*Plessy+v.+Ferguson

By Melissa and Tiara
 * //Plessy vs. Ferguson; 1896//**

In 1896 a guy named __Homer Plessy__ who was 1/ 8 black sought to challenge the new law called the Louisiana __Separate Car Act__ that said that blacks and whites had to ride in different railroad cars. RUN-ON SENTENCE The Citizens' Commitee, a group working towards challenging the new law, cinvinced him to do this. The penalty for riding in the wrong car was 20 days in jail or a $25 fee. On his was to Louisiana COMMA Plessy took a seat in THE first class white HYPHEN only section. When Plessy informed the conductor that he was 1/8 black COMMA the conductor called the police and Plessy was immediately arrested and spent a night in jail for refusing to move to the black section of the railroad car, and was released on bond the next morning. RUN-ON SENTENCE His case went to trial a month after he was arrested. While Judge __John Ferguson__ had once ruled against separate cars for interstate railroad travel, he ruled against Plessy in the case because he believed that states have the right to set segregation within its own boundaries. WHY ARE NAMES UNDERLINED? DID YOU CUT AN D PASTE? I HOPE NOT! PROOF READ FOR MISTAKES 3.5/5
 * Summary; **

The question the court tried to answer in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson was based on equality among races. The Civil War had just recently ended and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments had been passed in the late 1860’s, only a few years before this case took place. THIRTY YEARS IS A FEW YEARS? These amendments abolished slavery and guaranteed equal rights for all people born in the United States, regardless of race. When Albion Tourgee, legal representative of the Citizens’ Committee and Plessy’s lawyer, tried to argue that the Separate Car Act violated the 13th and 14th amendments, the court had to decide whether separation of races was unconstitutional under these two amendments. The 13th amendment outlawed slavery in the United States. Tourgee said that the Separate Car act violated this amendment by promoting slavery‘s basic features. The 14th amendment was passed to ensure that all U.S. citizens were given the same rights and equal protection under the law. Tourgee said that Plessy was not given the equal rights promised to him by this amendment when he was denied the right to sit in the car designated for white people. The court had to decide whether these claims were valid. GOOD 5/5
 * Constitutional/Legal Issue;**

In 1896 the Plessy vs. Ferguson case was reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court also WHY ALSO? ruled against Plessy with an eight person majority. Justice Henry Billings Brown delivered the majority opinion. He said that Plessy's rights under the 13th and 14th amendments had not been violated. He backed up this claim by saying that although the 13th amendment guaranteed political equality by abolishing slavery, it said nothing about social equality. He also pointed out that the equal protection guaranteed by the 14th amendment was not being compromised because not only were blacks prohibited from sitting in cars designated for whites, but whites were prohibited from sitting in cars designated for blacks. The only justice to vote in Plessy's defense was John Marshall Harlan. He said that it was obvious that the purpose of the Separate Car Act was to keep blacks out of cars designated for whites, not vice versa, and that this law was unconstitutional. He even foresaw the problems that the ruling would cause by establishing a new doctrine in the country. 5/5
 * Decision;**

The court’s decision that separation of races did not interfere with the equality promised by the 13th and 14th amendments helped to promote the doctrine of “separate but equal”. This led to segregation all over the southern part of the United States. Many public places were separated into different facilities designated for whites or blacks, just like the train cars were in Louisiana during the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. For a long time the idea of “separate but equal” was upheld, even though in reality there was still discrimination based on race, and the citizens of the United States were far from equal. Judge Ferguson’s decision was finally challenged in 1954 during the Brown v. Board of Education ITALCIS court case. GOOD 5/5 2/2 Homer Plessy
 * Significance;**


 * Bibliography;**
 * Zimmerman, T. (1997). //Plessy v. ferguson// . Retrieved from [|http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/plessy/plessy.html]
 * Hartin, E.R. (2003, March 8). //Plessy v. ferguson// . Retrieved from [|http://www.thenagain.info/webchron/USA/PlessyFerguson.html]
 * (n.d.). //Civil war amendments// . Retrieved from [|http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112391/civil_war_amendments.htm]
 * Robinson, S. (n.d.). //The Plessy vs. ferguson// . Retrieved from [|http://www.gibbsmagazine.com/Plessy.html]
 * Homer Plessy. Retrieved November 19, 2009 from [[[http://silsasupremecourtcasesaday.wikispaces.com/page/diff/%2APlessy+v.+Ferguson+/103908727#|<< First] [|< Previous] [|Next >] [|Last >>]

DON'T USE BULLETS IN BIBLIOGRAPHY 2/2

24/25 = 96% (A)

A FEW SPELLING/GRAMMAR MISTAKES BUT OVERALL A NICE JOB - GOOD WORK!