Plessy V Ferguson

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10/18/16 • October 18, 2016 • AIM # 16 –What • R.A.W happened in the Plessy v –What was Ferguson the Great Supreme Betrayal? Court Case? • In 1890 Louisiana passed the • The arrest of Plessy was planned “Separate Car Act.” It said • *Citizens Committee to Test the that railroad companies must Constitutionality of the Separate Car Act* have separate but equal train • The East Louisiana Railroad cars for Whites & African Company Americans • The Committee appointed Albion • Passengers had to sit Tourgee as their lawyer segregated • Homer Plessy, only 1/8 African American, he looked white 1 10/18/16 • June 7, 1892, Plessy purchased a • Judge John Howard Ferguson ticket from New Orleans to decided that the Separate Car Covington Louisiana Act was constitutional for trains • He sat in the car designated for running within state boarders white people, refused to move • Plessy found guilty for refusing • The conductor arrested Plessy & to leave a white car charged him with violating the Separate Car Act • Tourgee argued that Plessy was • 8 out of 9 Justices found Plessy guilty denied equal protection under • They said: the 14th Amendment & the ruling – 13th Amendment distinguishes violated the 13th Amendment by between political & social equality and African Americans & whites were perpetuating features of slavery politically equal but socially unequal • The case was appealed to the because whites were more socially state court in 1893- found guilty advanced then African Americans – 14th Amendment was not violated • Appealed to the Supreme Court because whites can’t sit in the cars in 1896 marked for African Americans 2 10/18/16 • This decision served as the legal justification for racial segregation for over the next 60 years 3.

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We As Freemen
WE AS FREEMEN WE AS FREEMEN Plessy v. Ferguson By Keith Weldon Medley PELICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY Gretna 2003 Copyright © 2003 By Keith Weldon Medley All rights reserved The word “Pelican” and the depiction of a pelican are trademarks of Pelican Publishing Company, Inc., and are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Medley, Keith Weldon. We as freemen : Plessy v. Ferguson and legal segregation / by Keith Weldon Medley. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 1-58980-120-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Plessy, Homer Adolph—Trials, litigation, etc. 2. Segregation in transportation—Law and legislation—Louisiana—History. 3. Segregation—Law and legislation—United States—History. 4. United States—Race relations—History. I. Title: Plessy v. Ferguson. II. Title. KF223.P56 M43 2003 342.73’0873—dc21 2002154505 Printed in the United States of America Published by Pelican Publishing Company, Inc. 1000 Burmaster Street, Gretna, Louisiana 70053 In memory of my parents, Alfred Andrew Medley, Sr., and Veronica Rose Toca Medley For my sons, Keith and Kwesi “We, as freemen, still believe that we were right and our cause is sacred.” —Statement of the Comité des Citoyens, 1896 Contents Acknowledgments 0 Chapter 1 A Negro Named Plessy 000 Chapter 2 John Howard Ferguson 000 Chapter 3 Albion W. Tourgee 000 Chapter 4 One Country, One People 000 Chapter 5 The Separate Car Act of 1890 000 Chapter 6 Who Will Bell the Cat? 000 Chapter 7 Are You a Colored Man? 000 Chapter 8 My Dear Martinet 000 Chapter 9 We as Freemen 000 Chapter 10 The Battle of Freedom 000 Appendix A: Further Reading 000 Notes 000 Index 000 Acknowledgments I would like to thank Dr.
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