The case of Plessy v. Ferguson served as a catalyst for the implementation of “separate but equal” segregation laws that were deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court and which profoundly divided White and Colored America throughout the late 1800’s to mid 1900’s. Freshly out of the Civil War, Black America gradually sought after more forms of freedom after the bondage of slavery was destroyed. While Black males especially were granted more citizenship liberties through the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, just when they thought White America could evolve into an accepting and open-minded society, all efforts were shut down by the Jim Crow laws. That is where the Plessy v. Ferguson case starts, the Supreme Court’s endorsement …show more content…
Vann Woodward, author of “The Case of the Louisiana Traveler,” starts off his essay with Charles D. Warner’s observation of a surprisingly open mingle between White and Colored people in New Orleans in 1885. This represents how Colored people were viewed more as equals in some parts of the South in contrast to the even less accepting North. However, discrimination was fresh in the minds of dominant whites from all over the nation and it not only powered segregation but also established the low status of freed Blacks in the South’s “heritage of caste” (Woodward 146). Jim Crow laws, or laws that publically “separated people of color from whites,” were first required in many Southern states, beginning with the separate cars available for Whites and Blacks to ride on railroads (“Separate is not Equal”). When the Jim Crow car bill was passed in Louisiana, the rising class of educated, cultured and dignified Colored men in New Orleans was well equipped to lead the opposition against segregation. L.A. Martinet and R.I. Desdunes were among an organization of Colored people named the “American Citizens’ Equal Rights Association of Louisiana Against Class Legislation” that protested the “separate-car bill” that would unjustly ““maltreat unoffensive persons...who should happen to have a dark skin”” and rob them of their right to live comfortably as American citizens (Woodward 147). It seemed that no matter how many Blacks could vote or hold office at assemblies, not much was being …show more content…
Woodward provides us with opposing viewpoints concerning the “separate but equal” Jim Crow car laws that represented the White mentality to demean Blacks, as shown primarily through Brown, and the rational concerns of citizens such as Tourgée and Harlan, who sensed the inevitable division of their nation through the passing of unconstitutional segregation laws. “Separate but equal” was a complete scam! The resources provided for Colored people were limited, the houses were torn, the schools and books in horrible condition compared to those available to Whites; in no way was this separation equal. Ironically, “the black facilities in these institutions were decidedly inferior to white ones, creating a kind of racial caste society,” contrary to what Brown and those like-minded had proclaimed (“Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)”). I find this especially unfair because America had vowed acceptance for its Colored brothers and sisters, and once they’d finally gotten a taste of freedom, America swept it from under their feet before they could really enjoy it. Blacks were devastatingly humiliated, lynched, beat-down, accused and denied as fellow Americans. Many of the persecuted Blacks could find no other alternative but to abide by the corrupt rules and savor any tiny ounce of freedom. The