Maximiliano Sanchez Victoria
Professor Linda Holt
Comprehensive Law Studies
3 October 2017
Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education Picture this: a world with no color. Would racism still exist? Or would people be discriminated based on other things such as height, weight, or the sound of their voice? We may never know the answer to these questions. Racism is still alive in the United States, but it is not as severe and oppressive as it was during the era of the Jim Crow laws. The 13th amendment freed the slaves in the United States, however, not many white Americans agreed with this. The 13th amendment did not shield the African Americans from oppression, “The segregation and disenfranchisement laws known as ‘Jim Crow’
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There was no clarification on what race would be considered white or what would be considered black. During this incident, “Homer Plessy, who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth African American, purchased a rail ticket for travel within Louisiana and took a seat in a car reserved for white passengers. (The state Supreme Court had ruled earlier that the law could not be applied to interstate travel.) After refusing to move to a car for African Americans, he was arrested and charged with violating the Separate Car Act.”(Duignan 2017). Judge Ferguson ruled that the separation was fair and did not violate the fourteenth amendment. The state Supreme Court also backed up this decision. The case was brought to the Supreme Court and "The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments. By a 7-1 vote, the Court said that a state law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between the two races did not conflict with the 13th Amendment forbidding involuntary servitude, nor did it tend to reestablish such a condition." (History.com Staff 2009). This decision set the key precedent of Separate but Equal in the United States. Racial segregation kept growing. In 1954 the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education ruled that segregation in schools was unconstitutional. During the 1950s, "...civil rights groups set up legal and political,
The Supreme Court has significant impact on molding the society of the United States, so does it play an important role in the process of the realization of equal protection on the right to education. From Plessy to Brown, every case that had milestone meaning indicated the evolution on the equal protection of the right to education, and also marked the progress of American civilization. However, there are different points between Plessy and Brown. Brown v. Board of Education was educational case of black race, but Plessy v. Ferguson is not it; the result of Plessy is isolation but equal, the Brown show us that
Everyone has the right to be equal with one another, right? Well not In the two cases, "Plessy V. Ferguson" and "Brown v. Board of Education", they show that we are not equal, but how we can fix these issues. These cases show that we are getting closer to complete equality.
In 1951 schools were separated by skin color, or segregated. The Brown v. Board of Education trial was brought to court because a third-grader, Linda Brown, was not allowed to attend the elementary school that was closest to her house. She wa required to take the bus to school across town instead. In the trial the point that “Education for Negroes is almost nonexistent(13).” This is an example of how there were old problems in the Fourteenth Amendment that needed to be changed. Another issue that was brought up in the trial was that, “Segregation… has a tendency to retard the educational and mental development of negro children…(19).” Without the proper education at segregated
Sixty-two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled the “separate but equal” doctrine unconstitutional. The decision from the Plessy v. Ferguson case was lawfully denounced by the Brown v. Board of Education. The Brown case, which was initiated by the members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), served as a stimulus for challenging segregation in all areas of society, especially in public educational institutions. Among the support for the desegregation in school systems, there was a young yet compelling voice who was heard by numerous ears in the rural city in Farmville, Alabama. The virtuous and determined Barbara Johns, who was only a high school student then led her tiny, hovel-like school’s student body and the Farmville community to file a lawsuit in the hope of terminating the inequality in regards to the educational system.
These cases all involve discrimination, disrespect, and judgment: Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, and Loving v. Virginia. We all are different in different ways and we all don't look alike but that shouldn't change how we see each other as people . Being colored or being white doesn't mean anything it's just the skin that God gave you. It doesn't tell you who you are or who you have to be. It's up to you how you act and treat others. “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” —Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. one of the worlds biggest most known activist helped change our ways from what they were to what they are right now. He helped show that it's ok to be different and in the end all come together as one.
In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court case upheld the constitution of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case. This case examined one key issue, was it constitutional to make black people sit in separate cars from white people? In 1890, Homer Plessy broke the law in Louisiana, by sitting in the white people car and he was 1/8 black and 7/8 white. The state of Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, which required railway companies to have "separate but equal." There was punishment for not following the law which if a person would sit in the wrong car they had to pay $25 fine or go to jail for 20 days. Plessy was asked to move, but he refused and was arrested. When he was sent to jail he argued that Separated car acts violated the 14th amendment. Plessy took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court and it was
The Plessy V. Ferguson and Brown V. Board of Education are two cases that changed the way that we live today in a quite dramatic way. The Plessy V. Ferguson was a case that promoted segregation. The majority voted for segregation and the minorities opposed the idea and the key precedent that was established after this case was that the U.S. Supreme Court didn't base their trial off of the constitution and instead based their trial upon the statement 'separate but equal'. The Brown V. Board of Education case was a case that completely opposed the idea of 'separate but equal' because the whole case revolved around the fact that a mother wanted her children to go to a school that was easier to get to however it was a school that was only for white children so the mother decided to take the case to court and the majority voted on letting the African American students attend white schools and the minorities voted otherwise. The key precedent that was established after this case was that segregation in schools violates the 14th amendment and it should not be permitted by the U.S. Supreme Court. These two cases were important for the transformation for the America we have today, and they influenced America's thought process and actions significantly.
Assassinations, riots, and boycotting all led up to the society we have today. Whites and blacks were not allowed to be friends, class mates or even be around each other. They had separate things which listed whites only and blacks only. This included schools, railroad cars, and busses.Two key cases are Plessy v.s. Ferguson and Brown v.s. Board of Education. The majority and minority’s decisions for these two cases set precedent that will effect everyone in America. These landmark cases are closely related because they helped provide the true intent of the 13th and 14th amendment. In addition, Plessy v.s. Ferguson and Brown v.s. Board of Education effectively help revolutionize the interpretation of the 13th and 14th amendment.
Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark case that was decided by the Supreme Court of America in 1954. It is a case that is believed to have brought to an end decades of increasing racial segregation that was experienced in America’s public schools. The landmark decision of this case was resolved from six separate cases that originated from four states. The Supreme Court is believed to have preferred rearguments in the case because of its preference for presentation of briefs. The briefs were to be heard from both sides of the case, with the focus being on five fundamental questions. The questions focused on the attorneys’ opinions about whether Congress viewed segregation in public schools when it ratified the 14th amendment (Benoit, 2013). Changes were then made to the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
Because of a brave young girl and her father being bold enough to stand up for their rights by trying to apply the 14th Amendment this was all possible. “Linda Brown was born on February 20, 1942, in Topeka, Kansas. Because she was forced to travel a significant distance to elementary school due to racial segregation, her father was one of the plaintiffs in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, with the Supreme Court ruling in 1954 that school segregation was unlawful”("Linda Brown Biography," ). She was 8 years old at the time when all of this happened. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People(NAACP) worked along side with her and her father to seek justice for this case. People of color’s thoughts and feeling
Supreme Court case upheld the constitutionality of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. The Court ruled that a state law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between whites and blacks did not conflict with the 13th and14th Amendments. Restrictive legislation based on race continued following the Plessy decision, it was not overturned until Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954. The case came from Louisiana, which in 1890 adopted a law providing for “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races” on its railroads. In 1892, passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car. He was brought before Judge John H. Ferguson of the Criminal Court for New Orleans, who upheld the state law. The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th
In 1892 the Supreme Court ruled 7-1 against Homer Plessy, a one-eighth black man who fought to sit in a train car reserved for white people in Louisiana 1. Since he was not allowed to ride in said cars, his 14th amendment right against discrimination of any American citizen was violated 1. The Supreme Court rejected Plessy's argument that Louisiana law conflicted with the thirteenth amendment and the fourteenth amendment 1. The justices claimed however, that separation of races does not make someone feel
The landmark Supreme Court cases of Dred Scott v. Sandford, Plessy v. Ferguson, and Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas have had a tremendous effect on the struggle for equal rights in America. These marker cases have set the precedent for cases dealing with the issue of civil equality for the last 150 years.
In 1892, Homer Plessy was a passenger in a railroad and who refused to sit in a Jim Crow car. He brought before Judge John H. Ferguson of the Criminal Court from New Orleans, who upheld the state law. The law was challenged in the Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th Amendments. Although, the Supreme Court had ruled in 1896, Plessy v Ferguson inculcated the “separate but equal” doctrine and passed laws entailing the segregation of races, arguing that Jim Crow laws were constitutional. The case was devastating for African Americans allowing the oppression of an entire race. The Supreme Court system in practice was separate and unequal;
Thank you for your post. I enjoyed reading your post. I too find this branch interesting because this is the branch that we as people have the most interaction with. I find this branch to also be the most critical because this were the most change happens. Examples of this are the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896 or the Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954. These were two major supreme court case that changed history. Being someone who works in the health care field, I believe that at some point in time the supreme court will have to make a ruling on how healthcare policy is executed to keep it ethical and to ensure the everyone gets there needs met.