Plessy v. Ferguson
(1896)
THE ISSUE Segregation
ORIGINS OF THE CASE By the 1890s, most Southern states had begun to
pass laws enforcing segregation—the separation of the races—in public places.
One Louisiana law called for “equal but separate accommodations for the
white and colored races” on trains. On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy, who was
part African American, took a seat in a train car reserved for whites. When a
conductor told him to move, Plessy refused. Plessy was convicted of breaking the “separate car” law. He appealed the case, saying that the law violated his rights under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments.
THE RULING The Court ruled that “separate but equal” facilities for blacks
and whites did not violate the Constitution.
The Legal Arguments
U.S. CONSTITUTION/LEGISLATION
Thirteenth Amendment (1865)
“Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude . . . shall exist within
the United States, or any place
subject to their jurisdiction.”
Fourteenth Amendment (1868)
“No state shall make or enforce
any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor
shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law; nor
deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection
of the laws.”
RELATED CASE
Cumming v. Board of Education
of Richmond County (1899)
The Court ruled that because
education is a local issue, the
federal government could not
stop school districts from having
separate facilities for black and
white students.
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The Court’s opinion, written by Justice Henry Billings Brown, rejected
Plessy’s appeal. Brown first answered Plessy’s claim that the separate
car law created a relationship between whites and blacks similar to
that which existed under slavery. The Thirteenth
Amendment simply ended the ownership of one person
by another, Brown wrote. Louisiana’s law did not
reestablish this system of ownership.
Brown then turned to Plessy’s claim that the
Fourteenth Amendment was designed to ensure
the equality of the races before the law. Brown
wrote that the amendment “could not have
been intended to abolish distinctions based on
color.” A law that treated the races differently
did not brand one race as inferior. If a law
made people feel inferior, it was because they
chose to see it that way. Summing up, Brown
stated:
A [law] which implies merely a legal distinction
between the white and colored races . . . has no tendency to destroy the legal equality of the two races.
Justice John Marshall Harlan strongly disagreed
with the majority view. In a bitter dissent, he
wrote that the “thin disguise” of separate but
equal facilities would fool no one, “nor atone for
the wrong this day done.”
In his dissent, Justice
Harlan stated that
“our constitution is
color-blind, and
neither knows nor
tolerates classes
among citizens.”
Why Does It Matter Now?
Plessy was one of several cases in the late 1800s
involving the civil rights of African Americans. In
these cases, the Court misread the Fourteenth
Amendment and let stand state laws that denied
African Americans their rights. Plessy has come to
stand for all of these decisions because it said that
“separate but equal” facilities for blacks and
whites did not violate the Constitution.
Although the Plessy decision dealt only with
public transportation, state governments across
the South applied it to all areas of life. In time,
“Jim Crow” laws forced African Americans to use
separate restaurants, hotels, train cars, parks,
schools, and hospitals. Signs reading “For Colored
Only” and “Whites Only” ruled everyday life in
the South for years to come.
After Plessy, many African Americans and some
whites looked for ways to fight segregation. Some
of these people helped to found the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP).
Throughout the first half of the 20th century,
lawyers working for the NAACP chipped away at
segregation laws. Their greatest victory came in
1954, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
In this decision, the Supreme Court ruled that
separate educational facilities were “inherently
unequal” and, therefore, unconstitutional.
Southern state and local governments had used
the Plessy decision to build a system of legal
segregation. In the same way, civil rights workers
used the Brown ruling to dismantle it.
After the Plessy decision, signs designating separate facilities for whites and
African Americans became a common sight throughout the South.
CONNECT TO HISTORY
CONNECT TO TODAY
1. Drawing Conclusions Read the section of the
Fourteenth Amendment reprinted in the “Legal
Sources” section on page 902. Based on that
passage, what do you think “equal protection of the
laws” means? How does it apply to the Plessy case?
2. Researching Use library resources and the Internet
to find information on Supreme Court cases that
dealt with segregation. Present your findings in a
three-column chart. Use “Case,” “Brief Description of
Issues Involved,” and “Decision” as column headings.
See Skillbuilder Handbook, page R13.
For more information on segregation and the law . . .
RESEARCH LINKS
CL ASSZONE .COM
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H ISTORIC D ECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT
Why Did It Matter Then?