Summary Of The Plessy Vs. Ferguson Court Case

The Plessy vs Ferguson court case originated in 1892. On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in a white car of a Louisiana train. Despite his white complexion, Plessy was considered to be “octoroon” which meant that he was 7/8 white and 1/8 black. Plessy intentionally sat on the white car and announced himself a black. Plessy challenged the separate car act which required that all railroads operating in the state provide “equal but separate accommodations” for White and African-American passengers and prohibited passengers from entering accommodations other than those to which they had been assigned on the basis of their race. Plessy sued the state of Louisiana because he felt that the rights given to him by the 13th and 14th amendments were being violated. In fact, all African-Americans’ rights were being violated in many southern states. Jim Crow laws prevented all African-Americans from attending schools with whites, serving as barbers for white women or girls, being in the same ward or room with a female nurse in a hospital and more discriminating laws that deprived African-Americans of their given rights. The lawsuit was planned by an unnamed black civil rights organization. Plessy would sit in the White compartment of the train and announce himself a black. Plessy would then be arrested which would

Laws were passed that denied African-Americans their right to vote, excluded them from using public transportation, excluded them from playing sports or attending sporting events, and even prevented them from playing checkers with Whites. The decision divided American society in two which in turn hindered the struggle for equal rights by doing so. The Plessy v Ferguson decision set back racial relations, increased oppression rates within the many African-American communities, and subsequently authorized more than fifty years worth of “legal”