Ryan Grzyb American Government 11/20/11 Plessy V.

Ferguson (1896)

The case of Plessy V. Ferguson was a major setback in the Civil Rights Movement, in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal segregation between whites and colored people was not a constitutional violation. This was also a historical case in the U.S. court system, as it showed that the constitutionally minded court system has not always been right, and in this particular case paved the way for fifty years of legal bigotry.1

In 1890, Louisiana passed the Seperate Car Law, creating separate but equal segregation in blacks and whites. This created an uproar in the black community, as all accommodations for the blacks were poorly maintained, operated less smoothly and put inner city African Americans at greater health risks compared to those set aside for the white population.. This law promoted the idea of inequality in blacks and whites during a time where racism was a pandemic in our nation, where lynch mobs were viewed as justified and a black man could be brutally murdered just for looking at a white man the wrong way. This decision formed the basis of the Jim Crow laws of the South, a set of laws that treated people of color as second-class citizens. The Separate Car Law was another setback in their fights for equality.
1

Cancellaro, Michael. "Introduction to Criminal Justice." Tunxis Community College. Farmington, 21 Oct. 2011.

The Citizens' Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law was an organization of black New Orleans professionals in 1891 formed in response to the law2. The initial arrest was a plan organized by them, to have a man of mixed nationality ride the train in the whites only section. Homer Plessy was 1/8th black, and although he had some black nationality in him he was easily able to pass off as a white man. On June 7, 1892, he boarded a train in Louisiana as a white passenger, and after mentioning to a passenger on board the train that his great grandfather was a black man, a detective hired by the committee arrested Plessy in accordance with Louisiana state law.

Homer Plessy took his arrest to court in an argument that the Separate Car Act was a constitutional violation of the 13th and 14th Amendments. Judging the trial was John Ferguson, a lawyer from Massachusetts who declared that the Separate Car Act was unconstitutional on trains that traveled through several states.3 However, Ferguson declared in the case that the states have the right to regulate railroad companies as long as they were only operating through their given state. Despite Plessys arguments against the constitutionality of the crime, he was convicted of sitting in a whites only car as a black man and was given a $25 fine. The case was appealed to the State Supreme Court in 1893 then again to the U.S. Supreme court in 1896. Although the appeals gave Plessy time to fine tune his argument before presenting it to
2

Zimmerman, Thomas. "Plessy v. Ferguson." BGSU :: University Home Page :: Bowling Green State University Home Page. 1997. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. <http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/plessy/plessy.html>. 3 Cozzens, Lisa. "After the Civil War: Plessy v. Ferguson." Www.watson.org. 17 Sept. 1999. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. <http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/post-civilwar/plessy.html>.

the superior courts, eight out of nine court justices were not convinced of the defenses argument, and still deemed separate but equal segregation fair and constitutional. The majority opinion justified denouncing the claim of the law violating the thirteenth amendment by making a distinction in social and political equality. The majority vote, given by Henry Billings Brown, stated Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based on physical differences, and the attempt to do so can only result in accentuating the differences of the present situation. If the civil and political rights of both races be equal, one cannot be inferior to the other civilly or politically. If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them on the same plane.4 According to this distinction, whites and blacks were politically equal in the sense that they had the same political rights (although realistically very diminished, but still technically there), but not equal socially, using the claim that whites were more socially advanced than blacks. They argued against their violation of the Fourteenth Amendment with the idea that because not only were they segregating colored people out of white areas, but they were also keeping white people out of areas that were marked as colored only. Therefore, the segregation was equal in their eyes because both parties were equally segregated, overlooking the fact that every aspect of any area that was designated as colored only was always neglected, unpleasant and incompetent compared to the white only sections. The one disagreeing justice, John Marshall Harlan disagreed with the constitutionality of the law, arguing that although the law appears to treat blacks and whites equally, every one knows that the statute in question had its origin in the purpose, not so much to exclude
4

Zimmerman, Thomas. "Plessy v. Ferguson." BGSU :: University Home Page :: Bowling Green State University Home Page. 1997. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. <http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/plessy/plessy.html>.

white persons from railroad cars occupied by blacks, as to exclude colored people from coaches occupied by or assigned to white persons.5 This decision by the Supreme Court gave way to 50 years of legal, state sponsored segregation until 1954, when the case of Brown V. Board of Education ruled that allowing separate educational buildings was inherently unequal. This ruling paved the way for the equal rights movement and integration.

Their argument against the constitutionality of the separate but equal laws of segregation was based on the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments. The first article of the Thirteenth amendment states that Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. The segregation laws directly violate the personal freedoms of those that are oppressed, and therefore are a direct violation of this amendment. Laws promoting segregation are a violation of the Fourteenth amendment as well. The first section of this amendment states ...No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,6 which laws encouraging segregation
5

Zimmerman, Thomas. "Plessy v. Ferguson." BGSU :: University Home Page :: Bowling Green State University Home Page. 1997. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. <http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/plessy/plessy.html>. 6 "The Constitution of the United States: Amendments 11-27." National Archives and Records Administration. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. <http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html>.

based on the color of ones skin is direct violation of. They are stripped of the same privileges that a white person would have, and under this amendment is promised that this shall not happen.

So although the Plessy V. Ferguson case was a historically notable one, its verdict encouraged racial oppression for 50 years, and was a major setback in the civil rights movement. It was an excuse for bigotry in the south, and even further reinforced the Jim Crow laws that put American citizens that were of color as less than white citizens.

Works Cited:

Zimmerman, Thomas. "Plessy v. Ferguson." BGSU :: University Home Page :: Bowling Green State University Home Page. 1997. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. <http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/plessy/plessy.html>.

Pilgrim, David. "What Was Jim Crow?" Ferris State University: Michigan College Campuses in Big Rapids MI, Grand Rapids MI, Off Campus Locations Across Michigan. Ferris State University, Sept. 2000. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. <http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/what.htm>.

Cozzens, Lisa. "After the Civil War: Plessy v. Ferguson." Www.watson.org. 17 Sept. 1999. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. <http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/post-civilwar/plessy.html>.

"Plessy v. Ferguson Case Brief Summary." Lawnix - Law Resources and Legal Information. Lawnix. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. <http://www.lawnix.com/cases/plessy-ferguson.html>.

"The Constitution of the United States: Amendments 11-27." National Archives and Records Administration. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. <http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html>.

Cancellaro, Michael. "Introduction to Criminal Justice." Tunxis Community College. Farmington, 21 Oct. 2011.