What was the supreme court case Plessy v. Ferguson about?

Answer 1

Plessy v. Ferguson, (1896), was the landmark US Supreme Court case that legalized discrimination against African-Americans and gave credence to the "separate but equal" doctrine.

In 1890, the Louisiana State Legislature passed the Separate Car Act (Act 111), which enforced "separate but equal" travel accommodations in railway transportation. The Act stated: "...all railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in this state shall provide equal but separate accommodations for the white, and the colored races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train, or by dividing the passenger coaches by a partition so as to secure separate accommodations" Violation of the law was a misdemeanor crime punishable by a $25.00 fine or a 20-days jail sentence.

On May 24, 1890, the Louisiana legislature received a signed complaint submitted by seventeen prominent African-American professionals, entitled "Protest of the American Citizens' Equal Rights Association of Louisiana Against Class Legislation." These men and women organized the "Citizens' Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law" (generally called the "Citizens' Committee") in 1891.

Daniel Desdunes, one of the group leaders, was first to challenge the law. He purchased a first-class ticket from the Louisiana & Nashville Railroad to travel from New Orleans, LA, to Montgomery, AL, across state lines. Before his case could be tried in court, however, the Louisiana Supreme Court voted in another case on May 25, 1892, Abbott v. Hicks, 44 La.Ann. 770, to uphold federal Commerce Clause regulations, rendering the Desdunes case moot.

The Citizens' Committee raised $3,000 to finance a second dispute, and enlisted New York attorney Albion Tourgee, a well-known former judge and civil rights activist, to provide advice and legal counsel. Tourgee suggested the next attempt to challenge the law should be made by someone with a light complexion, a suggestion that offended some members of the Committee.

Homer Plessy, a 30-year-old "octoroon" (he had one African-American grandparent), was selected as an appropriate candidate to challenge the law. Plessy purchased a first-class ticket on the East Louisiana Railroad on June 7, 1892, boarded the first-class "whites only" railroad coach, and took a seat.

Because Plessy did not appear to have any African-American heritage, the Committee conspired with the East Louisiana Railroad, which wanted the Separate Car Act overturned for economic reasons, to challenge Plessy's right to sit in the segregated coach. They also hired a private detective to ride along and make a citizen's arrest, to ensure Plessy was charged with breaking the law.

The railroad officials conspiring with the Citizens' Committee insisted Plessy remove himself to the Jim Crow car; Plessy refused; and the private detective arrested him on charges of violating the Separate Car Act. Plessy was brought before Judge Ferguson in the Criminal District Court for the Parish of New Orleans, but refused to enter a plea. His attorneys, Tourgee and local counsel John C. Walker, argued the law was unconstitutional under the Thirteenth Amendment. Judge Ferguson found Plessy guilty and fined him $500. Plessy appealed.

Supreme Court Decision

The case was upheld in the lower courts, then petitioned to the US Supreme Court for review in light of the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause.

In a 7-1 decision delivered by Justice Brown, the Court held that state-sanctioned segregation was constitutional, as long as the separate facilities were equal. As precedent, Brown cited both the Civil Rights Cases, 109 US 3 (1883), which determined the 14th Amendment applied only to states, but not to private individuals or businesses, and the fact that Washington D.C. public schools, under the rule of federal government, was already practicing segregation in education. Justice Brown further concluded that segregation in public accommodations did not constitute discrimination, and dismissed Plessy's argument about infringement of his Thirteenth Amendment rights.

The sole dissenter, Justice John M. Harlan I, wrote:

"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. It was adjudged in that case that the descendants of Africans who were imported into this country and sold as slaves were not included nor intended to be included under the word "citizens" in the Constitution, and could not claim any of the rights and privileges which that instrument provided for and secured to citizens of the United States; that, at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, they were "considered as a subordinate and inferior class of beings, who had been subjugated by the dominant race, and, whether emancipated or not, yet remained subject to their authority, and had no rights or privileges but such as those who held the power and the government might choose to grant them."

The majority opinion gave rise to the "separate but equal" doctrine that invaded nearly every aspect of African-Americans' lives. Plessy represented the South's reaction to, and contravention of, the 13th and 14th Amendments. The Court's decision gave tacit permission to the establishment of Jim Crow laws, which violated the civil rights of African-Americans in a way not anticipated by the Constitution.

Case Citation:

Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 US 537 (1896)

Answer 2

Plessy v. Ferguson, (1896), was the landmark US Supreme Court case that legalized discrimination against African-Americans and gave credence to the "separate but equal" doctrine.

In 1890, the Louisiana State Legislature passed the Separate Car Act (Act 111), which enforced "separate but equal" travel accommodations in railway transportation. The Act stated: "...all railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in this state shall provide equal but separate accommodations for the white, and the colored races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train, or by dividing the passenger coaches by a partition so as to secure separate accommodations" Violation of the law was a misdemeanor crime punishable by a $25.00 fine or a 20-days jail sentence.

On May 24, 1890, the Louisiana legislature received a signed complaint submitted by seventeen prominent African-American professionals, entitled "Protest of the American Citizens' Equal Rights Association of Louisiana Against Class Legislation." These men and women organized the "Citizens' Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law" (generally called the "Citizens' Committee") in 1891.

Daniel Desdunes, one of the group leaders, was first to challenge the law. He purchased a first-class ticket from the Louisiana & Nashville Railroad to travel from New Orleans, LA, to Montgomery, AL, across state lines. Before his case could be tried in court, however, the Louisiana Supreme Court voted in another case on May 25, 1892, Abbott v. Hicks, 44 La.Ann. 770, to uphold federal Commerce Clause regulations, rendering the Desdunes case moot.

The Citizens' Committee raised $3,000 to finance a second dispute, and enlisted New York attorney Albion Tourgee, a well-known former judge and civil rights activist, to provide advice and legal counsel. Tourgee suggested the next attempt to challenge the law should be made by someone with a light complexion, a suggestion that offended some members of the Committee.

Homer Plessy, a 30-year-old "octoroon" (he had one African-American grandparent), was selected as an appropriate candidate to challenge the law. Plessy purchased a first-class ticket on the East Louisiana Railroad on June 7, 1892, boarded the first-class "whites only" railroad coach, and took a seat.

Because Plessy did not appear to have any African-American heritage, the Committee conspired with the East Louisiana Railroad, which wanted the Separate Car Act overturned for economic reasons, to challenge Plessy's right to sit in the segregated coach. They also hired a private detective to ride along and make a citizen's arrest, to ensure Plessy was charged with breaking the law.

The railroad officials conspiring with the Citizens' Committee insisted Plessy remove himself to the Jim Crow car; Plessy refused; and the private detective arrested him on charges of violating the Separate Car Act. Plessy was brought before Judge Ferguson in the Criminal District Court for the Parish of New Orleans, but refused to enter a plea. His attorneys, Tourgee and local counsel John C. Walker, argued the law was unconstitutional under the Thirteenth Amendment. Judge Ferguson found Plessy guilty and fined him $500. Plessy appealed.

Supreme Court Decision

The case was upheld in the lower courts, then petitioned to the US Supreme Court for review in light of the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause.

In a 7-1 decision delivered by Justice Brown, the Court held that state-sanctioned segregation was constitutional, as long as the separate facilities were equal. As precedent, Brown cited both the Civil Rights Cases, 109 US 3 (1883), which determined the 14th Amendment applied only to states, but not to private individuals or businesses, and the fact that Washington D.C. public schools, under the rule of federal government, was already practicing segregation in education. Justice Brown further concluded that segregation in public accommodations did not constitute discrimination, and dismissed Plessy's argument about infringement of his Thirteenth Amendment rights.

The sole dissenter, Justice John M. Harlan I, wrote:

"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. It was adjudged in that case that the descendants of Africans who were imported into this country and sold as slaves were not included nor intended to be included under the word "citizens" in the Constitution, and could not claim any of the rights and privileges which that instrument provided for and secured to citizens of the United States; that, at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, they were "considered as a subordinate and inferior class of beings, who had been subjugated by the dominant race, and, whether emancipated or not, yet remained subject to their authority, and had no rights or privileges but such as those who held the power and the government might choose to grant them."

The majority opinion gave rise to the "separate but equal" doctrine that invaded nearly every aspect of African-Americans' lives. Plessy represented the South's reaction to, and contravention of, the 13th and 14th Amendments. The Court's decision gave tacit permission to the establishment of Jim Crow laws, which violated the civil rights of African-Americans in a way not anticipated by the Constitution.

Case Citation:

Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 US 537 (1896)