that there was something different between how whites were treated opposed to how blacks were. When her mother, Toosweet, was as a domestic worker, Moody entered into the house of Toosweet’s boss and noticed that their kitchen was completely different. Furthermore, Anne ate a dinner with meat which was so out of the ordinary from the usual beans and bread. It was at this point that Anne realized that whites ate differently compared to how she usually. Even more so, Anne had never realized that her mother had the ability to cook so well, because she had never been exposed to that sort of life (Moody, 29). Also, at one point in her life Moody and her siblings made friends with a couple of white kids from their

Emmet Till, 15 years old, was shot and thrown in Tallahatchie River by Roy Bryant and JW Milam after they thought he made sexual advances on Carolyn Bryant. His murder sparked activism as well as fear. People such as Anne Moody had a new fear of being killed only due to their race. This sparked an anger inside Moody, and as she stated, “… I also hated Negroes. I hated them for not standing up and doing something about the murders” (Moody, 136). Moody was just fifteen years old and unlike her mother, she could not let these events go and she couldn’t shake the feeling of desperation and the need that she had to do something. Around the same time, Anne Moody discovers the NAACP, and as she asks her mother what it was, the response she got was to never speak of it. So in retaliation, Moody asks her teacher at the time, Mrs. Rice. Mrs. Rice can be seen as a person who helped Anne along the way to becoming a vigorous activist. However, because Mrs. Rice was teaching these topics to Anne, she was fired at the end of the year (Moody, 133-135). It is understood that higher authority wanted to keep African Americans in the dark. If one were to learn about an organization that’s main goal is to help those in the south against white supremacists, then the organization, such as the NAACP, would gain more momentum and success. Furthermore, around the 1960s when Moody was in high school, there was