...The case of Plessy vs. Ferguson established the separate but equal doctrine that was prevalent throughout life in the South for over fifty years. The case involved a man by the name of Homer Adolph Plessy, who was a colored shoemaker from New Orleans, Louisiana. He was only 1/8 black and 7/8 white, but under Louisiana law he was considered black. It also involved a white Judge by the name of John Howard Ferguson. In 1892 Plessy was asked by the Citizens Committee which was a political group made up of African Americans and Creoles to help them challenge the Separate Car Act, which by Louisiana law separated blacks and whites in railroad cars. If a black was caught sitting in the white section of the cars, they could get either 20 days in jail or a $25 fine. He agreed to help the Committee. On June 7, 1892, Plessy purchased a first-class ticket at the Press Street Station in New Orleans to go to Covington, Louisiana. The railroad didn’t support the Separate Car Law, because of the expense and trouble involved with it. They chose this station for that reason and the station was in on the test as well. He sat in the white only section and waited for the conductor. When the conductor arrived he told him that he was only 1/8 black and that he refused to move to the colored car of the train. A hired detective told Plessy he was violating the law but he still refused. Since he would not move to the colored car he was arrested and jailed overnight and released on bond the next...
Words: 778 - Pages: 4
...An incident in 1892 involving an African American man Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car breaking a Louisiana law. In 1890 the law was put into play providing for “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races” on its railroads. Plessy brought before Judge John H. Ferguson of criminal court for New Orleans, who upheld the law. The law later challenged by the Supreme Court on the grounds that it conflicted within the thirteenth and fourteenth amendment. The court later said that the law did not conflict with the Thirteenth amendment. The Court avoided discussion of the protection granted by the clause in the Fourteenth Amendment that forbids the states to make laws depriving citizens of their “privileges or...
Words: 2489 - Pages: 10
...Plessy v. Ferguson: To begin you must understand the significance of the court case Plessy vs. Ferguson in order to see the true importance of it. In 1890, Louisiana passed an act named the Separate Car Act. The law stated that all rail companies carrying passengers in Louisiana had to have separate but equal seating arrangements for white and non-white passengers. Also under this law declared that those who violated the act were to pay a fine or spend 20 days in jail. People especially blacks at the time felt that this act was unfair and unconstitutional. So one day a name by the name of Homer Plessy who was one-eighth black bought a first class ticket and boarded an all-white car. The rail company knew what was going to happen so upon his...
Words: 417 - Pages: 2
...The Plessy Vs. Ferguson court case was an unjust and predjudice trial. An African American man who sat in the first-class section of a train on June 7, 1892 was asked to be seated in the Jim Crow Cars although he had already bought a first-class ticket. After refusing peacefully, Plessy was arrested and trial was set for five months later. The case ultimately moved up to the United States Supreme Court. Plessy Vs. Ferguson hearing would “challenge the definition of race itself” and eventually the case was overturned in 1954. The United States Supreme Court’s ruling was an unjustified verdict based on relativism and deontological ethics. Homer Plessy boarded a train that was on it’s way to Covington, Louisiana. He bought a first-class train ticket and was well dressed, but he was not accepted into first class because he was an African American. The train conductor, John J. Dowling asked Plessy if he was in the proper coach not because of his train ticket but because of his race which wasn’t easily seen. Plessy was so...
Words: 884 - Pages: 4
...Constitutional Law: CRJS400 - 1402B - 01 Individual Project: Unit 3 Human Rights Analysis Human Rights Analysis The case of Plessy vs. Ferguson established the separate but equal doctrine that was prevalent throughout life in the South for over fifty years. The case involved a man by the name of Homer Adolph Plessy, who was a colored shoemaker from New Orleans, Louisiana. He was only 1/8 black and 7/8 white, but under Louisiana law he was considered black. It also involved a white Judge by the name of John Howard Ferguson. In 1892 Plessy was asked by the Citizens Committee which was a political group made up of African Americans and Creoles to help them challenge the Separate Car Act, which by Louisiana law separated blacks and whites in railroad cars. If a black was caught sitting in the white section of the cars, they could get either 20 days in jail or a $25 fine. He agreed to help the Committee. On June 7, 1892, Plessy purchased a first-class ticket at the Press Street Station in New Orleans to go to Covington, Louisiana. The railroad didn’t support the Separate Car Law, because of the expense and trouble involved with it. They chose this station for that reason and the station was in on the test as well. He sat in the white only section and waited for the conductor. When the conductor arrived he told him that he was only 1/8 black and that he refused to move to the colored car of the train. A hired detective told Plessy he was violating the law but he still refused...
Words: 1022 - Pages: 5
...continued to implement laws that inhibited equal opportunities for African Americans along with other social injustices blacks faced from other people due to the racist mentality of the time. Homer Plessy, a resident of Louisiana, decided he was going to stand up for his rights by defying these laws to bring forth the idea that states legislatures do not abide by the constitution and the 13th,14th, and 15th amendment in these newly developed laws to demonstrate the inequalities African Americans still faced....
Words: 839 - Pages: 4
...pertains to the following reading found in the Constitutional Law Stories text: The Story of Korematsu: The Japanese-American Cases (pp. 231-270) Complete ONE of these tasks: (1a; 1b; 1c) 1a) After the attack on Pearl Harbor more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced to live in detention camps and leave the west coast.There are four constitutional cases that connect: Yasui B U.S, Hirabayashi V. United States, Korematsu V United States and Ex parte Endo. When examining these cases the judges did not examine separation but rather examined: curfew, exclusion, detention and indefinite incarceration. In Hirabayashi V. United States Hirabayashi was convicted of violating curfew and not reporting to an...
Words: 2532 - Pages: 11
...Is separate really equal? America is based off of their Constitution. We are known for our rights and freedom. Unfortunately not everyone has always been equal. In 1957, The Little Rock Nine started to change the segregation between races in school systems. Before Little Rock, there had been many fights for equality. Some of the main cases are Plessy V. Ferguson and Brown V. Board of Ed. After the Plessy V. Ferguson case it was agreed upon that every school would stay separate, but had to be equal, and this created the Plessy Doctrine. How could it be equal if they were separate? Even though they were supposed to be equal, the resources and education were dramatically different. Later in 1954 Linda Brown’s father decided he was not going...
Words: 1557 - Pages: 7
...job announcement, some companies will manipulate the wording in the announcement so that only a specific individual can qualify for that job. As long as there is no mention of specific discrimination in the announcement, this is one way around the discrimination laws for hiring. Another topic in the discrimination field of employment is how technology allows for more discrimination than ever before. Because of the internet and information being solicited employers can find out any information about a potential candidate without even speaking to him or her. Employers can find out about race, gender, religion, national origin, and color by clicking a button on a computer. This new technology takes away the one on one interaction between an employer and a potential employee. The reverse side to the equation is the internet has allowed potential employees to flood employers with resumes. If an employer posts a job on www.monster.com, the company will receive thousands of resumes. It is impossible for the employers to meet with everyone that is qualified so they have to create methods to weed out potential candidates. Additionally we talked about discrimination and the types of discrimination that are covered by law: age, disability, equal pay, national origin, pregnancy, race, color, religion, retaliation, sex, and sexual harassment. Although we talked about the many types of discrimination, we focused on the “BIG FIVE”...
Words: 661 - Pages: 3
...of the ways that Black Americans remained almost invisible in a white society. Despite the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of slaves, race continued to be a problem in early twentieth century America. One of the most critical issues surrounding the further entrenchment of racial segregation within the early twentieth century was the development of policies and laws that did not follow the emancipation guidelines for ex-slaves, but instead made segregation and discrimination of African Americans more prominent. These laws were at first called the Black Codes, allowing for differences in the way that African Americans were treated both privately and publically. Even Supreme Court cases, like Plessy vs. Ferguson, further allowed for racism to be a compelling factor within the nation. This case allowed for the expansion of the Black Codes instead of abolishing them by creating the “separate but equal” mentality that existed until the 1950s when “systematic segregation within the states was ended” (Plessy vs. Ferguson Judgment, 1895). The Black Codes were also eventually referred to as the Jim Crow Laws, based on a stereotype of an African American portrayed in public plays by a white man with black makeup on. This was one of the ultimate insults...
Words: 947 - Pages: 4
...We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, but that wasn’t the case until the fourteenth amendment. The fourteenth amendment was passed and put into action by president Andrew Johnson on July 9, 1868. Passed soon after the civil war ended and all slaves were legally free. This amendment said all citizens of the U.S (born in the U.S) were of equal protection under the law. This amendment was especially directed at white southerners who were making life very hard for the newly freed slaves. The south was not happy for the most part and made many hurdles that made it hard to do things like vote. Many people who agreed with this amendment were called radical republicans, they were happy that it granted equal rights...
Words: 909 - Pages: 4
...discrimination that African Americans have received began almost immediately upon arrival in the United States. In 1660, while still under British rule, laws were passed that made African Americans slaves for life (Schaefer, 2012). These laws led to the development of what was known as "slave codes." Schaefer (pg. 177) defines slave codes as "laws that defined the low position held by slaves in the United States." According to Schaefer (2102), these codes were used as racial formation to solidify the African Americans as an inferior race. Slavery was eventually abolished after the Civil War but this abolition did not increase the standing of the Black Community. Schaefer (pg. 177) theorizes that slavery set the foundation for the problems with racial equality that we face today. After the Civil War, the African American community did not become the equal American citizens they imagined they would become. Segregation became common practice after the Reconstruction period that followed the Civil War (www.ourdocuments.gov, n.d.). This segregation included schools, restaurants, and quite infamously, public transportation. Public transportation was segregated in such a way that black and white people had separate seating areas on busses and trains were segregated by car. The landmark case of Plessy vs. Ferguson upheld a "separate but equal" statute in...
Words: 861 - Pages: 4
...Society. Three Supreme Court decisions in response to cases filed by African Americans have impacted America more than any other decisions and also highlight the gradual development of equal rights in the United States. In 1857 when tensions over slavery ran high, the Dred Scott v. Sanford decision divided the nation into two camps – slavery and antislavery and this ultimately contributed to the Civil War in 1861. Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 was a major setback in race decisions allowing African Americans to be discriminated...
Words: 1297 - Pages: 6
...to the Caucasians. However, they faced a new challenge in the form of segregation. Segregation is defined in the dictionary as the enforced separation of different racial groups in a country, community, or establishment. Segregation was horrible in America after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. JIm Crow laws were made halting the expansion of the African American influence on America. There were laws that...
Words: 1120 - Pages: 5
...The Southern Manifesto declared the Supreme Court decision on Brown vs Board of Education to be unconstitutional and uses the case of Plessy v. Ferguson to support their claim. Jim Crows laws permitted “separate but equal” facilities for Black and Whites and was supported by Plessy v. Ferguson– Supreme Court decision (GML! 668). The. This case emerged in Louisiana when railroad companies were required to have separate cars for Black passengers and a light-skin African American man named Homer Plessy refused to move to the ‘colored ‘section of the train, leading to his arrest. The idea of “separate but equal” was imbedded in the belief that the 14th amendment enforces total equality without distinction based on color By stating that the Brown vs Board of Education case is unconstitutional is to also admit the unconstitutionality of laws, such as Jim Crows created in opposition of the 14th and 15th amendment to restrict African American liberty and rights as citizens. This was their way to legally rationalize their support for segregation, even though it demonstrated their hypocrisy toward the constitutionality of laws and amendments. In the Manifesto, they mention how in “the original Constitution does not...
Words: 1939 - Pages: 8
