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Background
Summary and Questions •
Vocabulary
segregation
(to segregate)
Define:
Use in a sentence:
arrested
(to arrest)
Define:
Use in a sentence:
unconstitutional
(constitutional)
Define:
Use in a sentence:
guilty
Define:
Use in a sentence:
petition (to petition)
Define:
Use in a sentence:
In 1890, Louisiana passed a law called the "Separate
Car Act." This law said that railroad companies must
provide separate but equal train cars for whites and
blacks. Blacks had to sit with blacks and whites had
to sit with whites. This is called segregation.
Anyone who broke this law would have to pay $25 or go
to jail for 20 days.
Homer
Plessy was a 30-year-old shoemaker who lived in Louisiana.
On June 7, 1892, Plessy purchased a train ticket from
New Orleans to Covington, Louisiana. Plessy was one-eighth
black (seven of his great grandparents were white and
one was black), but under Louisiana law he was considered
black. Therefore, he was required to sit in the "Colored"
car. However, Plessy sat in the "White" car and was
arrested.
Plessy argued to the district court that the Separate Car Act violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. The Thirteenth Amendment says that slavery is illegal anywhere in the United States, and the Fourteenth Amendment says that the government must treat all people equally.
John
Howard Ferguson, the district court judge, said that
in a previous court case that the Separate Car Act was
unconstitutional for trains running outside of Louisiana.
However, he decided that the law was constitutional
for trains running inside the state and found Plessy
guilty.
The
Louisiana State Supreme Court agreed with Judge Ferguson
that the Separate Car Act was constitutional. Plessy
then took his case, Plessy v. Ferguson,
to the Supreme Court of the United States (the highest
court in the country).
Questions to Consider:
- What law did Homer Plessy break? How did Plessy break
this law?
- What rights do the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments
to the Constitution provide?
- Why did Plessy believe that the Separate Car Act violated
his Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment rights?
- Judge Ferguson decided that the state could make laws
for railroad companies that traveled within the state
but not for those that traveled between states. How can
Judge Ferguson treat these two situations differently?
- Do you think it is possible for blacks and whites to
be separate and equal? Why or why not? If so, describe
an example or situation where people can be separate and
equal.
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