Separate but Equal
Each of the following situations
offers separate accommodations for
the people involved. Are those
accommodations equal?
1. A black woman is thirsty, so she walks over to the water fountains. There is
one fountain for blacks and one for whites. The black woman uses the
fountain for whites because the other one is out of order.
2. A black man has been traveling for many hours. He stops at a diner to eat
and use the restroom. This diner only serves whites. In order to eat, the
black man must travel another two hours to another diner that serves
blacks. The black man cannot wait two hours to use the restroom, so he
uses the diner's restroom despite the posted signs.
3. A white man is not allowed to have his colored attendant with him in the
same train coach even though the white man's health condition requires
constant supervision. The colored attendant ignores the rules and sits
beside his employer in the coach for white passengers.
Plessy v. Ferguson
1896
Let’s take a
step back in
time…
Separate-but-Equal
Pre-1850: Sarah Roberts
Sarah’s dad
reaches out to
Charles Sumner
• Lawyer
• Civil rights enthusiast
• Later U.S. Senator
• Represents Sarah to
challenge unequal
treatment
• From this legal conflict, the
now infamous doctrine of
“separate-but-equal” was
born
Roberts v. The City of Boston
Separate-but-Equal
Sumner
• Claimed that compelling black
children to attend separate
schools was to effectively
“brand a whole race with the
stigma of inferiority and
degradation.”
• Used the same constitutional
position that was the heart of
the plaintiff’s success over 100
years later in Brown v. Board
of Education.
Chief Justice Shaw
• Unconvinced by Sumner
• In his opinion, set forth the
separate-but-equal doctrine
• Thought all persons ought to
stand equal before law, but
the equality implied that not
all men and women were
legally clothed with the same
civil and political powers.
• Believed in equal
consideration.
Let’s jump ahead to
1892!
Plessy v. the State of
Louisiana
The Capstone of Segregation
Homer Plessy
• Louisiana shoemaker
who lived in New
Orleans
• One-eighth-black
• Seven-eights-white
Separate Car Act
• Passed in 1890 by
Louisiana legislature
• Stated that blacks and
whites have separate
railroad cars
• Compartments were
equal in size and
comfort, but blacks
found the segregation
damaging to their pride
June 7, 1892
• 30-year-old Homer
Plessy was jailed for
sitting in the "White"
car of the East
Louisiana Railroad.
• When Louisiana
passed the Separate
Car Act, legally
segregating common
carriers in 1892, a
black civil rights
organization decided
to challenge the law
in the courts
Plessy is arrested.
Judge Ferguson (center) and the rest
of the jury
Plessy v. Ferguson
1896
Verdict
• Plessy guilty of refusing
to leave the white car
because of the laws of
Louisiana.
• Homer Plessy appealed to
the Supreme Court of the
state, but the Supreme
Court upheld Ferguson's
decision.
Re-trial
• In 1896, the Supreme
Court of the United
States heard Homer
Plessy's case and found
him guilty once again.
• Plessy was sentenced to
20 days in a state prison
After the Trial
• justified many other actions by state and local governments to socially
separate blacks and whites.
• Both the thirteenth and the fourteenth amendment were involved with
this trial.
• enabled the expansion of “separate but equal” to pervade many aspects
of daily life for people in states throughout the South.
• Schools, public facilities, restaurants, hotels, theaters, public
transportation, etc. adopted the “separate but equal” policy to segregate
African Americans away from Whites and in most cases, make the best
facilities inaccessible to them.
• Much controversy arose because of this decision.
After the Trial
• justified many other actions by state and local governments to socially
separate blacks and whites.
• Both the thirteenth and the fourteenth amendment were involved with
this trial.
• enabled the expansion of “separate but equal” to pervade many aspects
of daily life for people in states throughout the South.
• Schools, public facilities, restaurants, hotels, theaters, public
transportation, etc. adopted the “separate but equal” policy to segregate
African Americans away from Whites and in most cases, make the best
facilities inaccessible to them.
• Much controversy arose because of this decision.
• Homer Adolph Plessy lived an
otherwise unremarkable life
after losing his case multiple
times. The case was
overturned in 1954.
• He became an insurance
agent and died in 1925 in his
early sixties.
• He is buried in a cemetery in
St. Louis.
Significance of Plessy v. Ferguson
Brown v. Board of Education
62 years after Plessy v. Ferguson
• The Court agreed with
plaintiff Brown that
separate school
systems were
inherently unequal,
and directed that the
practice be ended with
“all deliberate speed.”
What Can We Learn about Separate
but Equal from the Sneetches?
Dr. Suess's "The Sneetches"