Overturned by the decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 Plessy v. Ferguson SS.7.C.3.12 Analyze the significance and outcomes of landmark Supreme Court cases including, but not limited to…Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 “Separate But Equal” Overturned by the decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 https://www.loc.gov/static/managed-content/uploads/sites/10/1896/05/drinking.jpg

Separate Car Act or the Louisiana Railway Accommodations Act (1890) What Does It Mean? Separate Car Act or the Louisiana Railway Accommodations Act (1890) SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Louisiana, That all railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in this State, shall provide equal but separate accommodations for the white, and colored races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train, or by dividing the passenger coaches by a partition so as to secure separate accommodations… Instruct students to read the portion of the Separate Car Act. Discuss in small groups and debrief by having students explain the meaning of the Act. http://railroads.unl.edu/documents/view_document.php?id=rail.gen.0060

Click image to view a brief video about Plessy v. Ferguson 1892: Meet Homer Plessy Homer Plessy was 7/8 white and 1/8 black He purchased a first-class ticket and sat in the white-designated railroad car Click image to view a brief video about Plessy v. Ferguson Plessy refused to move to the car reserved for blacks. He was arrested and imprisoned for violating the Separate Car Act. Brought to trial and convicted of violating the law http://neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/320 (includes video about Plessy v. Ferguson and the organized challenge to the Separate Car Act) Note: Plessy was part of an organized effort in Louisiana to challenge the Separate Car Act. He was selected by the group to purchase a ticket in the designated white rail car based on his light complexion. After an altercation with the conductor, Plessy refused to move to the car designated for black passengers.

The Case on Appeal Plessy appealed his case to the Supreme Court of Louisiana The Court denied his appeal and upheld the ruling of the lower court which determined that Louisiana had the right to regulate railroad companies and the segregation of passengers Plessy then appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court http://neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/320

Question Before the Court Was Louisiana’s law requiring racial segregation on its trains unconstitutional? http://neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/320

Basis of Plessy’s Argument 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution 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. 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States…nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Outcome What did the Court decide? In 1896 in a 7-1 decision, the Court ruled the state law was constitutional Based their decision on separate-but-equal doctrine that separate facilities for whites and blacks do not violated the Fourteenth Amendment as long as they were equal This case would be overturned with the 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education https://www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/163us537 From https://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/antebellum/landmark_plessy.html: The Court ruled that, while the object of the Fourteenth Amendment was to create "absolute equality of the two races before the law," such equality extended only so far as political and civil rights (e.g., voting and serving on juries), not "social rights" (e.g., sitting in a railway car one chooses). As Justice Henry Brown's opinion put it, "if one race be inferior to the other socially, the constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane." Furthermore, the Court held that the Thirteenth Amendment applied only to the imposition of slavery itself.  Justice John Marshall Harlan entered a powerful -- and lone -- dissent, noting that "in view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens." 

Quoting the Case: Plessy v. Ferguson “The statute of Louisiana requiring railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in that State, to provide equal, but separate, accommodations for the…races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train…and providing that no person shall be permitted to occupy seats in coaches other than the ones assigned to them…” Justice Henry Billings Brown, 163 US 537 (1896) https://www.loc.gov/static/managed-content/uploads/sites/10/1896/05/drinking.jpg

Significance of the Case Landmark case establishing separate-but-equal doctrine that would prolong racial segregation This case would be overturned with the 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education