Cases That Made a Difference: Plessy v. Ferguson

Before Brown v. Board of Education there was Plessy v. Ferguson. As a matter of fact, Brown was the case that did away with Plessy. The crux of Plessy was separate but equal, a standard that became commonplace up until Brown. After the American Civil War freed slaves were allowed the same accommodations as whites in Southern states. However, once Reconstruction ended and Jim Crow laws became paramount freed slaves were no longer allowed the same privileges as whites.

Facts: In 1890, the state of Louisiana passed Act 111 that called for separate accommodations for blacks and whites on railroad cars with the caveat that the accommodations must be kept equal. On June 2, 1892, Adolph Plessy boarded a railroad car that was designated for whites. It was said that although Plessy was one-eight black and seven-eights white he was still considered African American and thus required to sit in the colored section. Plessy refused and was arrested and jailed. Plessy argued that his Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated but Justice John Ferguson disagreed and stated that the state of Louisiana had the right to regulate railroad companies as determined by the state. Plessy was then found guilty of violating the segregation law. Plessy was not happy with the decision and appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court rejected Plessy's argument based on the Thirteenth Amendment declaring, "We consider the underlying fallacy of the of the plaintiffs argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with badge of inferiority. If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it."

Plessy v. Ferguson continued for years and brought about many other statutes that enforced separate but equal policies. It was not until 1954 that this policy was challenged and summarily defeated in the landmark decision of Brown v. Board of Education. It took fifty-eight years before blacks could move about and "share" in the same accommodations as whites. Of course this was not easy nor was it met with enthusiasm but with "deliberate speed," blacks could take advantage of what many whites took for granted as their god given right. Here is the case in its entirety.