Plessy v. Ferguson: Equality in the Face of the Law

Just before the turn of the century, segregation in the South had escalated more than ever. With the idea of Reconstruction after the Civil War in the air, white southern supremacists went to the ends of the earth to prevent blacks from becoming socially equal to whites in any form or fashion. Although slaves were freed under the Emancipation Proclamation, they were denied the rights they deserved that are standard in the face of citizenship.The Plessy v. Ferguson case is a classic example of the way a crooked outlook on segregation has shaped the way life for blacks, including freed slaves in the South during the period just after the Civil War through the early twentieth century.

The First Steps

Segregated water fountains in public facility.

[endif]--The Civil Rights Movement first got started when Congress passed a civil rights act on April 19, 1866, giving blacks the right to own property, have legal protection in business, and to take others to court.[1] For the first time, African Americans had full citizenship like any other citizen. Blacks took advantage of their privileges by running for public office, holding high-paying jobs, and sending their children to school. Seeing this, many southerners saw blacks as a threat to the white society. They began taking steps to downgrade blacks in any possible way they could. When they got the chance, they ousted black public officials and took control of public office again. By doing this, they began creating what came to be known as “Jim Crow” laws. Jim crow laws enforced segregation between blacks and whites in public facilities, including schools, railways, libraries, and restaurants, as long as they had equal accommodations. “Grandfather clauses” were set up in some southern states ensuring that only black citizens born before 1866 could vote. [2] At this point blacks began to stand up for their newly gained rights through protests and movements.

On June 1, 1909, led by William DuBois, a group of civil rights activists got together and formed the National Association for Colored People (NAACP). The group was kept small and at one point, struggled to survive. This was in part because one of the leaders, Booker T. Washington, urged the group to ignore civil rights and focus on furthering themselves through hard work and holding high-paying jobs.[3] The NAACP focused solely on civil rights for the first thirty years, then worked towards social discrimination in the work place and anti-lynching laws. The NAACP has played an important role in black history since World War II in housing, education, and even prison.[4]

The Case

In previous relations, the state of Louisiana emerged as a state of federal Reconstruction efforts by going farther than any other southern state by integrating public schools, and legalizing interracial marriages.[5]

In May 1890, the Louisiana state legislature debated House Bill 42, which came to be known as the Separate Car Act. The goal of this law was to promote the comfort of passengers by having railroad companies provide separate cars for both blacks and whites.[6]

At around the same time, the Citizens’ Committee looked to a thirty-year-old shoemaker named Homer A. Plessy. Plessy was born to free colored parents in New Orleans before the Civil War, and his stepfather had been a member of the Unification Movement during Reconstruction.[7]

On June 7, 1892, Plessy bought a first-class ticket for a train going from New Orleans to Covington. Boarding the train, Plessy settled into the car for whites. At the time, J.J. Dowling, the conductor of the locomotive was notified of Plessy’s intentions to violate the law. He was arrested and taken to jail, but released after a short time by six members of the Citizens’ Committee who had posted his bail.[8] Plessy appeared in court the next morning with Judge John H. Ferguson. The case came to be known as Louisiana v. Plessy. Throughout the history of the case, the focus has largely been on the bigger picture of the civil rights of blacks.

In court, Plessy was represented by James C. Walker and Albion Tougée, two New Orleans attorneys. He first asked Ferguson to lift any charges against his client. He claimed the Separate Car law was unconstitutional in violating the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment for blacks. He said that segregating blacks in public facilities was a feature of slavery, making it illegal. Walker also declared creating artificial distinction between blacks and whites based on skin color made whites superior to blacks.[9] Walker also argued that the law was fuzzy when it came to the status of mixed race people and light-skinned blacks like Plessy, for example, giving the conductor unjustified authority to determine a passenger’s race.[10]

Lionel Adams was the persecutor for this case and claimed that the law had a legitimate interest in the state of Louisiana and the intention of the law was to reduce racial tension and increase comfort of the passengers traveling within the state. Since he claimed the cars provided by the railroad companies were required to be separate, but equal, the law also didn’t discriminate blacks.[11] After reviewing both sides of the case, Judge Ferguson ruled against Plessy. White segregationists rejoiced everywhere, but Plessy and the Citizens’ Committee were not nearly ready to give up their case, and it became known as Plessy v. Ferguson.[12]

At this point, Plessy began to fall into the background as the bigger picture of the civil rights of blacks was highly debated as the case finally reached the Supreme Court in 1896.

All the Way to Supreme Court

Before the Citizens’ Committee brought the case to Supreme Court, they had decided to wait a few years to raise funds to support themselves in the ongoing legal battle.[13]

In the time waiting, segregation meant a shadow of slavery looking down upon many blacks. At the same time, many whites had not been around before slavery began in America, so most white segregationist felt blacks were inferior to whites.[14]

When the day came, the Citizens’ Committee had enlisted the help of other attorneys as well as Tougée and Walker. The legal team had two chances to make their case in court. Tougée was to argue the case on Monday April 13, and the rest of the legal team would submit written legal briefs to the court that stated the case.[15] Out of the nine justices, Justice John Marshall Harlan was most likely to side with Plessy. Harlan had a history of supporting blacks which made him helpful to the committee.[16]

Tougée had only half an hour to state his case in court on April 13. He stated that the Fourteenth Amendment should be viewed more broadly. He said the amendment was not just meant to make blacks citizens, but to make sure they were treated in an equal way to every to every other individual in each state.[17]

Out of the works submitted to the court by Plessy and his legal team, many of them took different approaches to the problem. One argument stated that a person’s race isn’t always clear at first glance, subjecting them to unauthoritative hasty determination of their race and should not be left up to an employee to determine that. Plessy’s lawyers believed that the government had final say over wat it meant to be a citizen and states could not be allowed to discriminate by creating distinctions between people on the grounds of race. [18]

A few lawyers from the state of Louisiana supported the Separate Car law and included evidence that the Supreme Court was in support of them because it struck down the Civil Rights Act in 1883. For now, all the legal team could do was wait. One month later, the court released their decision.[19]

The Court’s Opinion

As a result of the jury’s decision, only disappointment came. One of the judges removed himself from the case and only eight justices ruled on it. Seven out of the eight ruled that the Separate Car law was constitutional. One justice, John Marshall Harlan, disagreed. The Supreme Court now supported segregation based on skin color.[20] Justice Henry Billings Brown provided an explanation for the ruling of the seven justices that ruled against Plessy.[21] Brown began by dismissing Tougée’s claim that the Thirteenth Amendment didn’t apply to Plessy’s case because it did not force anyone into slavery. The law only divided the two races. Brown simply believed forcing people to ride in separate cars did not make them slaves. Brown also included that the Fourteenth Amendment didn’t make the law unconstitutional because it made sure that blacks and whites were treated equally, but was not meant to abolish distinctions based on color or race.[22] One mistake made by Plessy’s lawyers was that segregation made the blacks automatically inferior to whites. Brown then claimed that since the whites could not sit in the blacks-only car, blacks and whites were treated equal for this reason. Although the justices did point this out, they didn’t take into account that the whites-only cars were normally in better condition than the blacks-only cars, making them not equal.[23]

Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. waves to participants in the Civil Rights Movement's March on Washington from the Lincoln Memorial. It was from this spot that he delivered his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech on August 28, 1963.

After the decision, many whites throughout the South celebrated. The decision didn’t really rock Homer Plessy’s life too much. He faced Judge Ferguson again and paid a twenty-five dollar fine, but returned to work and live in New Orleans until he died in 1925. As for Tougée, he was crushed by the decision. He continued to work towards the civil rights of blacks and for the political campaigns of republican presidents, including William McKinley who would become the twenty-fifth president in the fall later that year.[25]

As time went on, people in both the North and South were ready to move on from discrimination against blacks. Not only that, Louisiana began to segregate schools, it became harder for blacks to register to vote. Blacks now had to meet qualifications to vote. The number of black voters in Louisiana quickly plummeted. There were many lynchings in the state as well.[26] Louisiana had become a dangerous place in result of segregation.

[1] Hynson 4

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[5] Hillstrom 35

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[14] Esty 17

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[25] Esty 90

[26] Esty 91

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