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Background: Following the end of the American Civil War in 1865, a period known as Reconstruction began in the United States, when the government's primary focus was to completely eradicate slavery. While the government was able to mostly succeed in protecting the constitutional rights of slaves, the year 1887 brought up many obstacles for those who were once slaves with the Compromise of 1887. Under this legislation, federal troops were ordered to leave the southern states that fought with the confederacy in the Civil War, and when this happened these states began to pass Jim Crow Laws (which forbade negroes to use the same public accomadations as caucasions). Upon the enactment of these laws, the US government began to look into these legislations to determine if they were constitutional, and under the Slaughterhouse cases, the government agreed that the 13th amendment's primary intent was to rid of slavery, not to protect former slaves from segregation laws in the South. In addition, the Civil Rights Cases of 1883 ultimately ruled that the 14th Ammendment of the United States was only applied to actions of the government, not to those of individuals. As a result, negroes were not protected against those who abused their civil rights. Thus, the enactment and approval of segregation laws was perfectly legal at the time by southern states.
Infuence of Plessy Vs. Ferguson: Homer Plessy VS. the State of Louisiana acted as the major start of racial segregation in the United States. It began the era of time in the US where "separate but equal" was legal. In other words, the separation of ethnic groups such as blacks from whites in public places was labeled as legal and constitutional as long as the accommodations and services for each group were equal. However, many of the southern states disobeyed this by refusing to give equal accommodations to other ethnic groups other than white, thus the perception that blacks were an ethnic minority group was taken on in this era.
Plessy Vs. Ferguson (Homer Plessy Vs. the State of Louisiana)
The Case: With the continued creation of Jim Crow Laws in the late 19th century, Louisiana was among the 1st states to enact a segregation law for railroads, which forced negroes and caucasions to sit in different passenger cars. In opposition of the law, a group of blacks and whites from the state formed an organization known as the Citizen's Commitee to Test the Separate Car Act with the intent of repealing the law. To show their opposition of the law, they selected Homer Plessy (who was 1/8 black and 7/8 white) to carry out an act of planned disobedience. On June 7th, 1892, Homer Plessy boarded the caucasion passenger car on the East Louisiana Railroad. While he was predominately white and was born a free person, the railroad segregation act that was approved by Louisiana in 1890 stated that Plessy was considered black, and therefore had to sit in the colored car. As planned, he refused to relocate to the colored car and after a small disbute he was arrested for civil disobedience. Upon his trial in court, he proclaimed that his rights under the 13th and 14th Ammendment of the United States were abused, however the judge over his case (John H. Ferguson) ruled that Louisiana had the right to regulate segregation on its railroads, for the 13th Ammendment's primary intent was to only rid of slavery, not to protect blacks from segregation laws and the 14th Ammendment was only applied to actions by the government, not those of individuals. Plessy sought to further fight for his beliefs by seeking a writ of probition (which rendered his court case invalid), and his case was taken to the Louisiana supreme court. Although, they too supported ferguson's ruling. Undaunted, Plessy appealed for the US supreme court to review his case. In April of 1896 his trial was held under the US supreme court.
The Verdict: Upon reviewing Plessy's argument and having an oral debate in the supreme court trial for a 8 to 1 vote ruled that his argument stating his rights under the 14th ammendment were violated was invalid. The supreme court claimed that they saw no way in which Lousiana's segregation law violated the 14th ammendment. The court also ruled that Louisiana's actions in no way implied blacks as an inferiority, only that the law it enacted was a matter of public policy. In may of 1896, Justice Henry Brown delivered the majority opinion in favor of Louisiana. Thus, Louisiana's legislations that enacted segregation in public places and services in no way violated the rights of blacks under the 13th and 14th Ammendment's.
Homer Plessy (1863-1925)
