The Separate Car Act: Plessy V. Ferguson Of 1896

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quality. This act sparked the test case Plessy v. Ferguson of 1896. Homer Adolph Plessy, who was 1/8th African-American, sat in the whites-only car and was consequently arrested. Plessy’s side argued that the Separate Car Act was a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Yet, the majority ruled that although segregation was separate, it was equal. Therefore, segregation became legal in all states. The ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson was not overturned until 1954 by Brown v. Board of Education. All-white schools did not allow black students to attend, so the NAACP filed a lawsuit on behalf of Linda Brown Smith and 4 others in 1951. Under a unanimous decision, the court declared that separate was not equal and segregation …show more content…

In inspiration of Rosa Park’s actions, many college students took a part of sit-ins for civil rights. “When students refused to leave,” they were denied service and “the police arrested and jailed them,” just like Rosa Parks. They needed to do more, so in 1960, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Community (SNCC) formed. The SNCC would travel to bus stations to peacefully assemble in hopes to desegregate buses. Law enforcement treated them with brutality and denied them their “basic constitutional rights to free speech and peaceful assembly.” In 1963, King organized peaceful marches in Birmingham, but just like all other African American movements, whites responded with violence. The violence of the marches was so brutal, that it finally encouraged, “President John F. Kennedy to propose important civil rights legislation.” In order to push forward a civil rights legislation, “The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom… in August 1963…” This eventually lead to a new civil rights …show more content…

That is why Lincoln believed the birth of a new freedom was necessary: “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Securing the civil rights of African Americans has been a process, which has not reached its end. Supreme Court cases and Civil Rights acts needed to pass in order to guarantee the civil rights of blacks. Racial discrimination, although touched upon, is not fully addressed in these cases and acts. Therefore, I believe that the civil rights of African Americans are still not fully protected. The new birth of freedom has not been reached yet, not until the United States is not divided and everyone is fully equal. Before we reach that freedom, we are at risk of perishing, which is what Abraham Lincoln

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