Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. It upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality. The decision legitimized the many state laws re-establishing racial segregation that had been passed in the American South after the end of the Reconstruction Era. Despite its infamy, the decision itself has never been explicitly overruled.

About Plessy v. Ferguson in brief

Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U. S. 537, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. It upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality. The decision legitimized the many state laws re-establishing racial segregation that had been passed in the American South after the end of the Reconstruction Era. Plessy is widely regarded as one of the worst decisions in U. S. Supreme Court history. Despite its infamy, the decision itself has never been explicitly overruled. However, a series of subsequent decisions beginning with the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education has severely weakened the ruling to the point that it is considered to have been de facto overruled by the courts. The case originated in 1892 when a man of mixed race deliberately violated Louisiana’s Separate Car Act of 1890, which required separate accommodations for blacks and whites on railroads. In May 1896, the Supreme Court issued a 7–1 decision against PlessY ruling that the Louisiana law did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Justice John Marshall Harlan was the lone dissenter from the Court’s decision, writing that the law’s distinguishing of passengers’ races should have been found unconstitutional. In his case, Homer Adolph Plesslyy was remanded for trial in New Orleans Parish, Louisiana, and sentenced to a fine of 25 USD. The judge ruled that Louisiana had the right to regulate railroad companies while they operated within the state boundaries. The court ruled that John Howard Ferguson, the judge presiding over the case, was right to issue the writ of writ over his case.

The ruling was appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court, which agreed to hear his case and the case was settled in 1894. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Homer Plessi. The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution in 1895 calling for an end to racial segregation in all public accommodations, including on trains. The resolution also called for the creation of a federal agency to enforce the law. The United States Congress passed a bill in 1897 to prohibit racial segregation on all public transportation, but the bill was never implemented. In 1903, a federal law was passed banning the use of racial epithets on public transportation. The law was later repealed. In 1913, the United Nations issued a resolution calling for the establishment of an agency to combat racial discrimination in public accommodations. The National Council of Civil Liberties issued a statement in support of the National Council on Civil Liberties, calling for racial equality in public facilities. The statement also said that it was the responsibility of the federal government to protect the rights of all Americans, not just the black and white races, to have equal access to public services and facilities. In 1914, the National Conference on Civil Rights issued a further statement calling for equal treatment for all people of all races. In 1916, the American Civil Rights Act of 1913 was passed, which provided for the equal treatment of all people under the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Amendments.

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Jim Crow laws Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court of the United States Rebecca Ferguson