*Plessy+v.+Ferguson

Year ** The case of Plessy versus Ferguson was held in the Supreme Court in the year 1896 after being appealed in Louisiana state supreme court in 1893. 1/1

In the year 1890 the “separate car act” was passed in Louisiana, stating that there were to be separate cars for whites and blacks on inner state railways. But a small group of black professionals in New Orleans wanted to test the law. Shortly after the organization of the committee Albion Tourgee was appointed as the group’s legal representative in 1891. To test the constitutionality of the newly implemented law COMMA the group sent a man of mixed blood (one eighth black) onto the white car and he was charged for “refusing to leave the white car”. The case was sent to district court and the court ruled that it was not unconstitutional to segregate railcars as long as they did not leave the state. The case was appealed to the Louisiana state supreme court in 1893 and again to the U.S Supreme court in 1896. 5/5 GOOD Constitutional/Legal issue **The prosecution said that the Louisiana railway was in violation of the 13th and 14th amendments because the equal protection clause granted African Americans equal rights and segregation was not in any way equal. The court ruled against Plessy stating that the conditions were separate but equal and the whites were not allowed in the “colored” car just like blacks were not allowed in the white car HOW DID IT VIOLATE THE 13TH AMENDMENT? EXPLAIN 4.5/5 Decision or Holding ** During the case the prosecutor attacked the 14th amendment because with this they said that “blacks” were not inferior to the whites according to the law. So if a white was in a railroad car full of blacks then he had to exclude from that car. In other words everyone is equal to the law. It was a majority decision as “organizing legal justification for racial segregation for over 50 years”. The vote was 7-1 one of the justices didn’t participate. YOU DO NOT MAKE CLEAR THE DECISION!!! IT SAID THAT SEGREGATION WAS LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL AS LONG AS THERE WERE EQUAL FACILITIES FOR BOTH RACES - "SEPARATE BUT EQUAL" 2/5 Significance ** The justices said that when facing the law, the color of their skin isn’t important because according to the law, nobody is inferior to them. EH? The way it affected the United States was it made segregation longer for about 50 more years. It changed by making people believe that the color of their skin has nothing to do to their sentence or decision. ESTABLISHED THE SEPARATE BUT EQUAL DOCTRINE, WHICH WOULD BE FOLLOWED UNTIL THE BROWN V. BOARD DECISION 3/5
 * Summary of the Case **

2/2

Thomas Zimmerman, 1997. Plessy v Ferguson. ITALICS Retrieved 11-18-09. [] Charles Thompson,1996. Plessy v. Ferguson ITALICS : Harlan’s Great Dissent. Retrieved 11-18-09 [] [segregation must go sign]retrievedfromhttp://www.zimbio.com/member/cmacivor/articles/6447101/Deep+South+Clings+Last+Vestige+Segregation 11/20/09
 * Bibliography **

2/2

20/25 = 80% (C)

YOUR INTRO AND SUMMARY WERE GOOD, BUT YOU NEVER MAKE CLEAR WHAT THE DECISION OF THE COURT WAS! THIS SECTION IS CRUCIAL!