Homer A. Plessy (P), who resided in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was defined by Louisiana law as a prosperous businessman and “octaroon” ”—one-eighth African American. Traveling by rail from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, Plessy refused to sit in a designated black railway carriage car and instead attempted to sit in an all-white railway car. Plessy was arrested for violating an 1890 Louisiana statute stipulating segregated “separate but equal” railroad accommodations. Under this statute, individuals using facilities not designated for their race were criminally liable. Plessy had acted on behalf of a committee to purposely commit an offence in order to initiate a case that would stand against the Jim Crow laws –laws that mandated racial segregation.
Justice John H. Ferguson (D) presided over …show more content…
Legal Issue
The arguments in the case referenced the 13th Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Plessy’s case questioned whether the Louisiana law that mandated segregated accommodations was actually violating Plessy's “equal protection” under the law? The case questioned whether a State law requiring separate seating on a public railway based on race was a federal violation of equal protection. Plessy contested that his conviction be overturned, that the State law be ruled unconstitutional, and that “separate but equal” facilities did not meet the standards of the 14th Amendment?

Holding/Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Louisiana law necessitating segregation based on race. It was Justice Henry B. Brown that delivered the 7-1 decision of the Court. Brown declared that the Louisiana state law did not violate either the federal 13th or 14th Amendments. He specified that the 13th Amendment applied only to slavery. He also stipulated that the 14th Amendment granted political and civil equality to African Americans, but was not intended to give them social equality.