Mr. Homburg
APUSH
Plessy v. Ferguson
Issue: Racial Segregation in Public Facilities
On June 7, 1892, a 30-year-old colored shoemaker named Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in the
"White" car of the East Louisiana Railroad. Plessy was only one-eighths black and seven-eighths
white, but under Louisiana law, he was considered black and therefore required to sit in the
"Colored" car. Plessy went to court and argued, in Homer Adolph Plessy v. The State of Louisiana,
that the Separate Car Act violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.
The judge at the trial was John Howard Ferguson, a lawyer from Massachusetts who had previously
declared the Separate Car Act "unconstitutional on trains that traveled through several states.” In
Plessy's case, however, he decided that the state could choose to regulate railroad companies that
operated only within Louisiana. He found Plessy guilty of refusing to leave the white car. Plessy
appealed to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, which upheld Ferguson's decision. In 1896, the
Supreme Court of the United States heard Plessy's case and found him guilty once again. Speaking
for a seven-person majority, Justice Henry Brown wrote:
"That [the Separate Car Act] does not conflict with the Thirteenth Amendment,
which abolished slavery...is too clear for argument...A statute which implies merely a
legal distinction between the white and colored races -- a distinction which is
founded in the color of the two races, and which must always exist so long as white
men are distinguished from the other race by color -- has no tendency to destroy the
legal equality of the two races...The object of the [Fourteenth A]mendment was
undoubtedly to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in
the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based
upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a
commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either."
The lone dissenter, Justice John Harlan, showed incredible foresight when he wrote:
"Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among
citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law...In my
opinion, the judgment this day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious
as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott case...The present decision, it
may well be apprehended, will not only stimulate aggressions, more or less brutal
and irritating, upon the admitted rights of colored citizens, but will encourage the
belief that it is possible, by means of state enactments, to defeat the beneficient
purposes which the people of the United States had in view when they adopted the
recent amendments of the Constitution."
Over time, the words of Justice Harlan rang true. The Plessy decision set the precedent that
"separate" facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional as long as they were "equal." The
"separate but equal" doctrine was quickly extended to cover many areas of public life, such as
restaurants, theaters, restrooms, and public schools. Not until 1954, in the equally important Brown
v. Board of Education decision, would the "separate but equal" doctrine be struck down.
Source: http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/early-civilrights/brown.html
Mr. Homburg
APUSH
Brown v. Board of Education
Issue: Racial Segregation in Public Schools
Background
The landmark Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954) settled the question of
whether or not blacks and whites can receive an education integrated with or separate from each
other. The case overturned the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson, which established the doctrine of
"separate but equal." This concept stated that separate public facilities of equal quality do not
violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, which reads:
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they
reside. 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.
Linda Brown was an eight year old black child who had to cross Topeka, Kansas to attend grade
school, while her white friends were able to attend classes at a public school just a few blocks away.
The Topeka School system was segregated on the basis of race, and under the separate but equal
doctrine, this arrangement was acceptable and legal. Linda's parents sued in federal district court on
the basis that separate facilities for blacks were inherently unequal. The lower courts agreed with
the school system that if the facilities were equal, the child was being treated equally with whites as
prescribed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Browns and other families in other school systems
appealed to the Supreme Court that even facilities that were physically equal did not take into
account "intangible" factors, and that segregation itself has a deleterious effect on the education of
black children. Their case was encouraged by the National Association For the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) and was argued before the Supreme Court by Thurgood Marshall, who
would later become the first black justice on the Supreme Court.
The Issue Before the Court:
Does racial segregation of children in public schools deprive minority children
of equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment?
Supreme Court Ruling: The Supreme Court ruled unanimously to end racial segregation in public
schools.
Summary and Excerpt of Ruling
The high court ruled unanimously to overturn the Plessy v. Ferguson decision. The decision of the
court was delivered by Chief Justice Earl Warren. After outlining the facts of the case and history of
the Court's thinking on the "separate but equal" doctrine, Warren stressed the importance of
education in the consciousness of American life:
"Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments.
Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our
recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the
performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the
Mr. Homburg
APUSH
very foundation of good citizenship. Today it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to
cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust
normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected
to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the
state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.
We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on
the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal,
deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it
does."
The rational of the Court's decision was based on the dehumanizing effects of segregation:
"Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the
colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of
separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of
inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore,
has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive
them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system."
The basis of the decision rests on the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which
applies the standard of equality to the actions of the states as well as the Federal government in a
concept known in legal circles as "incorporation." Warren wrote:
"We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no
place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs
and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the
segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the
Fourteenth Amendment."
Results of the Ruling:
The Brown case signaled the end of "de jure" segregation in the United States, that is, segregation
of public places that is mandated by law. Once the Brown decision was handed down, the AfricanAmerican community, along with forward-thinking white Americans, placed sufficient pressure on
the legal and political system to bring an end to state-supported segregation in all public facilities
within twenty years through the Civil Rights Movement, led by Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The nation paid a high price for its moral conversion in the form of riots, assassination, and
additional government programs to enforce the Court's decision such as court-ordered busing and
affirmative action. Americans soon found that Congress and the Courts were unable to change the
attitudes of Americans in respect to race relations. Certainly, America moved toward the ideals of
equality and justice in the public arena, but as seen in the race riots of the 1960s and the civil
disturbances in Los Angeles in 1992, the inner life of the nation is still resistant to change.
Source: http://www.pbs.org
Mr. Homburg
APUSH
Changing Court Views
United States Supreme Court case(s): ______________________________________
1. Write a brief summary of the case. Describe who the plaintiffs and defendants were and
what events led to the dispute.
2. What were the constitutional issues in the case? Use specific examples from the
constitutional amendments involved.
3. What did the Supreme Court decide in the case?
4.
Did the Court's decision have a positive or negative or little impact on the cause of civil
rights? Explain.
Mr. Homburg
APUSH
United States Supreme Court case(s): ______________________________________
1. Write a brief summary of the case. Describe who the plaintiffs and defendants were and
what events led to the dispute.
2. What were the constitutional issues in the case? Use specific examples from the
constitutional amendments involved.
3. What did the Supreme Court decide in the case?
4. Did the Court's decision have a positive or negative or little impact on the cause of civil
rights? Explain.