Mr. McClung asked to write a mini essay writing about one of the cases in the US that involved Jim Crow Laws.  Enjoy.

June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy boarded a railroad car owned by the East Louisiana Railroad that was deemed “White Passengers Only”.  Even though Homer was born a free person and was one eighth black and seven eighths white, he was considered under the 1890 Louisiana law “Separate but equal” railroad accommodations, and therefore had to sit in a black carriage car.  After refusing to sit in the black carriage car,  Plessy was arrested and thrown in jail.

At trial, with Justice John H. Ferguson presiding, Homer Adolph Plessy was found guilty on the grounds that the “separate but equal” law was a reasonable exercise of the states police power, based upon usage, custom, and tradition of the state.  Plessy filed for a Writ of Prohibition in the Supreme Court of Louisiana against Ferguson, asserting that segregation put shame upon blacks and branded them with a badge of inferiority in violation of the Thirthteenth and Fourteenth amendments.  The Supreme Court granted Plessy’s Writ.

After getting another unreceptive ear, the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld Ferguson’s decision.  Determined to fight for his rights, he sent his case to the United States Supreme Court.  With a 7 to 1, the US Supreme Court rejected Plessy’s appeal saying that they saw no way that the state of Louisiana had violated the 14th amendment.  Instead they said that the decision of Ferguson was only a public matter.

This case was one of the building blocks to the idea of “separate but equal” ideology that made it ok for segregation to happen as long as the facilities were of equal quality. This case changed the way we looked at people’s rights, segregation, and equality.

Logan