Racism and American History

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.

In 1890, the Supreme Court passed a Louisiana law that stated that all passenger railways provided separated cars for blacks and whites. They separated whites and blacks and punish passengers or employees for violating this law. On June 7, 1892 Homer Plessy took a vacant seat in a white only car on his trip between New Orleans and Los Angeles. Plessy was arrested because he was mixed, but was preferred as black and was put to trial for violating a law that was passed by the Supreme Court in 1890. Plessy felt that the Supreme Court was treating blacks unequal, so he filed an authority against the judge, Hon John H. Ferguson.

In 1892, the Plessy v. Ferguson case had emerged from a conflict from Louisiana’s Separate Car Act. The law required that railroads have “separate but equal accommodations,” prohibiting African American and White passengers from entering besides the one they were assigned to based on race. Homer Plessy, a seven-eighths White and one-eighth African American bought a rail travel ticket in Louisiana for the White car and took a seat. He was later told to move to the African American car, after refusing to move he was arrested and charged for not complying with the Separate Car Act.

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)

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.

In 1892 the Supreme Court ruled 7-1 against Homer Plessy, a one-eighth black man who fought to sit in a train car reserved for white people in Louisiana 1. Since he was not allowed to ride in said cars, his 14th amendment right against discrimination of any American citizen was violated 1. The Supreme Court rejected Plessy's argument that Louisiana law conflicted with the thirteenth amendment and the fourteenth amendment 1. The justices claimed however, that separation of races does not make someone feel

American History X is clearly a film dealing with racism. The interesting thing about this film is the way in which the subject is treated. First of all, it is obvious that, though racism is always a difficult subject to deal with, American History X presents it without any reservations or dumming down. Second, the film's figurehead for racism, Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton), is not an unintelligent redneck racist as films often portray them, but is in fact well-spoken, charismatic and intelligent, although he clearly holds ideals that are terribly wrong. Finally, the film shows that it is not just the white, neo-nazi racists who are fools to be involved in this, but all racism is foolish. Through these methods, the film shows the viewer,

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

He was seven-eighths white and one-eighth black and had the appearance of a white man. Nevertheless, he was arrested and convicted of violating the 1890 law. He filed a petition against the judge and the Plessy v. Ferguson started. The Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of a Louisiana law passed in 1890 "providing for separate railway carriages for the white and colored races." The law, which required that all passenger railways provide separate cars for blacks and whites, stated that the cars be equal in facilities and banned whites from sitting in black cars and blacks in white cars and reserving the right to penalize passengers or railway employees for violating its terms. The Court expressly rejected Plessy's argument that the law stigmatized blacks "with a badge of inferiority," pointing out that both blacks and whites were given equal facilities under the law and were equally punished for violating the law. "We consider the underlying fallacy of (Plessy's) argument" contended the Court, "to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority. If this is so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the

On June 7, 1892, 30-year-old Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in the white race car of the East Louisiana Railroad. Plessy could easily pass for white, but under Louisiana law, he was considered black despite his light colored skin and therefore required to sit in the colored race car. He was a Creole of Color, a term used to refer to black persons in New Orleans who traced some of their ancestors to the French, Spanish, and Caribbean settlers of Louisiana before it became part of the United States. When Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, legally segregating common carriers in 1892, a black civil rights organization decided to challenge the law in the courts. Plessy purposely sat in the white section and identified himself as black and he was harassed because of it. He was arrested and the case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Plessy's lawyer

In 1896 the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutionally legal to segregate African Americans with their white counterparts. In the court case of Plessy v. Ferguson an African American man in Louisiana named Homer Plessy refused to follow the mandated Jim Crow laws which enforced that African Americans have to sit in a designated area when riding on a train. Plessy argued that his fourteenth amendment right was violated equal-protection clause, which “prohibits the states from denying “equal protection of the laws” to any person within their jurisdictions”(Duignan, 2016). However, when Plessy’s case moved to the Supreme Court they ruled“ the object of the Fourteenth Amendment was to create "absolute equality of the two races before the law," such equality extended only so far as political and civil rights (e.g., voting and serving on juries), not "social rights" (e.g., sitting in a railway car one chooses) (McBride, n.d. ). As a result, Plessy v. Ferguson

The history of the United States in regard to racism and discrimination is no secret. Children are taught about segregation, slavery, and the Civil Rights Movement like the events were purely in the past. In part the events were in the past; however, the results of said events are not. As Americans, we live in a nation with a rough history and, in order to keep growing together, we cannot forget what has happened. Granted, racism is not extinct, but it is most definitely not the norm it was 50 years ago. Many people are not aware of how much racism still exists in our schools, workforces, and anywhere else where social lives are occurring. According to Derrick Bell’s book, Faces at the Bottom of the Well, Bell uses fiction stories to show that racism still exist but has a different form. In American society, racism is still evident today in racial symbols, covert racism and affirmative action.

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 population of the United States of America has been one of mixed race since its very beginning. Boatload upon boatload of enslaved Africans provided a labor force which would fuel the American South’s economy for many years, until national abolition and the subsequent civil rights movement created a primarily biracial population of blacks and whites. The US has come a long way since those days, and today every child born into the US is taught from an early age the evils of racism and the shameful actions committed by slave-owning US citizens in the past. From textbooks to televisions, the modern USA seemingly works tirelessly to teach its population that discrimination by race is wrong and that all races are equal. This has led to a great national complacence among whites, and a widespread belief that the US has mostly eradicated racial prejudices. But it is not so, and despite a population almost entirely composed of people who would not consider themselves racists, racism still pervades in the US. In many cases modern racism occurs at the hands of whites who almost absolutely are completely unaware of their discriminatory actions. In the films “Frozen River” and “The Visitor” racism was touched on repeatedly and played an evident part in the messages they were trying to portray.

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;