This was a petition for writs of prohibition and certiorari originally filed in the supreme court of the state by plessy, the plaintiff in error, against the hon. In a 71 ruling one of the nine justices didnt consider the case due to the unexpected death of one of his daughters, the court established that the fourteenth amendment was designed to enforce racial equality, not to. A louisiana state law the separate car act permitted separate railway cars for african americans and caucasians. Includes images of original primary source documents, lesson plans, teacher and student competitions, and educational resources.
In this lesson students will enhance their skills to comprehend, analyze, and assess the meaning and significance of historical texts and to develop their own positions on the meaning of freedom and equality and whether those values have been adequately. Ferguson the court infamously ruled it was within constitutional boundaries for the state of louisiana to enforce racial segregation in public facilities. Justice brown, after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court. Judge john howard ferguson was named in the case because he had been named in the petition to the louisiana state supreme court, not because he was a party to the initial lawsuit. Ferguson, judge of the criminal district court for the parish of orleans, and setting forth, in substance, the following facts. Homer plessy, a 18 african american citizen, was considered african american under the legislation. Ferguson decision made legal a system of separate but equal racial segregation not overruled until 1954. Although the declaration of independence affirmed that. This case turns upon the constitutionality of an act of the general assembly of the state of louisiana, passed in 1890, providing for separate railway carriages for the white and colored. Featuring 100 milestone documents of american history from the national archives. An organized challenge to louisiana laws concerning separate rail cars for blacks and whites was brought before the state supreme court but rejected and then taken on appeal to the supreme court. Board of education can in fact be justified on originalist grounds. Plessy was entitled to all constitutional rights of united states citizens.
That petitioner was a citizen of the united states and a resident of the state of louisiana, of mixed. Ferguson, which decided the constitutionality of nseparate but equali policies in 1896. After taking a seat in the caucasian section, plessy was asked to move to. Ferguson supreme court case 1896 separate but equal power point created by robert l. Supreme court case concerning whether racial segregation laws were constitutional. Supreme court that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality a doctrine that came to be known as separate but equal. Plessy was seveneighths caucasian and oneeighth african. Plessy was a united states citizen living in louisiana. It is the highest court in the land, with thousands of cases appealed to it every year. These laws required african americans and whites to use different public facilities see jim crow law. Oliver brown sued the board of education in kansas because his young daughter was forced to walk for miles to a. It was john howard ferguson who was chosen for the black group. In error to the supreme court of the state of louisiana. Justice henry brown of michigan delivered the majority opinion, which sustained the constitutionality of louisianas jim.
The us supreme court is the head of the judicial branch of the federal government. Ferguson, judge of the criminal district court for the parish of orleans, and setting forth in substance the following facts. Ferguson, to the supreme court of the united states, the highest court in the country. The americans slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. Ferguson 1896 upheld a louisiana law demanding segregated railway cars and established the doctrine of separate but equal in american constitutional law. Supreme court, on may 18, 1896, by a seventoone majority one justice did not participate, advanced the controversial separate but equal doctrine for assessing the constitutionality of racial segregation laws. Indeed, it was not until the supreme courts decision in brown v. Reading breaking the rules you may have heard the saying, some rules are meant to be broken.
Ferguson 1896 although the declaration of independence affirmed that all men are created equal, and had inalienable rights, including liberty, african americans were systematically denied their liberty through the institution of slavery. In 1896, the supreme court issued its decision in plessy v. Homer plessy, a free man who was seveneighths white and oneeighth of african descent, agreed to participate in a test case to challenge a louisiana law known as the separate car act. We, as freemen, still believe that we were right and our cause is sacred. That petitioner was a citizen of the united states and a resident of the state of louisiana, of mixed descent, in. Using the full text of the courts opinion, along with a selection of responses to the ruling, brook thomas allows students to recreate a context of the complicated debates and conditions in which the decision took place. Supreme court decision which was argued in april 1896.
This law required that railroads provide separate cars and other accommodations for whites and africanamericans. The state of louisiana had passed the separate car act, which required railway companies to have separate but equal train cars for black people and white. Medley is the author of black life in old new orleans, also published by pelican. Ferguson is expanded from an article he wrote for smithsonian. Ferguson todays document from the national archives.
More information on adobe acrobat pdf files is available on our accessibility page. Plessy argued in court that the separate car act violated the th and 14th amendments to the constitution. That petitioner was a citizen of the united states and a resident of the state of louisiana, of mixed descent, in the proportion of seveneighths caucasian. In june 1892, a thirtyyearold shoemaker named homer plessy bought a firstclass railway ticket from his native new orleans to covington, north of lake pontchartrain. For example, there were separate schools, parks, water fountains, and bathrooms for african americans and for whites. Justice john marshall harlan 18331911 dissented, charging that 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.
Even after the civil war and the passage of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments, segregation was a fact of life. The dubois institute hosts a conference marking the 100th anniversary of the plessy v. After the slaves were declared free by the th amendment, life for the freedmen was made difficult by a series of laws designed to remind freedmen that. Supreme court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the separate but equal.
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