Civil Rights have been challenged over the years. The 14th Amendment was written to reaffirm the privileges and rights and rights of all citizens. It granted all the citizens the “equal protection of the law” no matter what their race. The Plessy vs. Ferguson and Brown vs. Board of Education are both court cases that used the Fourteenth Amendment to make important improvements for civil rights.
The Plessy v. Ferguson case started because of the Louisiana Separate Car Act. This act required African Americans and whites to sit in segregated compartments in carriers in the state of Louisiana. (Sound smart: Plessy vs. Ferguson, Yohuru Williams) In 1890 this case adopted a law providing “equal but separate accommodations for the white and
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Ferguson case was seven to one the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ferguson. The majority didn’t like Plessy’s argument about the fourteenth and thirteen Amendment. (Summary of Decision)
The main point of the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson was to show that Ferguson was violating Plessy’s civil rights. The fact they segregated whites and African Americans on the cars was a violation of the Fourteenth and Thirteenth Amendments. The Fourteenth Amendment states that all people are equal and that is not what Ferguson was doing. Ferguson was separating people based on their race and this made it seem that African- Americans are below whites and do not deserve the same privileges. (Summary of decision: Plessy vs. Ferguson)
The case Brown vs. Board of Education was about schools and how they were segregated by race. Every day two girls Linda Brown and her sister would walk to their bus stop but they would have to walk through a dangerous railroad switch yard. Well one day there was a school closer to the Browns house but only for white kids only. (PBS; Expanding Civil Rights) Linda’s family believed that the segregated school system violated the Fourteenth amendment. The Brown family did take this to court but the Federal district court did say it was harmful to black children but they said it was still legal because transportation, schools, teachers, and other things are the