Title of Your Report
Plessy vs. segregation: His loss set off a chain reaction that he could not have seen coming. Homer Plessy, a man of mixed race, was arrested for riding on the white side half of a segregated train car. Plessy takes this arrest to court and later supreme court where the arrest is upheld. The Plessy vs. Ferguson case helped support the argument that laws that segregated public places should be upheld due to the final verdict of the case showing the justice of “Separate but equal”.
The Social Environment of the 1950s was extremely volatile. Much of the violence is due to Jim Crow Laws, which “segregated whites and blacks ”(Carson and Bonk). Jim Crow laws were made to counter the emancipation proclamation. The laws caused good relations between blacks and whites to be hard to develop. Reconstruction had gone under way as the South had been defeated and the emancipation proclamation was instated. Northern troops occupied southern lands and help secure the area during reconstruction. The moment the North pulled its troops from the South, the South began to try to reinstate segregation laws such as Jim Crow laws.
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The Decision of the jury had seemed very biased as they were comprised of only white men, most of which were former slave owners.
Jury’s final statements were in favor of the law being upheld and the supreme court convicting Plessy marked the loss of Plessy’s final chance of winning the case. The lone dissenter’s,Supreme Court judge and former slave owner John Marshall, statement attempted in vain to prove the error in the majority's decision. John Marshall Stated that “Our Constitution is color-blind ... In respect of civil rights all citizens are equal before the law” as a final statement for why he chose to side with
plessy. The aftermath of the case had a heavy effect on later cases that tried to challenge Segregation laws. Especially laws that Segregated Public Facilities were being upheld even more. The doctrine “separate but equal” was used even more often as a reason public places were segregated. It was known that ”The doctrine was a fiction, as facilities for blacks were always inferior to those for whites”(Wormser). Also Jim Crow Laws begin spread across the south even more. The case was used to legitimize the enforcement of more Jim crow laws and Jim crow laws thrive until a series of cases began to overturn the laws in 1954. In Conclusion the plessy vs. Ferguson case helped support the argument that laws that segregated public places should be upheld due to the final verdict of the case allegedly showing the justice of “Separate but equal”. Plessy himself, after the loss in courts, served his time and faded into obscurity. Through white ruled courts laws like jim crow laws continued to be upheld for tens of years. This case being lost was one of the many times that the south tried to revert to the days of slavery. Although plessy lost his supreme court case by a pretty large margin there was at least one person who could see the error in the decision.
In 1896, the Supreme Court was introduced with a case that not only tested both levels of government, state and federal, but also helped further establish a precedent that it was built off of. This court case is commonly known as the case that confirmed the doctrine “separate but equal”. This doctrine is a crucial part of our Constitution and more importantly, our history. This court case involved the analysis of amendments, laws, and divisions of power. Plessy v. Ferguson was a significant court case in U.S history because it was shaped by federalism and precedent, which were two key components that were further established and clarified as a result of the Supreme Court’s final decision.
The Plessy v Ferguson case would be overturned, ruling the “separate but equal” law to be unconstitutional. Melba Beals was in school that day and was sent home early with the warning to hurry and stay in groups. Even so, it had been decades since the passing of the Fourteenth Amendment. No much had changed. Melba’s teacher knew that this ruling would cause rage among the citizens of Little Rock and she was right.
Throughout American History, many minorities have fallen victim to cruel discrimination and inequality, African Americans were one of such minorities that greatly suffered from the white majority’s upper hand. After the end of the Civil War and the Reconstruction period following it, many people, especially the Southern population, were extremely against African Americans obtaining equal rights in the American society. Due to this, these opponents did everything in their power to limit and even fully strip African Americans of their rights. The Supreme Court case of Plessy v Ferguson in 1896 is an excellent example of the obstacles put forth by the white population against their black counterparts in their long and arduous fight for civil liberty and equality. Even though the court upheld the discriminatory Louisiana law with an 8-1 decision, John Marshall Harlan’s dissent in the case played a significant role in the history of the United States for it predicted all the injustice African Americans would be forced to undergo for many more years, mainly due to this landmark decision.
Plessy v. Ferguson was the first major inquiry into the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal-protection clause, which prohibits states from denying equal protection of the laws to any person within their jurisdictions. Although the majority opinion did not contain the phrase separate but equal, it gave constitutional sanction to laws designed to achieve racial segregation by means of separate and supposedly equal public facilities and services for African Americans and whites. It served as a controlling judicial precedent until it was overturned by the ...
Homer Plessy vs. the Honorable John H. Ferguson ignited the spark in our nation that ultimately led to the desegregation of our schools, which is shown in the equality of education that is given to all races across the country today. “The Plessy decision set the precedent that ‘separate’ facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional as long as they were ‘equal’” (“The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow”). The case of Plessy vs. Ferguson not only illuminated the racial inequality within our education system, but also brought to light how the standard of ‘separate but equal’ affected every aspect of African American lives.
The 1950s created an environment and culture that allowed for the beginning of a wide-scale civil rights movement because of prominent leaders in the black community, the death of Emmett Till, and the Brown vs. Board of Education decision.
Because of the 13th and 14th Amendments freeing slaves and granting equal protection under the law grants Jon the same rights to ride the train as any other citizen. Santa Clara County v. Southern Public Railroad, Even though the case was not about the 14th Amendment, Justice Morrison Remick Waite made it so by arguing that corporations must comply with the 14th Amendment. Santa Clara County v. Southern Public Railroad, 118 U.S. 394 (1886). Plessy v. Ferguson, Homer Plessy sat in a whites-only train car, he was asked to move to the car reserved for blacks, because state law mandated segregation. The court held that segregation is not necessarily unlawful discrimination as long as the races are treated equally. The impact of Plessy was to relegate blacks to second-class citizenship. Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). However, this is not equal
The Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) ‘equal but separate’ decision robbed it of its meaning and confirmed this wasn’t the case as the court indicated this ruling did not violate black citizenship and did not imply superior and inferior treatment ,but it indeed did as it openly permitted racial discrimination in a landmark decision of a 8-1 majority ruling, it being said was controversial, as white schools and facilities received near to more than double funding than black facilities negatively contradicted the movement previous efforts on equality and maintaining that oppression on
In the 1950s, America was viewed as one the strongest nations in the World. America established itself as a strong military super power and dominate country in World War II. The effects of World War II carried over in the 1950s, America saw a lot of economic growth, there was an increase in the amount of people who moved to the suburbs, and the baby boom which came about because of the millions of soldiers returning home from military services. Even though this seemed like a happy time, there was still a thick tension in America. This tension was between African-Americans and white Americans. In 1865, the thirteenth amendment was passed which abolished slavery. Even though this occurred, white people still felt that African-American were inferior to them so they treated them accordingly. Society functioned around this principle and as a result, segregation was created. Some of the things that arose from segregation were that blacks were not allowed in certain places, they received an education in old schools that taught from raggedy or out dated textbooks, and they had to move to the back of the bus when a white person needed a seat or wanted a seat in the front. This lead to social reform and a civil rights movement. “There was a feeling of unfulfilled ambitions and expectations among many blacks” (Marble 37). African-Americans wanted an end to segregation and wanted equal rights, equal treatment, and equal opportunities. One of the steps they made into doing this was breaking color barriers. One area of the color barrier in America that African-Americans were starting to break down was the one placed on football. African-American football players in the 1950s had to endure a strong amount of racial discrimination, however their ...
Ferguson trial was a court case about a black man by the name of Homer Adolph Plessy. He was arrested for refusing to not ride in the ‘colored’ railway coach. Plessy had enough of the segregation so he decided to sit up in the white coach. However, it didn’t go well for him and he was arrested. On February 23, 1869, the Louisiana legislature passed a law prohibiting segregation on public transportation. The Government used the term ‘separate but equal’ as an excuse for not letting the blacks sit up with the whites. The supreme court case of Plessy v. Ferguson upheld a ‘separate but equal’ doctrine. “Laws permitting, and even requiring, their separation in places where they are liable to be brought into contract do not necessarily imply the inferiority of either race to the other. (Plessy v. Ferguson). So the blacks and white were now equal, but they couldn’t be together. The government said that the everything was equal when the school that the black children were in had old textbooks when the white school had new textbooks. The blacks and whites were separate but not so much
The request for an injunction pushed the court to make a difficult decision. On one hand, the judges agreed with the Browns; saying that: “Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children...A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn” (The National Center For Public Research). On the other hand, the precedent of Plessy v. Ferguson allowed separate but equal school systems for blacks and whites, and no Supreme Court ruling had overturned Plessy yet. Be...
Plessy vs Ferguson was a case in which it stated a precedent. In 1892, an African American named Homer Plessy did not give up his seat to a white man("HISTORY OF BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION"). He then got arrested and taken to jail. Plessy than went to the Supreme Court to argue that his Fourteenth Amendment was violated. However, the Supreme Court ruled against Plessy and set the precedent that “separate but equal” is really equal("HISTORY OF BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION") .
Even though laws like this undermined multiple amendments they were overlooked by the supreme court after the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. The Plessy v. Ferguson case happened when Homer Plessy sat deliberately in the white car after Louisiana passed their Separate Car Act. He was only ⅛ black but under Louisiana law that was enough to be legally black. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court and Plessy’s lawyer argued that the Separat...
In the 50s, race had hit its peak, when black people had no freedom and there was no justice, racial segregation was the highlight of all, when black people were forced out of white schools, which made them have to open up schools that had nothing. Soon enough black schools started closing down, the Klu Klux Clan emerge...
The impact that race had on individuals throughout American history is clear. The role race had on social and political relations were nothing but negative and struggled to make positive progression. Starting from the last 1800s, the recognition that, for example, blacks were unfairly treated and seen as unequal was newly acted upon. From the early years of being seen as just economically useful, the feelings of blacks were overlooked and almost irrelevant to the leaders of society. One of the first displays of action against this discrimination is shown in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. While being the victim of segregation in the south as a black man, Homer Plessy challenged the courts when he directly acted against the laws separating whites and blacks by being a passenger on a white-only train. The outcome, however, directly meant nothing, leading to the legalization of segregation laws stating that the separate but equal laws didn’t imply inferiority. The decision made in Plessy v. Ferguson was an immediate disaster for racial relations in the US, but you can only push people so far until they finally snap.