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History essay civil rights in the USA
History essay civil rights in the USA
The civil rights movement in the U.S.A
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Through his dissenting opinion in the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson, Justice Harlan takes a definitive stance against the laws that deny African Americans equal rights in any form, whether it be through the denial of voting rights or the formation of segregated communities. Harlan was a strong supporter of civil rights for all people, regardless of race. He argued that segregation laws violate the 14th Amendment because the Constitution is “color-blind” and has neither “caste” nor “class”. He also claimed that they encourage the idea that African Americans are both unequal and inferior to whites. Harlan condemned his fellow justices, who composed the majority for the case, for allowing the “seeds of race hate to be planted under the
sanction of a law” and believes that the allowance of such laws will only lead to more racism and racial violence. Through his solitary dissenting opinion, Harlan comments that segregation cannot legally be justified as such laws regulate public accommodations “solely upon the basis of race”, despite the fact that this country supposedly knows “no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens”. In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson specifically, the law up for debate was a Louisiana law that allowed for segregation on railroad cars. Harlan argues that the law in question and many other state segregation laws are “inapplicable” because they were enacted “prior to the adoption of the last amendments to our Constitution”, thus declaring them unconstitutional. Despite Harlan’s dissent , the remainder of the justices formed a majority and ruled that “separate, but equal” facilities were constitutional. Harlan was the only Justice aware of the fact that the “equal” accommodations provided nothing but a “thin disguise” that hides the true extent of oppression that African Americans face and will not “atone for the wrong this day done”.
Colorado Petitioner v. Francis Barry Connelly was a case appealed on October 8, 1986 by the Supreme Court of Colorado and later decided on December 10th, 1986 by the U.S. Supreme Court. The case began in Denver when, without any prompting, Francis Connelly approached police officer Patrick Anderson and claimed he had murdered a young girl named Mary Ann Junta. Before hearing anymore details, Officer Anderson immediately advised Connelly of his Miranda rights. The respondent said that he understood his rights but still wanted to discuss the murder. Officer Anderson asked Connelly several questions, where he denied drinking and taking drugs, but had claimed to be treated for mental illness. Soon after, detective Antuna arrived and Connelly was once again advised of his rights. Connelly claimed that
Throughout history, segregation has always been a part of United States history. This is showed through the relationships between the blacks and whites, the whites had a master-slave relationship and the blacks had a slave-master relationship. And this is also true after the civil war, when the blacks attained rights! Even though they had obtained rights the whites were always one step above them and lead superiority over them continuously. This is true in the Supreme court case “Plessy v. Ferguson”. The Court case ruled that blacks and whites had to have separate facilities and it was only constitutional if the facilities were equal. this means that they also constituted that this was not a violation of the 13th and 14th amendment because they weren 't considered slaves and had “equal” facilities even though they were separate. Even if the Supreme court case “Plessy v. Ferguson” set the precedent that separate but equal was correct, I would disagree with that precedent, because they interpreted
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.
Lynch vs. Clarke (1844) was the most important case before the passage of the Fourteenth amendment dealing with this matter. It involved the discussion of whether Julia Lynch was a citizen or not. The nature of this case meant that she must either have been born a natural born citizen because she was born to her parents, that although were aliens, on U.S. soil, or that she was not a citizen at all because her parents were aliens regardless of the place of her birth that she had never made any attempt to be naturalized. The court ruled in her favor. The ruling established that under the common law of England, Julia Lunch would be considered a natural born citizen of the U.S., the common law of England formed the basis
The court case of Plessy vs. Ferguson created nationwide controversy in the United States due to the fact that its outcome would ultimately affect every citizen of our country. On Tuesday, June 7th, 1892, Mr. Homer Plessy purchased a first class ticket on the East Louisiana Railroad for a trip from New Orleans to Covington. He then entered a passenger car and took a vacant seat in a coach where white passengers were also sitting. There was another coach assigned to people who weren’t of the white race, but this railroad was a common carrier and was not authorized to discriminate passengers based off of their race. (“Plessy vs. Ferguson, syllabus”).Mr. Plessy was a “Creole of Color”, a person who traces their heritage back to some of the Caribbean, French, and Spanish who settled into Louisiana before it was part of the US (“The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow”). Even though Plessy was only one eighth African American, and could pass for a full white man, still he was threatened to be penalized and ejected from the train if he did not vacate to the non-white coach (“Plessy vs. Ferguson, syllabus). In ...
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
Although the Fourteenth Amendment, when adopted in 1868, gave certain rights to blacks, including citizenship, equal protection of law and other freedoms, African-Americans were considered inferior by whites in this country. In 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson officially made segregation legal, and put “separate but equal” into effect. African-Americans were excluded from hotels, restaurants, theatres and schools. African-Americans had lower paying jobs than did whites. Accumulated frustration led blacks to call for dramatic social change. (Good, 8-10)
Harlan once said, “But in the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.” The state of Louisiana passed a law that required separate railway cars for blacks and whites. It was all based around accommodations being “separate but equal”, meaning that public facilities were split up by races but the place had to serve the same purpose. In 1892, Homer Plessy was one eighth African American and he took a seat in a "whites only" car of a Louisiana train. He refused to move to the car only for blacks and was arrested. I believe that this was unconstitutional because of the 13th and 14th Amendments.
Most people would agree that segregation/racism was and still is an issue in the United States. Both of the cases I will be telling you about issues with the13th and 14th amendments. Two specific cases that are very relevant to what I am talking about are, Homer Plessy vs Fuerguson and Brown vs Board of education. Both of these cases related to each other because the cases had changed the precedent of the other, and the other case changed African American history.
The idea that knowledge is power stands to be the truth when one perfectly examines the flow of the these “arcs” – from Plessy v. Ferguson to Brown v. Board to Affirmative Action; from the GI Bill to the Master Plan to HEA and to Affirmative Action.
Slavery was abolished by the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 and the court decision of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 ruled that “separate but equal” was constitutional, however African Americans living in the Southern United States continued to face racial segregation and injustice for over sixty years (Head). While the law required segregated facilities to be equal, utilities designated for “colored people” were instead vastly inferior. Sadly, African-Americans were forced to endure this segregation in nearly every part of their daily life. Additionally, severe prejudice was directed to the people by whites - the worst of which was done by members of the Ku Klux Klan who often lynched and hanged innocent African-Americans. After sixty years
In the Plessy v. Ferguson case, it connects with the novel To Kill A Mockingbird in many ways. In both of the cases, the white people had more power over the black people and most to all of the white people that lived in that generation disliked the whites very much. People like Atticus would agree in the case of the Plessy v. Ferguson because even though he was white, he had better thoughts about the blacks. He thought that the black should have a say of their side of the story, instead of always jumping to conclusions. With the blacks not having much power or say at all, most of the time the whites never had to fight over of who will win or not.
Justice John Marshall Harlan is a Southerner who defended the rights of African American citizens during the Reconstruction. During the Civil Rights Case of the Reconstruction Era, Justice Harlan defended the fourteen and thirteen amendment and voiced his commitment to equality for African Americans. The amendment states, regarding the rights of colored individuals, that all people of the United States are allowed rights that no state can abridge; “All persons born or naturalized in the United States... are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall… deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person… the equal protection of the laws” (Staff). Regarding the thirteenth amendment, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude... shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (13th Amendment).