One would think that by now in 2016, the United States would be the land of equal opportunity, but sadly America is still trapped in time in the 1850s. The 1850s was the period of Reconstruction when African Americans were supposedly given their freedom. Although African Americans were given freedom, they still were not given the same equality as whites. They were treated differently than the whites. Laws in the southern states kept the African Americans from growing economically, socially and educationally. Keeping African Americans separate and not treating them equally lead to even more discrimination later. After reconstruction, African Americans were in as much danger as when they had been as slaves, sometimes even more. Reconstruction …show more content…
Keeping African Americans segregated and not treating their condition’s equal led to a even more discrimination resulting in a lack of rights. In the 1896, Plessey vs Ferguson case, the Supreme Court stated that all facilities could be segregated, but they had to be equal. “Requiring railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in that state to provide equal, but separate accommodations for the white and [African Americans] races, by providing two or more passenger coaches for each passenger train.” (Document F). This quote shows that the train compartments were required to be kept separate but equal. Unfortunately, the results from Plessy vs Ferguson did not guarantee that they were actually treated equally. In reality, facilities were still not equal for African Americans and train compartments for African Americans were often more crowded and the facilities were not as nice. Another result from the Plessey vs. Ferguson case stated that passengers could only stay in seats determined by their race. This meant that if an African American did not sit in the African American assigned seats, they could be fined or sent to prison. This is proof that African Americans still were not treated equally. Many years later, African Americans still had not achieved equality. Keeping facilities segregated resulted in a long history and a …show more content…
Even after the Reconstruction era, African Americans did not have equality because they were in as much physical danger as they were as slaves. They were unfairly treated and physically harmed. African Americans did not have the power or the means to stand up for them and to fight for their legal rights. Susie Taylor King, an African American who lived in 1902, spoke about how the white race was allowed to inflict torture on the black race. Although African Americans were no longer enslaved, they were still in great danger; they were being tortured, burned, and murdered. According to King’s personal account, African Americans gained freedom, but there still was so much of a struggle for them to survive that they weren’t actually free. “In this ‘land of the free’ we are burned, tortured and denied a fair trial, murdered for any imaginary wrong conceived in the brain of the negro- hating white man” (Document G). Lands were being burned, and the African Americans were being tortured and denied fair trials. African Americans were not treated equally, which led to much more discrimination later. The violence that African Americans had to continue to endure after they were given their freedom proves that they still did not have the same equality as the white
Although slavery was declared over after the passing of the thirteenth amendment, African Americans were not being treated with the respect or equality they deserved. Socially, politically and economically, African American people were not being given equal opportunities as white people. They had certain laws directed at them, which held them back from being equal to their white peers. They also had certain requirements, making it difficult for many African Americans to participate in the opportunity to vote for government leaders. Although they were freed from slavery, there was still a long way to go for equality through America’s reconstruction plan.
Ferguson case was about how the slaves had to use a separate door, restroom, hotels, hospital and other public services to serve equal but separate accommodations for African Americans. This doctrine was making a step toward equality but yet it was still unfair that the Africans couldn't eat or do anything with the white people. In the sole dissent, Justice John Marshall Harlan -- a former slaveowner -- said the ruling would "stimulate aggressions, more or less brutal, upon the admitted rights of colored citizens.” ( full citation-Plessy vs. Ferguson, Judgement, Decided May 18, 1896; Records of the Supreme Court of the United States; Record Group 267; Plessy v. Ferguson, 163, #15248, National
Black citizens have waited a century for equal rights, yet still struggle for equal rights, “Five score years ago, a great American… signed the Emancipation Proclamation… But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.” (Page 261, para. 2-3). This states that they were promised equal rights 100 years ago, and haven’t received them nevertheless.
Can separate really be equal? The landmark cases Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education show two sides of an argument that changes the way many people see things today. The Plessy v. Ferguson case set the precedent that segregation was legal when Homer Plessy was convicted for sitting in the white compartment of a train. The Brown v. Board of Education case tore down this precedent when it started the desegregation of schools after two girls had a dangerous walk to their all blacks school everyday. These two cases changed court precedents greatly, one setting a precedent, and the other tearing it down.
Ferguson was a case of the Supreme Court in 1892 after passenger Homer Plessy traveled on the Louisiana railroad and refused to sit in a car for blacks only. Homer Plessy was brought before Judge John H. Ferguson to a Criminal Court in New Orleans to be trailed for refusing to follow the state law of Louisiana “separate but equal.” Such conflict challenged the violation of the 13th and 14th amendment where they ensure equality for recently emancipated slaves. They stated, “Separate facilities for blacks and whites satisfied the Fourteenth Amendment so long as they were equal.” “In the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality, or a commingling of the two races unsatisfactory to either.”
On May 18, 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in the Plessy vs. Ferguson law case that separate-but-equal facilities on trains were constitutional.” It is deplorable that such laws were created by Southern Republics to ensure that African Americans would maintain to be treated inferior to them. This includes making segregation a law. Blacks and whites could no longer dine together, sit on the bus together, get an education together,
For nearly a century, the United States was occupied by the racial segregation of black and white people. The constitutionality of this “separation of humans into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life” had not been decided until a deliberate provocation to the law was made. The goal of this test was to have a mulatto, someone of mixed blood, defy the segregated train car law and raise a dispute on the fairness of being categorized as colored or not. This test went down in history as Plessy v. Ferguson, a planned challenge to the law during a period ruled by Jim Crow laws and the idea of “separate but equal” without equality for African Americans. This challenge forced the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of segregation, and in result of the case, caused the nation to have split opinions of support and
This systemic segregation served as a reminder to African Americans that they were not fully accepted as members of society and were relegated to second-class
The ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson said that all black and white people will be separate but equal, but in reality, this was not the case ("Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)"). Whites were of course given the most elaborate and fancy equipment when in public; from schools to water fountains to bathrooms, whites were living in complete luxury compared to the increasingly struggling blacks of the time. A major flaw with the idea of segregation, was the issue of schooling. Whites were given the better schools with better teachers, while blacks had schools that were very poor and not the best teachers. Because of this, African-Americans were again being penalized just because of their race, truly showing how unequal their lives really were.
Emily Hay-Lavitt March 7, 2016 Week 8: Reconstruction and the Gilded Age After the ratification of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, life did not get significantly easier for emancipated slaves. Despite being free from slavery, African Americans in the United States remained figuratively enslaved within social realms due to several restrictions on every-day activities. Plessy v. Ferguson established the regulation of “separate but equal” in 1896 for whites and colored people, which was a significant aspect of American societies for decades.
The Union victory in the Civil War prompted the abolition of slavery and African American’s were granted freedom, along with rights that should have been there from the start, however, white supremacy overpowered in the South, forcing African Americans back into a state of slavery. The Reconstruction era, the postwar rebuilding of the South, proved to be an attempt towards change in the lives of African Americans but the opportunities were only available for a limited time. African Americans had hopes of a new South after the Civil War was fought yet that was only accomplished to a certain extent. African Americans have always faced discrimination in society, for that same reason they weren’t accepted into Congress. The graph shown in Document
The case Plessey v. Ferguson involved the segregation of the races on a common carrier, the separate but equal doctrine utilized in the case to sanction segregation in that situation however subsequently
The Emancipation Proclamation which was issued on January 1, 1863 announced that “all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are, and henceforward shall be free”. However, African Americans in Southern States still face discrimination, because White men theorized their race to be superior. When one race is overpowers the other race, then people will lose individuality as a result of uncontrollable aspects such as skin color. Discrimination is evident in all sorts of forms: mentally and physically that will alter the victims’ development in the society. The 1950’s was greatly known as an “era of great conflict”, because of the civil rights movement for the African American race.
Ferguson was a court case that arose in Louisiana, and it created a drastically different atmosphere in 1896. This court case gave state laws that required black and white people to use separate facilities. The case came into light when Homer Plessy, an African-American, never moved to the “colored only” section on a train. Plessy was said to have had his Fourteenth Amendment violated because the separated facilities were discriminating; however the Court stated that the separate facilities were separate yet equal. Separate yet equal means that people have the same rights, but are separated by their race, religion, and wealth.
Ronion Brown Professor Ferrara ENG 102 20 April 2018 The Foundation of Ruby Bridges The Supreme Court decision in 1896 of Plessy v. Ferguson strengthened the constitutionality of segregation laws in the United States. The law did not change for over fifty years until the Supreme Court finally recognized the inequality inherent in "separate but equal" legislation in 1954 with the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case. Homer Plessy was African American man who boarded a car for white Americans only of East Louisiana Railway Train.