Plessy v Ferguson
The Separate Car Act of 1890 mandated the “separate, but equal” accommodations for railway passengers and kept segregation active in the late 1800s. Homer Plessy was seven-eighths White and one-eighth Black under Louisiana law and, in spite of the Separate Car Act, went on a train car meant for white people. Plessy did this as a test case, a challenge to existing laws, for a civil rights group because he was mostly white in appearance. He was initially charged with violating the law, and eventually the case was appealed to the Supreme Court. Plessy along with his lawyers argued that the act went against the Thirteenth (Abolition) and Fourteenth Amendment (Equal Protection) by making African Americans inferior as people.
Breakdown Verdict.
A 7-1 verdict supported the Separate Car Act and upheld the conviction of Homer Plessy. The Court continued to justify the “separate, but equal” doctrine, reasoning that segregation did not imply legal inferiority so long as the separate facilities were purportedly equal. The Court also stated that the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed legal equality but was not intended to eliminate social distinctions between races.Justice Harlan was the lone dissenting judge, where he was certain that the act was solely installed to deter interaction between races. He famously said that “our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens.”
Result Going Forward.
Plessy v Ferguson enabled further segregation–particularly in the South–and significantly undermined many of the civil rights gains made during the Reconstruction Era (following Civil War). The decision provided constitutional support for the expansion of Jim Crow laws. Blacks were no longer enslaved, but still ostracized as a race. In summary, this case was the middle of a long journey towards equality in America. This remained the governing precedent until it was overturned in 1954.
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