African Americans Hester 1
The African American race and the events they have been involved in from 1865- resent day, have single handedly contributed to and shaped the race they are today and the issues they deal with now. There are six specific areas of history that had great impact an effect on shaping African Americans, their culture, the society, and even social status to date. These events include The Civil War, this marked the beginning of freedom for blacks or so they thought. It directly relates to and shows how blacks were given something or promised a way of life but treated completely different. It also sparked all types of injustices one being segregation and the long standing feud between southern and Northern whites.
The
…show more content…
The focus is on racial interactions following Emancipation, the complex relationship between race and class, and how segregation practices varied from state to state.
Thomas, Brook, ed. Plessy vs. Ferguson: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford books 1997
Plessy vs. Ferguson was a case in 1896. Plessy was an African American who refused to sit in the “colored” train car and instead tried to sit in the “white” carriage car. Plessy was of course arrested for violating an 1890 Louisiana Statue that provided for segregated “separate but equal” railroad rules. If you used facilities not delegated for your race you could be held legally liable by the statue of the state.
Plessy was found guilty in a court to of law against Justice John H. Ferguson residing, on the grounds that the law was a reasonable exercise of the states police powers based on custom, usage and tradition in the state. Plessy ended u filing a petition for writs of prohibition in the Supreme Court of Louisiana against Ferguson. Plessy stated that segregation stigmatized blacks and stamped them with a badge of inferiority. The court found for Ferguson and the Supreme Court granted the cert. This is one of the many events that paved the way for things like the civil rights movement.
It put blacks in a state of mind that made them realize they may not be what the Southern whites profess tem to be. It also paved the way for court cases like
In June 1892 Homer A. Plessy bought a first-class ticket on the East Louisiana Railroad and sat in the car designated for whites only. Plessy was of mixed African and European ancestry, and he looked white. Because the Citizens Committee wanted to challenge the segregation law in court, it alerted railroad officials that Plessy would be sitting in the whites only car, even though he was partly of African descent. Plessy was arrested and brought to court for arraignment before Judge John H. Ferguson of the U.S. District Court in Louisiana. Plessy then attempted to halt the trial by suing Ferguson on the grounds that the segregation law was unconstitutional.
African Americans were never treated the same as other Americans. One day a black man who looked white named Homer Plessy got sick of sitting in a Jim Crow car so he decided to purchase a first class ticket in the white’s only section on the train. Plessy told the conductor that he was 1/8 black and he refused to move from the car. Removed from the train Plessy was in jail overnight and was released on a 500 dollar bond. Homer Plessy protested that his 13th and his 14th amendments rights were violated. This case became known as Plessy v. Ferguson. This case upheld the constitutionality of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine.
On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy, a thirty year-old shoemaker bought a first class ticket preparing to travel from New Orleans to Covington, Louisiana. Homer Plessy was something called a “Creole of Color” a phrase used to describe black people in New Orleans that trace their ancestry to the French, the Spanish and the Caribbean settlers. He had a very light colored skin tone and was only one eighth black. Even so, he was required by law to sit in the black section of the train. He boarded the train and sat in the “white” car. (Wormser) The conductor questioned him, and after refusing to move he was arrested and charged with not following state law. He went first to the Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans, and Tourgee, the hired lawyer, brought his case that the “separate but equal” rules were unconstitutional. Judge John H. Ferguson ruled against him, but that did not stop Homer Plessy. Instead, he applied to the State Supreme Court for the ability to go on to the United States Supreme Court. (Wormser)
The next critical Supreme Court ruling on the issue of civil rights was in 1892 with the Plessy v. Ferguson case. Homer Adolph Plessy was a shoemaker from the state of Louisiana. Although Plessy was seven eighths white and only one eighth black. According to the law in Louisiana, he was still required to use the facilities designated as "colored". In an attempt to challenge the law, Plessy, with the support of civil rights activists, bought a ticket for the first class coach on the East Louisiana Rail Road. Plessy boarded and sat down in the first class coach. Just after the train departed the station the conductor confronted Plessy. The conductor asked him if he was black, Plessy told him he was and that he refused to leave the coach. The train was stopped; Plessy was arrested and formally charged at the fifth street police station.
The Plessy versus Ferguson case started with an incident where an African American passenger on a train, Homer Plessy, broke Louisiana law by refusing to sit in a Jim Crow car, a separate cart on the train where African Americans had to sit. This
Ferguson 1896. In this case a man named Plessy was on the train but on the white car he was 7/8 white. While at this time said that whites and blacks would receive services of all sorts separate but ostensibly the same they guaranteed. Though in reality the blacks weren't getting quite the same services. So that the penalty for not moving to the right car on the train was 25 dollars or 20 days in jail. This is a violation in civil rights because every American has a right to equal services.in other words every one should be able to get the same services. Source:"The Supreme Court stated that the state was not authorized to distinguish between citizens according to their race, but, notwithstanding this, petitioner was required by the conductor, under penalty of ejection from said train and imprisonment, to vacate said coach, and occupy another seat" the Supreme
In 1892, Homer Plessy was a passenger in a railroad and who refused to sit in a Jim Crow car. He brought before Judge John H. Ferguson of the Criminal Court from New Orleans, who upheld the state law. The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments. Although, the Supreme Court had ruled in 1896, Plessy v Ferguson inculcated the “separate but equal” doctrine and passed laws entailing the segregation of races, arguing that Jim Crow laws were constitutional. The case was devastating for African Americans allowing the oppression of an entire race. The Supreme Court system in practice was separate and unequal;
Racial segregation disrupted the ability of many African Americans to receive a quality education, equitable to those received by other races. Separate schools,
Ferguson was the essential foundation of segregation. Soon after these trials, congress believed they could help stiffen up the equal but divided laws. So congress passed laws to further divide races across America. Not only did the laws become more stricter in the South, some of the segregation rules applied in the North as well. If it wasn’t for Plessy, none of what you would have known about segregation would have existed. Rosa Parks wouldn’t have been able to make history in that bus. Martin luther king couldn’t make his speech to tell the American people what his dream was. In fact, segregation would have been a normal thing to this day without Plessy. Further pushing and restricting the laws of segregation encouraged Blacks to stand up for themselves, and that's what finally happened in the 1960’s. When Blacks started to stand up for what was right. If it wasn’t for Plessy and his trials, there wouldn’t be a point in doing this whole
It was a way to help the African American community break through many of the limitations others had expected and placed upon
Plessy v. Ferguson, (1896), was the landmark US Supreme Court case that legalized discrimination against African-Americans and gave credence to the "separate but equal" doctrine. Plessy, and the Jim Crow laws that flourished in the South due to
One of the most crucial factors that had contributed to racial barriers was definitely the racism among working class African Americans. The racism is best shown in the Plessy V. Ferguson case established in 1896.[ 100 milestone documents, “U.S. Supreme Court Plessy V. Ferguson,” National Archives, http://www.ourdocuments.gov/. ] This petition was originally filed by Homer Plessy to the supreme court of state against John H. Ferguson, the judge of the criminal district court for the parish of New Orleans. Plessy was a legal citizen of Louisiana, of mixed descent with a proportion of seventh-eighths Caucasian and one-eighth African blood. With this being said, Plessy was still considered as an African race. On June 7, 1892, he paid for the first class passage on the East Louisiana Railway and took a seat that was designated for white people upon entering the passenger train. Due to Plessy’s refusal to take another seat, he was imprisoned in the parish jail of New Orleans. He was fined for violating
In the Plessy v. Ferguson case, the statute of Louisiana, acts of 1890, c. 111 requires train companies to provide separate but equal usage for colored and white races. Plessy was a resident in the state of Louisiana which he was of mixed race as he was seven eighths caucasian and one eighth black. He tried to use the whites only train section and was arrested. Plessy then sued Louisiana State Supreme Justice, the Hon. John H. Ferguson for violating his 13th Amendment which prevents slavery and his 14th Amendment which is equal protection under US laws. (“Plessy v. Ferguson”, 1).
Plessy v. Ferguson was a court battle between a white and black. Plessy was an African American who wanted to fight for blacks in court to get the same rights as whites. Ferguson the judge upheld the law and it later on became Plessy v. Ferguson. It was taken all the way to Supreme Court where Plessy ended up losing to Ferguson. Ferguson won the debate with one dissenting vote on May 18, 1896 which overruled the discussion. The
Segregation is the first thing that I know affected my grandmother growing up. Although slavery was abolished in 1865 but, African American we still not being treated as humans. "Whites completely dominated government and law enforcement. African Americans who even attempted to register to vote risked being fired, harassed beaten, or killed (Aretha 12)."