Plessy vs. Ferguson
After the Civil War, the southern state governments began passing the Jim Crow laws which prohibited the newly freed African Americans from using the same public places as whites. In 1880, Lousiana passed Act 111 that required blacks to ride in separate railcars from whites on trains, but still keep the accomodations equal for both. Many African Americans and whites form New Orleans got together and formed an association called the Citizen's Committee to Test the Separate Car Act. They raised over $1400 and offered the money to a famous author at the time named A.W. Tourgee to be their lead person but he agreed to do it for free. Later, they recruited Homer Plessy, a man who was one-eighth black, to get thrown off a railcar and then arrested which would violate the Separate Car Act and lead to a challenge with the high court. They also found a detective to make sure that Plessy was arrested for that very reason in hopes to get the act overturned. Plessy was chosen because he could buy a first-class ticket with his light skin but still be arrested and then tell the whole car that he was part black. This would show that racial segregation is an unreasonable way to use the state's power.
Even though he was seven-eighths white and born a free man, he was still technically considered black under a Lousiana law from 1890 and should have had to sit in the "colored" train car. On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy boarded a railcar that wa designated for white riders only. After being purposely disobedient on the train, Plessy was asked to leave the white car and ride the black car. He was then arrested and jailed because he refused to leave the car.
In his case against the state of Lousiana, Plessy argued that they East Lousiana Railroad he was traveling on had denied him his rights according to the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution. The case's judge, John Howard Ferguson, said that it was Lousiana's right to regulate the railroad companies as long as they stayed in the state boundaries. The Committee of Citizens took the case to the Supreme Court of Lousiana but were given the same ruling. In 1896 they went to the United States Supreme Court and presented their arguments on Plessy's behalf. This decision became one of the most famous ones in American history because it showed that racial segretation was being protected by federal law.
In the end, the court voted 7 to 1, rejecting Plessy's arguments against the Separate Car Act. They believed that the Lousiana government had not violated the Fourteenth Amendment in any way, saying that the seperation between whites and blacks was public policy and the state was not implying that blacks were inferior. Many other public facilities such as restrooms and cafes provided poorer accomodations for blacks than whites, however the court found no differences in the quality between railcars for whites and those for blacks. The doctrine, "seperate but equal", was established allowing states to still have separate segregation facilities as long as the service provided by both were equal. This legalized racial segregation for the next 60 years. In 1897, Homer Plessy pled guilty to his crime and was fined for the violation.
I think that the plan deivised by the Citizen's Committee was well thought of and set up. I believe that Plessy's case could have won if people in the south were not so racially prejudiced and considered both points of view. I know that it is human nature to be that way against people but they took it too far with all the laws and acts that were passed back then.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plessy_v._Ferguson
US History Book E-Edition Section 8:3
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