Plessy vs. Ferguson
1896
Angelina Uzueta, Emily Trevino, Elias Ybarra
Background Information
On June 7th 1892, 30 year old Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in a
“white” car off the east Louisiana railroad. Plessy could’ve easily passed
for a white person but he was just light completed therefore still being
considered a “colored” man. When Louisiana passed the separated the
separate car act, legally separating the carriers from colored and
whites, a black civil rights group deciding to change the law in court.
• Homer Adoph Plessy (petitioner)
• John Ferguson (respondent)
Constitutional Issues. The arguments in the case revolved around the 13th
Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Grover Cleveland
Summary of the Supreme Court Decision
The Plessy vs Ferguson case developed because of a mixed man name
Homer Plessy. He was convinced by a group called Comite de Citoyens
to take part in what they called a “test case”. Although Plessy was
seven- eighths European descent and one- eighth African descent he
was still considered African American and was required to sit in a
“colored” railway car. Due to the “separate car act”. On June 7th 1892
Plessy bought a first class ticket and boarded a “whites only” car. Plessy
was arrested shortly after boarding after being asked to remove himself
from the seat and move to the “blacks only” car. With the majority vote
of seven to one the court ruled it as no violation of the fourteenth
amendment and ruled it as a matter or “public policy”.
• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_plessy.html
• http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/plessy-v-ferguson
• http://www.lawnix.com/cases/plessy-ferguson.html