Plessy v. Ferguson, a US Supreme Court decision handed down on May 18, , enacted “separate but equal” racial segregation as the law of the land for nearly six decades to follow, and it stands as one of three watershed civil rights cases in American history. The case was initiated from the arrest of New Orleanian Homer Plessy, who purposely tested the constitutionality of Louisiana’s segregated trains by boarding a whites-only passenger car. One of Louisiana’s most famous cases, Plessy joins Dred Scott v. Sanford () and Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas () as key rulings on the US civil rights timeline. The Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy sanctioned racial segregation on railroad trains and provided a legal umbrella for all Jim Crow laws that forced African Americans to live as second-class citizens. The Plessy case foreshadowed the civil disobedience methods of the Civil Rights Movements of the twentieth century.
Historical Background
The case made prominent the names of the plaintiff, Homer Adolph Plessy, and the defendant, Judge John Howard Ferguson, who ruled against him in Born Homère Patris Plessy in New Orleans on St. Patrick’s Day , Ple
&#;Plessy v. Ferguson&#;: Who Was Plessy?
&#;How many mysteries have begun with the line, &#;A man gets on a train … &#;? In our man&#;s case, it happens to be true, and there is nothing mysterious about his plan. His name is Homer Plessy, a year-old shoemaker in New Orleans, and on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 7, , he executes it perfectly by walking up to the Press Street Depot, purchasing a first-class ticket on the East Louisiana local and taking his seat on board. Nothing about Plessy stands out in the &#;whites only&#; car. Had he answered negatively, nothing might have.
Instead, as historian Keith Weldon Medley writes, when train conductor J.J. Dowling asks Plessy what all conductors have been trained to ask under Louisiana&#;s 2-year-old Separate Car Act &#; &#;Are you a colored man?&#; &#; Plessy answers, &#;Yes,&#; prompting Dowling to order him to the &#;colored car.&#; Plessy&#;s answer started off a chain of events that led the Supreme Court to read &#;separate but equal&#; into the Constitution in , thus allowing racially segregated accommodations to become the law of the land.
Here&#;s what happens next on the train: If a few passengers fail to notice the dis
Quick Summary
Homer Adolph Plessy (defendant) challenged Judge John Howard Ferguson (plaintiff) who ruled in favor of the State of Louisiana&#;s segregation law after being arrested for sitting in a whites-only railway carriage. The case raised questions about racial segregation&#;s compatibility with constitutional amendments designed to protect individual freedoms and equality.
The Supreme Court ruled that state-imposed racial segregation in public conveyances did not violate the Thirteenth or Fourteenth Amendments. It reasoned that separation of races in such contexts was within state police power and did not imply legal inferiority. Justice Harlan dissented, advocating for a color-blind Constitution.
Facts of the Case
In , Louisiana enacted a law mandating separate railway carriages for white and African American individuals. Homer Adolph Plessy (defendant), who was seven-eighths Caucasian and one-eighth African American, challenged this segregation by boarding a carriage designated for white passengers.
Upon his refusal to move to the carriage for African Americans, he was forcibly removed and arrested. Plessy&#;s actions were deliberate, part of an effort by the C
Plessy vs. Ferguson case
Facts about the Plessy vs. Ferguson case for kids: Facts Sheet for Kids
Interesting facts about the Plessy vs. Ferguson case are detailed below. The history of the Plessy vs. Ferguson case is told in a fast, fun sequence consisting of a series of interesting, short facts providing a simple method of relating the history of the Plessy vs. Ferguson case, and its significance to racial segregation, for kids, schools and homework projects.
Plessy vs. Ferguson Case: Facts Sheet for Kids
Plessy vs. Ferguson case Fact 1: In the Louisiana State Legislature passed the Separate Car Act, a law that required "equal, but separate" train car accommodations for Black and White people.
Plessy vs. Ferguson case Fact 2: The Separate Car Act was one of the 'Jim Crow Laws' enacted by Southern states, beginning in the s, that legalized segregation between Black Americans and White Americans
Plessy vs. Ferguson case Fact 3: The 'Jim Crow Laws' had replaced the infamous Black Codes, which had restricted the civil rights and civil liber
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