Plessy V Ferguson 1896

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.

On June 7, 1892, the law was tested again, when Homer Adolph Plessey, an “octoroon”, a very fair person with white features, purchased a ticket and boarded the Louisiana railroad with the consent of the Citizens Committee with the express purpose of violating the Separate Car Act. He sat in the “whites- only section” and when his ticket was collected by the conductor, Homer Adolph Plessey informed the conductor that he was 7/8 white and was not going to sit in the “black-only car.” Arrested and jailed, Plessey as released on $500 bail the next day. A White New York lawyer, Albion Winegar Tourgee, was retained. Plessey’s case was heard one month later before John Howard Ferguson. Tourgee argued the violation of the 13th and 14th amendments before Justice Ferguson. Tourgee’s argument was for absolute equality of all races. However, on May 18, 1896, Justice Brown, by a vote of 7 to 1, ruled in favor of the State of Louisiana upholding the constitutionality of state laws under the doctrine of “separate but equal" that justified a system of

The "Separate Car Act" was a law passed in 1890, which prevented blacks from sitting with the whites. A man named Homer Adolph Plessy, who was one eighth black, was part of a group, formed in 1891, called the "New Orleans Citizens Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law." Plessy was chosen to represent this group by taking action and testing the law. He took action on June 7, 1892, when Plessy bought a ticket to New Orleans on the Louisiana Railroad to go to New Orleans. Once he boarded the train, he was asked to go to the "coloreds only" car, but refused to go. He was later fined and jailed for this, and soon was taken to court. When his case was brought up at the Supreme Court, he unfortunately

The landmark case of Plessy v. Ferguson is a Constitutional case in which it had to be decided who the constitution meant when it said "all men are created equal." This case is very important to our constitution and to the people being governed by the constitution because it brought up issues that hadn't been discussed in the U.S before. This case shows the degree of federalism and how much the government paid attention to it. The amendments in the constitution do not apply to a simple race or ethnicity. Throughout history laws have been made and destroyed at the cost of colored people, in the Plessy v. Ferguson case it is shown that due to the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments all citizens have equal protection under the law. Plessy was denied his right, as well as other colored people because they belonged to different bathrooms, they belonged to different train cars and they belonged to different water fountains at this time in history, but Plessy'

Louisiana had the “Separate Car Law” which stated that whites and blacks could not share the same car, anyone would did not follow this would be arrested. A group that went by the name of the Citizens Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law said this was against the 13th and 14th amendment and to test this they had a French free born named Homer Plessy, who had one-eighth African American blood, sit in the ‘whites only’ car. Upon the next stop, Plessy was in fact arrested. The case was taken to the Louisiana State Court where Judge John H. Ferguson found Plessy guilty for breaking the law, the state supreme court upheld the ruling. However, the case was repealed to the Supreme Court, where Plessy’s attorney argued that the law broke the 13th and 14th amendment.

One of the most historic cases in Supreme Court history is the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896. Plessy v. Ferguson was a trial that ruled segregation as legal, as long as separate, equal facilities were provided for both races. After the Reconstruction era had dispersed, the Jim Crow laws appeared. The Separate Car Act was one of the Jim Crow laws enacted upon by the Louisiana State Legislature. This law stated that blacks and whites

Millions of people go to court to fight for something they believe in or disagree with, but don't get their voices heard. The constitution made amendments to ensure fairness and it's not right if we don't have those fairnesses. In Brown v board of education and Plessy v Ferguson they were fighting to have rights and fairness, but Plessy v Ferguson got their rights heard right away and the Brown v board of Education didn't get there voices heard in till many years after they went to court. In the 1890's Plessy got on the wrong train car and decided he didn't want to move. The authorities said that Plessy would have to pay $25 or go to jail for 20 days, so when he refused they put him in jail. This violated the 14th amendment because, its unequal that white children had better things. In 1950-1951 segregation was a big problem even with little kids going to different schools just because of the

The Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson is known for having established the precedent of “separate but equal.” The case originated in Louisiana and was specifically made to the separate passenger cars that were for the black and white races. The Supreme Court, in this case, upheld the right of Louisiana to separate the races and “this decision provided the legal foundation to justify many other actions by state and local governments to socially separate blacks and whites” (Zimmerman, 1997). It was not until the famous Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954 that the highest court in the land outlawed the principal of segregation and the concept of “separate but equal.”

Ferguson case allowed legal segregation to continue for more than 60 years in the south. Homer Plessy, a light-skinned, calm, well dressed, 1/8th black man, entered the first class railroad car on June 7, 1982. “When he took his seat, Plessy triggered a series of legal actions that would eventually reach the Supreme Court of the United States.”(Fireside, 5) Plessy had absolutely no intention of reaching his destination. He was charged with a crime for not moving to the car in which he belonged. This was one of the first sit in’s in the United States. The Louisiana Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court ruled against him. They said that the cars were “separate but equal” even though this was untrue and that it was constitutional. Finally, the ruling was overturned in 1954. Plessy vs. Ferguson was the most criticized decision the court made of all

There was no clarification on what race would be considered white or what would be considered black. During this incident, “Homer Plessy, who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth African American, purchased a rail ticket for travel within Louisiana and took a seat in a car reserved for white passengers. (The state Supreme Court had ruled earlier that the law could not be applied to interstate travel.) After refusing to move to a car for African Americans, he was arrested and charged with violating the Separate Car Act.”(Duignan 2017). Judge Ferguson ruled that the separation was fair and did not violate the fourteenth amendment. The state Supreme Court also backed up this decision. The case was brought to the Supreme Court and "The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments. By a 7-1 vote, the Court said that a state law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between the two races did not conflict with the 13th Amendment forbidding involuntary servitude, nor did it tend to reestablish such a condition." (History.com Staff 2009). This decision set the key precedent of Separate but Equal in the United States. Racial segregation kept growing.

In 1892, Homer Plessy sought a seat in a “white” train car. Plessy was only 1/8 black, and appeared to be a Caucasian man. Even after being belittled and threatened, Plessy refused to transfer to a “colored” car. Violating the Separate Car Act, Plessy was arrested. He stated that this act violated his 13th and 14th amendment constitutional rights. His statements entailed that the act stripped away his 13th amendment right opposing slavery and his 14th amendment right for equal protection under the law. These arguments were revoked twice in lower courts until he decided he would take his plea to the Louisiana Supreme Court. (pbs.org)

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 case prove otherwise. Harlan concludes that these are several of the reasons he does not agree with the court decision. Overall, Harlan stays clear of biases because he includes information about rights for both races and does not defend one single side. However, there are potential biases because he did not directly include the court decision or Louisiana Separate Car Act in his dissent. It is also is unclear what Judge Harlan’s background is and what his opinions could have been before the specific case. In this document, it is obvious that the time period was facing a time of segregation in the country. The Louisiana Separate Car Act that is part of the Plessy vs. Ferguson case shows the physical separation between the races. During this time period, it was typical for whites and non-whites to have separate public resources because the Redeemers hoped to undo the Radical Reconstruction progress in African American and non-white rights. In addition, non-whites were disrespected and dehumanized, as shown by Harlan’s mention of the Louisiana Separate Car Act dismissal of the fact that whites could not sit with a non-white group of people.

Plessey boarded a car of the East Louisiana Railroad that was designated by whites for use by white patrons only. Although Plessey was one-eighth black and seven-eighths white, under Louisiana state law he was classified as an African-American, and thus required to sit in the "colored" car. When Plessey refused to leave the white car and move to the colored car, he was arrested and jailed. The Court rejected Plessey's arguments based on the Thirteenth Amendment, seeing no way in which the Louisiana statute violated it. In addition, the majority of the Court rejected the view that the Louisiana law implied any inferiority of blacks, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Instead, it contended that the law separated the two races as a matter of public policy.

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).