In the case of Plessy versus Ferguson, the question over Louisiana's Separate car act and whether or not it violated the 13th and 14th amendments were debated. This act stated that railroad services provide separate accommodations based on race. In 1892, an African American train passenger named Homer Plessy sat in a car reserved for whites and refused to move. As a result, he was arrested and put in jail until his trial. Plessy argued that he had a right to sit in the car for whites because the 14th amendment stated that all people born in the United States were citizens and equally protected by the law. However, the court stated that this amendment did not apply to social rights, only to political and economical. After the district judge, John H Ferguson had ruled against Plessy, in 1896, he appealed to the Supreme Court. Justice Henry Brown stated that Louisiana's law was constitutional because African Americans were not viewed as inferior for riding in separate cars, but that black people put this assumption of inferiority in place due to the fact of the segregated cars. Thus, the Court declared that segregation did not imply inferiority. As a result, Justice Henry Brown stated that Louisiana's law was constitutional.
This case enforced the meaning of separate but equal, as segregation rose and black people were granted more rights to reach equality. It would not be until the 1950s and 60s where segregation under the state would end in the case of Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, which stated that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
Written by Ragan Krames, P4
Sources: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/plessy-v-ferguson
https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=52
I thought your post was really interesting and I liked how you talked about the reasoning behind the Supreme Court's "separate but equal" ruling. Another part of the case that I wanted to add was that Plessy was light skinned and pretty much white passing. He was chosen to prove to the court that conductors cannot determine someone's race from just looking at them, thus invalidating the entire structure of racial discrimination. I just thought this was an interesting aspect of the incident.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0213-plessy-history-20190211-story.html
I thought that this was very interesting and I liked how you wrote about the backstory and context to the case. What is also interesting to note are the effects of Plessy v. Ferguson. Segregation became very common and there were separate areas for white people and black people in almost every location. These included theaters, public parks, restaurants, buses, water fountains, and schools. Although “separate but equal” was considered constitutional under Plessy v. Ferguson, things were rarely equal. This segregation and Jim Crow Laws developed from the Black Codes during the Reconstruction Era. They were another attempt to subjugate blacks under white control. Like you wrote, it was not until Brown v. Board where segregation was declared unconstitutional.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws