Plessy V Ferguson Analysis

Picture this: a world with no color. Would racism still exist? Or would people be discriminated based on other things such as height, weight, or the sound of their voice? We may never know the answer to these questions. Racism is still alive in the United States, but it is not as severe and oppressive as it was during the era of the Jim Crow laws. The 13th amendment freed the slaves in the United States, however, not many white Americans agreed with this. The 13th amendment did not shield the African Americans from oppression, “The segregation and disenfranchisement laws known as ‘Jim Crow’

In order to show how the “separate but equal” doctrine came to be, as a class we created a mock trial of the Plessy v. Ferguson case. The idea of separate but equal allowed states to segregate black and white people through public services and accommodations for over 60 years. Despite this idea of equality in the doctrine, many people took advantage of it, as it gave both black and white people an influence on whether they were inferior or superior.

Segregation had been something the United States had struggled with for years. During the 1890’s segregation started to become more common and white people felt superior to other races, especially African Americans. White people believed, black people did not deserve the rights and respect that they had. Homer Plessy, the so called wrongdoer in the Plessy vs Ferguson case, was seven-eighths white and one-eighths black, and he had an appearance of a white man. On June 7, 1892, he purchased a railroad ticket from New Orleans to Covington La, and sat in an empty seat in a whites only car. Homer told the conductor he was black, and when asked to leave and move on to the appropriate car, he refused. He was an American citizen who had bought a first-class ticket and deserved to sit on that train. When the conductor called the police, Homer Plessy was arrested and later in court his case challenged the system and had a large impact on the African American community.The Plessy vs Ferguson trial affected humanity in both a positive and a negative way, because of the small negative short term cultural effects, such as disrespect towards African Americans, and the long term positive effects that lead to the equality between black and white people.

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.”

Plessy vs. Ferguson impacted America in both unfortunate and strong ways. It all started in 1892 were a man named Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car that was for blacks only. According to the laws of Louisiana Homer broke one of their segregation laws. Even though Homer was 7/8 whites and 1/8 black he was still arrested and taken to jail. Plessy made a compliant that later on let to a case. Judge Ferguson ruled against his argument that making Plessy sit on a separate seat violated his constitutional rights. Afterwards Homers lawyer insisted to the Supreme Court that the Louisiana’s separate car act violated the 13 and 14th amendment, which were abolishing slavery and grand citizenship rights to U.S citizens, unfortunately the Supreme

Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that reinforced racial segregation in the South between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the civil rights movement in the 1950’s (Urofsky). The laws mandated segregation of schools, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, and restaurants. In legal theory, blacks received “separate but equal” treatment under the law--in actuality, public facilities were nearly always inferior to those for whites, when they existed at all. In addition, blacks were systematically denied the right to vote in most of the rural South through the selective application of literacy tests and other racially motivated criteria (PBS). Despite Jim Crow laws being abolished in 1964 when President Lyndon Johnson

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'

From 1861-1865, the Civil war raged throughout the states, so when it ended the Fourteenth Amendment made provisions for the newly freed slaves with the intention of equality. The Civil Rights act of 1875 stated all races were entitled to equal treatment in public accommodation, so as an act of civil disobedience, Homer Pleassy, a shoemaker, entered a train car for white citizens, sat down, and identified himself as a black man.

After the 13th amendment was created, African-Americans were still considered less than human, even till today. African-Americans were being segregated from whites by how they each had their own restrooms, churches, and schools. African-Americans were also restricted to go to certain places like cafes that only allowed white people in. “30% of blacks have lost their right to vote”(Duvernay, 2016). Duvernay provides statistics about how African-Americans had lost their right to vote, which portrays how black people feel segregated from whites that are allowed to vote and furthermore demonstrates the inequality

After the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the ensuing American Civil War all states where forced to ratify the thirteenth amendment which abolished slavery “within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” In 1870 the fifteenth amendment was passed making it unconstitutional to prohibit voters “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” While the thirteenth and fifteenth amendments made it constitution for African Americans to vote it did not prohibit states from implementing obstructions at voting booths such as poll taxes, literacy test, lineage tracking, and other qualifications. While Plessy v. Ferguson established the separate but equal doctrine which is described as “racially segregated but ostensibly ensuring equal opportunities to all races.” The established doctrine of Separate but Equal was never enforced, and the cries of the neglected fell upon deaf ears until 1954, 58 years after a virtual caste system was established in the Nation of “freedom and equal opportunity” segregating everything from schools to bathrooms because of the color of your skin.

Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 US 537 (1896) was a case in which Homer Plessy (1862-1925) challenged the Supreme Court. Plessy was an African American who had sat in the whites only car on a train. When he was told to go to the Jim Crow car he refused, which broke one of Louisiana's laws, the Separate Car Act. John H. Ferguson (1838-1915) was the judge of the Criminal Court of New Orleans. The defendant was trying to uphold the law that was being backed by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment. Ferguson was an American Louisiana judge/lawyer who served in a lot of cases, but Plessy v. Ferguson was his most well known case.

Racism has been a part of our country since the early ages. Historically, racism and equality have been central issues that have divided our country. Many actions from the past such as the decision in the Plessy versus Ferguson case, and present day actions like The Mississippi school system case have been the ongoing battle in today 's society. The struggle to achieve equality was made even more difficult by the legislation that is now considered racist in the Plessy versus Ferguson case.

The Plessey ruling truly embodied the overarching racial attitudes of the Southern United States in the Post-Reconstruction era. With the ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments slavery had been abolished and Constitutional precedents were established that would seemingly pave the way for Americans of all races to begin to achieve equality. It is stated in the 14th that all citizens shall not have their basic civil rights infringed upon without due process of the law, and it is also stated that all citizens are guaranteed equal protection under the law. At first view, such measures should have eliminated official racist practices, yet racism prevalent throughout the United States and blacks were still considered to be inferior to whites. Many Americans, especially in the South, sought to continue current racist practices. Yet state segregation laws and other official racist practices needed a strong legal backing, and the Plessey decision provided exactly that. By establishing that segregation would be allowed if conditions were “separate but equal” whites throughout the country were given the precedent they needed to ensure blacks remained inferior. Although the decision claims that “equality”

In 1896, the court case of Plessy vs. Ferguson ruled that the states had the right to legally segregate public facilities. This court ruling fueled the fire of Southerners in regards to race relations, leading to the Jim Crow laws. These laws went as far as to say blacks could not cut a white person’s hair, drink from the same water fountain as a white person, and established a test for blacks to take prior to getting a ballot.

Although the conclusion of the Civil War during the mid-1860s demolished the official practice of slavery, the oppression and exploitation of African Americans has continued. Although the rights and opportunities of African Americans were greatly improved during Reconstruction, cases such a 1896’s Plessy v. Ferguson, which served as the legal basis for segregation, continue to diminish the recognized humanity of African Americans as equal people. Furthermore, the practice of the sharecropping system impoverished unemployed African Americans, recreating slavery. As economic and social conditions worsened, the civil rights movement began to emerge as the oppressed responded to their conditions, searching for equality and protected