Plessy Vs. Ferguson

    June 7th, 1892. Homer Plessy, a mixed race man, bought a ticket for a train from New Orleans to Covington, Louisiana. Instead of boarding the African American car, he boarded the the whites only car. The conductor came up to him, and asked him to leave the car. He refused, so he was arrested and sent to jail. 
    
    New Orleans court claimed he was violating the 1890 law. In reaction to this, he made  a petition against judge John Ferguson. According to Plessy, the law "violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment".  This led to a court case that led on for years until the case was finally at a decision. 
    
    On May 18th, 1896, Supreme Court made a decision. "In declaring separate-but-equal facilities constitutional on intrastate railroads, the Court ruled that the protections of the 14th Amendment applied only to Political and civil rights (like voting and jury service), not "social rights" (sitting in the railroad car of your choice)." 

    The Court denied the claims that black only cars were inferior. 

These type of decisions by the Supreme Court led on for decades, up until 1964, when the next Civil Rights Act was passed, banning segregation and discrimination against blacks in public places. It is absolutely disgusting that it led on for this long in America. It truly shows how long white supremacy lasted in this country, legally too. Today we still have people that think blacks are inferior to whites, and it is stupid. 

Segregation (Jim Crow) | Encyclopedia of Alabama

History.com Editors. (2009, October 29). Plessy v. Ferguson. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/plessy-v-ferguson

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