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History grade 12 civil rights movement
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Plessy v. ferguson case full document
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The Supreme Court ruling of the court case Plessy vs. Ferguson and W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Black Codes determined the meaning of equality in similar ways. The Black Codes had full intentions to deprive any African American from gaining freedom. In addition, the verdict in the Plessy case interpreted the meaning of the 14th Amendment to justify that “separate is equal” (U.S. Const. amend. XIV.). By examining the dehumanizing language in both the court case and the article, it becomes clear that certain language is used to justify segregation, which negatively impacted African Americans because it categorized them and made an “inferior” race. This is significant because it creates division among people by socially making race a classification thus, leading to social tensions. …show more content…
The Black Codes was deliberately designed to stretch the limit of segregation of colored men from the white race.
Under the Black Codes men of color experienced misfortunes as they simply had no rights. Men of color were labeled as “laborers.” The white men who contracted a “laborer” were referred to as their “masters,” and by giving labels, this produce a social structure between the two races. Even as they were making money as a “laborer,” they faced unethical working conditions such as working, “ten hours during the day in summer, and nine hours during the day in winter” (Du Bois 1860). The colored men have also been imposed with unreasonable fines from missing time from work, “being disobedient,” “failing to obey orders,” and more (Du Bois 1860). Masters were also given the right to “moderately” whip servants who are under the age of 18, but no where in the Black Codes does it state what is considered “moderate.” The Black Codes also fail to produce reasonings why a master would be allowed to whip their
servants. According to the Black Codes, when a colored man tries to put a white man on trial, they would face difficulties trying to appeal to a jury who would only believe the words coming out of a white man. In the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson, Homer Plessy, a mulatto, challenged the legal boundaries of the racial system by purchasing a ticket to a free state and then appealed to the Supreme Court of Louisiana upon conviction. Justice Brown argues that “men are distinguished from the other race by color;” this statement is ironic because regardless of the fact that Plessy’s physical skin color was fair enough to pass as a white man, the ruling against Plessy still did not distinguish him by his color (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896). Similar to the Black Codes, a man of color was allowed to be fined up to 50 dollars, but a white man would only be fined “at the discretion of the court” (Du Bois 1860). Plessy vs. Ferguson and the Black Codes both show the disadvantages a man of color faced when they went to trial. Justice Brown also believes that the 13th Amendment was not violated upon differentiating races because he views race as separate. In contrast to his belief, he accepts the idea of the white race having the right of action as their property as he is “unable to see” how a man of color has been “deprived of property” (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896). The men of color were simply seen as a merchandise because as previously defined in the 13th Amendment, slavery meant serving someone unwillingly with the absence of their own rights to their properties (U.S. Const. amend. XIII.). Furthermore, Brown argues that racial tensions would not clearly disappear even after “the commingling of the two races” because even if the segregation law is proscribed it will not automatically change the minds of the people towards a man of color (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896). Even after the attention garnered by the case and the article, the legislation could still not manage to control racial tensions. States continued to reconstruct the laws that hindered equal opportunities for men of color and secured their position in the labor force. Also, the men of color continued to be classified as people lower in rank, status, and wealth when compared to the white race. The laws that stigmatized any men of color faced legal objections until the landmark decision made in Brown vs. Board of Education that overturned the ruling made in Plessy vs. Ferguson.
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.
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.
However, this is not an equal treatment. The legal analysis of the school segregation should have been in complete violation of the 13th and 14th Amendment, but because of the Plessy case, segregation was unfairly accepted. Jon looks to the future to be positive for African Americans. Because of Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, African Americans would finally get away from the tyranny they faced and end segregation. It is unfortunate that the African American people were still mistreated after the enactment of the 13th and 14th Amendments.
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
“Simple Justice” was written by Richard Kluger and reviews the history of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregation, and African America’s century-long struggle for equality under law. It began with the inequities of slavery to freedom bells to the forcing of integration in schools and the roots of laws with affect on African Americans. This story reveals the hate caused the disparagement of African Americans in America over three hundred years. I learned how African Americans were ultimately acknowledged by their simple justice. The American version of the holocaust was presented in the story. In 1954 the different between how segregation and slavery were not in fashion when compared with dishonesty of how educating African American are separate from Caucasian was justified by the various branches of government.
Lasting hatred from the civil war, and anger towards minorities because they took jobs in the north probably set the foundation for these laws, but it has become difficult to prove. In this essay, I will explain how the Separate but Equal Laws of twentieth century America crippled minorities of that time period forever. Separate but Equal doctrine existed long before the Supreme Court accepted it into law, and on multiple occasions it arose as an issue before then. In 1865, southern states passed laws called “Black Codes,” which created restrictions on the freed African Americans in the South. This became the start of legal segregation as juries couldn’t have African Americans, public schools became segregated, and African Americans had restrictions on testifying against majorities.
The ones that did work had hours, duties, and types of jobs dictated to them. Codes were also developed to restrict blacks from becoming successful. They discouraged owning and selling property, and raising and selling their own crops. Blacks were often prohibited from entering town without written permission from a white employer. A black man found after 10 p.m. without a note could be arrested.
to sit in a Jim Crow car, which was a car reserved for blacks only. Though Plessy was
Toward the end of the Progressive Era American social inequality had stripped African Americans of their rights on a local and national level. In the 1896 Supreme Court case of Plessey vs. Ferguson, the Supreme Court sided with a Louisiana state law declaring segregation constitutional as long as facilities remain separate but equal. Segregation increased as legal discriminatory laws became enacted by each state but segregated facilities for whites were far superior to those provided for blacks; especially prevalent in the South were discriminatory laws known as Jim Crow laws which surged after the ruling. Such laws allowed for segregation in places such as restaurants, hospitals, parks, recreational areas, bathrooms, schools, transportation, housing, hotels, etc. Measures were taken to disenfranchise African Americans by using intimidation, violence, putting poll taxes, and literacy tests. This nearly eliminated the black vote and its political interests as 90% of the nine million blacks in America lived in the South and 1/3 were illiterate as shown in Ray Stannard Baker’s Following the Color Line (Bailey 667). For example, in Louisiana 130,334 black voters registered in 1896 but that number drastically decreased to a mere 1,342 in 1904—a 99 percent decline (Newman ). Other laws prevented black...
In the 1954 court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of schools was unconstitutional and violated the Fourteenth Amendment (Justia, n.d.). During the discussion, the separate but equal ruling in 1896 from Plessy v. Ferguson was found to cause black students to feel inferior because white schools were the superior of the two. Furthermore, the ruling states that black students missed out on opportunities that could be provided under a system of desegregation (Justia, n.d.). So the process of classification and how to balance schools according to race began to take place.
Thank you for your consideration, gentlemen of the jury, on this exceedingly significant matter. Gentlemen, why should you, with the responsibility of this man’s fate lying in your hands, imprison and execute him when the law itself from the “knowledge of understanding,” the exact law that you have vowed upon, states that it is a hazardous thing to do? Why should you convict a human being upon misleading evidence which the law itself states is a precarious deed to act upon? Gentlemen of the jury, please reflect upon this, “How do people come up with a date and time to take life from another man?” (Gaines 157). In particular, for a crime that is evident to every individual in this courtroom that the defendant did not commit. How could an individual
Lopsided destitution, and a framework that was furiously separate and anything other than equivalent, consigned the lion's share of southern Black Americans to the rank of peasant. Losing faith in regards to continually understanding the guarantee of genuine opportunity, millions would in the long run join in a Great Migration toward the north. Here there would be occupations and open door for training and accomplishment, however they would clash with a to a great extent white migrant populace, likewise willing to work for survival compensation.
“I have a foolproof method for controlling your black slaves…it will control the slaves for at least 300 years…I take these differences and make them bigger…you must use the dark skin slaves vs. the light skin slaves and the light skin slaves vs. the dark skin slaves. William Lynch 1712¹.” During the time of slavery African Americans were segregated by their white masters based on the color of their skin color. I found out that there were two kinds of slave’s back in the days, the house slaves and the field slaves. Most of the field slaves would have a darker skin tone and would be the ones working outside picking cotto...
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.