Understanding Plessy v. Ferguson In 1890, Louisiana passed a law prohibiting people of different races from traveling together on trains. This law was one of many forms of segregation known as Jim Crow. Homer Plessy, whose great-grandmother was black, purposely challenged the law by sitting in a car reserved for white passengers. Plessy, who was seven-eighths white, identified himself as being black when the conductor checked his ticket. He was promptly arrested and convicted by Judge John H. Ferguson. However, Plessy’s Lawyers appealed the decision all the way to the Supreme Court. They argued that the Louisiana law violated both the 13th and the 14th Amendments to the Constitution. In 1896, the Supreme Court rejected both Plessy’s 13th and 14th Amendment arguments, and ruled in favor of segregation. Separation of the races was constitutional, the Court said, as long as equal accommodations were made for both blacks and whites. The High Court’s majority opinion legalized Jim Crow Laws. The ruling resulted in segregated restaurants, railcars, streetcars, waiting rooms, parks, cemeteries, churches, hospitals, prisons, elevators, theaters, schools, public restrooms, water fountains, and even public telephones. Plessy v. Ferguson represented a major setback in the quest for civil rights for black Americans. Read the case summary and answer the questions below. ______________________________________________________________________________ What were Jim Crow Laws? ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Plessy v. Ferguson and the Thirteenth Amendment Homer Plessy’s Argument Louisiana’s 1890 Separate Car Law violates the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. The 13th Amendment abolishes slavery. However, the Separate Car Law stamps black Americans with a badge of inferiority, and therefore, in a way imposes a form of slavery. In your own words, explain Homer Plessy’s 13th Amendment argument. ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Supreme Court’s Majority Opinion Laws “requiring [the] separation” of races in public places “do not imply the inferiority of either race to the other.” If the owner of an inn, a railroad line, or a theater, refuses accommodations to black people, this is not the same as imposing slavery or servitude upon them. The Court recognizes these may be acts of discrimination, but they are not the same as slavery. Plessy is incorrect in his “assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority.” If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the Separate Car Law, “but solely because the colored race chooses” to think this way. In your own words, explain the Supreme Court’s 13th Amendment argument. ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Plessy v. Ferguson and the Fourteenth Amendment Homer Plessy’s Argument The Louisiana Separate Car Law violates the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which says that states cannot make laws that limit the rights of citizens and that all citizens are entitled to the equal protection of the laws. The Separate Car Law takes away Homer Plessy’s right to liberty, because he is denied the freedom to choose to come and go where and how he pleases. The Separate Car Law does not treat all citizens equally, as required by the 14th Amendment. In your own words, explain Homer Plessy’s 14th Amendment argument. ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Supreme Court’s Majority Opinion The goal of the 14th Amendment “is undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law.” However, “legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based on physical differences, and if one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them on the same plane.” The Court says that the Constitution cannot force blacks and whites to associate together or to respect one another. The 14th Amendment can only guarantee political and legal equality; it is not intended to enforce social equality. The Justices say that the 14th Amendment is not intended to make black and white people mix together socially if they do not want to do so. In your own words, explain the Supreme Court’s 14th Amendment argument. ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Summary According to the Supreme Court’s 1896 ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, if society views one race as inferior to the other, the Constitution cannot put them the same plane. People are allowed to dislike one another and to separate themselves from one another. The constitution can only guarantee legal equality, not social equality. For example, as long as there are railcars for both races, then blacks and whites have equal access to railcars. As long as there are water fountains for blacks and whites, then blacks and whites have equal access to water. Blacks may be forced to attend separate schools because they still have access to an education. According to the Supreme Court, if society’s customs require people to be separate, so be it. Separate, but equal. This 1896 Supreme Court decision permitted segregation and stood as the law of the land, legalizing racism for decades. What was the legacy of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson? Why do historians consider the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson a “constitutional disaster” in black Americans journey for equal rights? ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ .