2. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
In 1890, the state of Louisiana passed the "Separate Car Act"
Comité des Citoyens (Committee of Citizens) formed and decided to challenge the law
Homer Plessy was to be their test case subject

4. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Plessy was an “Octoroon”
Seven-eighths white and one-eighth black
Under Louisiana law Plessy was black
“One drop rule”

5. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Plessy bought a first class ticket and boarded a “Whites Only” car on the train
When he refused to move to the car for blacks he was arrested

6. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
The case went all the way to the Supreme Court where Plessy’s lawyer argued:
Plessy’s rights were being violated according to the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery, and the 14th amendment, which guaranteed the same rights to all citizens of the United States, and the equal protection of those rights.

7. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) The Supreme Court decided:
Against Plessy, in a 7 to 1 decision
One Justice said, “the enforced separation of the two races [does not stamp] the colored race with a badge of inferiority.”
This decision helped cement the policy of separate but equal: the policy of forcing whites and blacks to use segregated facilities.

8. Plessy v. Ferguson legitimized segregation!

9. BOB
ROSS!!!