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Impact of the Jim Crow laws
Plessy v ferguson pros and cons
Plessy v ferguson pros and cons
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Plessy v Ferguson and its impact on Jim Crow Laws The Citizens’ Committee recruited Homer Plessy to purposefully violate one of Louisiana’s segregation laws. Homer Plessy was arrested in New Orleans due to a violation of the “separate-car law”. He tried to appeal through the state courts to the Supreme Court but he lost. The “separate but equal” decision against him made consequences for civil rights throughout the United States (Homer Plessy). This allowed segregation anywhere in the United States as long as the facility provided for both races was “equal”. The Committee used this tactic in order to get rid of segregation laws in Louisiana. Plessy’s case was heard before Judge John Howard Ferguson a month after his arrest. His lawyer argued that his civil rights were violated; however, Ferguson denied the argument saying the railroad business could set what rules they wanted to. The Supreme Court of Louisiana affirmed Ferguson’s ruling and refused to grant a rehearing for the case, but allowed a petition for writ of error. The United States Supreme Court …show more content…
This was known as the “separate but equal” doctrine which does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, according to the racial segregation (Separate but Equal.). The decision of 1896 strengthened segregation states during the Jim Crow era; this era began in 1876 and restricted the civil rights and liberties of blacks. These laws mandated the segregation of public schools, places, transportation, and of restrooms, restaurants, and even drinking fountains (Jim Crow Laws). Soon, the segregation of public schools was declared unconstitutional in the 1954 court case, Brown v. Board of Education. The remaining Jim Crow laws were overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The “separate but equal” was also overturned by the Brown v. Board of Education case along with many
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.
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, 1896, is a landmark in United States Supreme Court’s decision in the United States, of state laws requiring racial segregation in private businesses, under the doctrine of separate but equal.
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 ...
Rough draft segregation was a terribly unfair law that lasted about a hundred years in the United States. A group of high school students who struggled for better educational conditions were a big factor in ending segregation in the United States. Even though going on strike for better conditions may have negative impacts, African Americans were not treated equally in education because of segregation and the Jim Crow laws were so unfair and the black schools were in terrible condition compared to the whites’. In 1896 the Plessy v. Ferguson case made the segregation of blacks and whites legal; and the Supreme Court made the Jim Crow laws legal, saying that blacks are “separate but equal.” African Americans knew that was unfair and could especially see it in the schools.
They arrested Plessy, who claimed that the law violated his thirteenth and fourteenth amendment rights. When found guilty, he brought the case to the Louisiana State Supreme Court, but they confirmed the court's decision. Plessy then took the case “Plessy v. Ferguson” to the United States Supreme Court; however, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ferguson because they found that the laws attempted to enforce equality before the law, and not in social situations (Harlan 1). This famous case started the official acceptance of separate but equal laws, but what happened because of this? In the first twenty years of the separate Equal Laws being in effect, the various minorities suffered multiple consequences.
A few blacks challenged the system of legal discrimination. In New Orleans, a man named Homer Plessy deliberately defied the Louisiana State law requiring separate rail cars accommodations for blacks and whites. He was arrested and jailed. But the incident led eventually to the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson.
“Separate but equal” facilities should be unconstitutional because it violated the 13th and 14th Amendment and everyone was created equally, so no race should be separated from another race. In my opinion, Homer Plessy never violated any law or did anything that was wrong as well as how “separate but equal” facilities were unconstitutional. Harlan once said, “Everyone knows that the statues in question had its origin in the purpose, not so much to exclude white persons from railroad cars occupied by blacks, as to exclude colored people from coaches occupied by or assigned to white persons. “
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...
The legal segregation in public facilities began with Plessy v. Ferguson court case. This case established “Separate but equal” doctrine. The supreme court stated that racial segregation did not conflict with 14th amendment. It was true that separation occurred in many public places, but the states did not give the equal facilities for
This case was brought to the Supreme Court with Plessey’s argument being that his 13th and 14th Amendments was being violated. But Louisiana argued that the 14th Amendment states that everyone is to be treated equally and that is exactly what happened. They said that the cars were separate but equal and that abided by the Constitution while keeping the Jim Crow laws. The Supreme Court decided that no law was violated and took the state’s side. The Court upheld Plessey’s conviction, and ruled that the 14th Amendment guarantees the right to “equal facilities,” not the “same facilities.” In this ruling, the Supreme Court created the principle of “separate but equal,”(“Judicial Review”,
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
In the court case, Plessy argued that the act violated amendments of the constitution. He argued that it disagreed with the Thirteenth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment. In the Thirteenth Amendment it states that, “ Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment of a crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” The Fourteenth Amendment said that, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the State where in they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law, which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without the due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. During court, John Howard Ferguson was the judge and he declared that the state could choose to regulate railroad companies that operated solely within the state of
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.