Jim Crow Laws: Plessy Vs. Ferguson Case

Myra Bradwell wanted to become a lawyer in Illinois and had all the requirements yet when she applied, the state court declined her application because she was a women. Then the supreme court ruled that Illinois did not violate the 14th Amendment because the right to be a lawyer is not one of the privileges protected by this Amendment. These cases represent something further than just the court decisions they embody the general Americans opinion towards equality. Obviously they wanted segregation at the time because they jumped on the opportunity to do so. But for women, they prevented one from being able to work in “male” profession but continued to fight for their rights and eventually reach equilibrium.

When slavery was in effect from 1619 to 1865, white people did not consider slaves people. The white people considered slaves as property objects. Slavery was abolished on December 6, 1865 when the 13th amendment was officially ratified slaves were legally free, but people still had a similar mindset from before. The white people still believed that the black people were lower or inferior to white people.

An example of a Supreme Court overturning, would be Plessy vs Ferguson. States from the south had laws that had a disadvantage for black people. Plessy who is a light colored black, decided to sit on the white section of the train, and declared his ancestry a couple of minutes after. People demanded him to move, but he refused. He was arrested for not moving.

In 1896, the United States Supreme Court decided in favor of maintaining segregation in the now infamous case, Plessy v Ferguson. While claiming to set the standard “separate but equal,” the Plessy v Ferguson decision set back racial equality for almost 60 years, calling into question whether the United States Supreme Court had been granted too much power. It was on May 18th in 1896 when this historical decision changed the lives of many. The Plessy v Ferguson decision codified the practice of racial segregation. The ruling of the case provided justification for segregation of public and private institutions.

The Plessy vs Ferguson doctrine implies it is, “merely a legal distinction without conflicting with the 13th Amendment”. The Plessy vs Ferguson was a U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation. In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in the Plessy vs Ferguson doctrine that racially segregated public facilities were only legal if blacks and whites were both equally welcome. In 1951, a plaintiff named Oliver Brown filed a class-action suit against the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, after his daughter, Linda Brown, was denied entrance to Topeka’s all-white elementary schools”.

The basic functions of the Jim Crow laws had been to keep black and white people separated. The Jim Crow laws consisted of marriage, hospitalization, nursing, barbering, bathrooms, buses, restaurants, beer and wine, amateur baseball, banal, libraries, teaching schools, and prisons ("Examples Of Jim Crow Laws"). Mainly in social situations and active interactions. The cities and states were permitted to punish people who decided to conflict with the Jim Crow laws ("Jim

Jim Crow laws were laws in the Southern United States that were state and local laws. These laws enforced racial segregation typically towards the blacks starting late in the 19th century. This was after the Reconstruction period, and were forced all the way until 1965. All public facilities were forced to be segregated in the states of the former Confederate States of America, which started back in 1896 with blacks having a “separate but equal” status. Segregation in public school was a thing all the way back to when it first established in most south after the Civil War.

One of the Supreme Court Cases that were held was Plessy V. Ferguson, which was argued on April 18, 1896 until May 18, 1896. This issue was over the law that trains, would have to provide separate accommodations to both black and white races equally. One man who was mostly Caucasian and partially African had the rights of a white citizen. For this reason, he bought a ticket for first class, however was not allowed to be seated within this area due to the judgment of a conductor. The man who is Plessy, refused what he was told to do and as a result was taken off to be imprisoned in jail.

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

But what made them want to leave so badly? African Americans were not treated the same; the white Americans believed that they were superior to everyone else and they made sure African Americans knew that. Harsh segregation laws began, known as the Jim Crow Laws. Some examples of these laws are, “It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to lay together..’ and, ‘Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African American descent...”

The Jim Crow Laws were brought up to Congress in February 22, 1908. Crow Laws were trying to make spate cars and spate the two classes. The Jim Crow laws were also trying to grant “Colored people the right to vote”. The Jim Crow Laws were made fun of by the Jury and got denied brutally. This Article really put me in prospective of how poorly the African American people were treated back in the day.

Although the 13th Amendment ended slavery, the 14th Amendment and 15th Amendment gave equal rights for blacks, discrimination/racism did not end. Jim Crow Laws are “practices or policies of segregating or discriminating against blacks, as in public places, public vehicles, or employment”, according to Dictionary.com. People of color were treated unequally and most of the time inhumanely. Some whites believed in the idea of “separate but equal.” How Jim Crow Laws affected people of color back then until today?

American history is a sad and bloody history with many bumps that have created it into the superpower it is today. This hardship from our history played a crucial part in many books and especially To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Lee created a writing masterpiece by using real life events as well as using real life corrupted laws. Connections like the Jim Crow laws, the mob mentality, and issues of racism that were taking place in that time.

5th Hour Cause and Effect Essay Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were unfair and unjust to all African-Americans by making them unequal. The Jim Crow laws are laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. It used the term separate but equal, even though conditions for African Americans were always worst than their white counterparts. They could not eat at the same restaurant as white people, they could not used the same restrooms, and they couldn't even use the same drinking fountain.

These laws existed in order to tell the African Americans what they could and could not do. People believed that even God believed in their segregation and that black people were born to be servants to the whites. People believed that black people were cursed but the white people were blessed. “Under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second class citizens”(What was Jim Crow). Some of the Jim Crow laws include: a black man cannot shake hands with a white man since this shows social equality, white motorists have the right-of-way at any intersection, and never dispute dishonorable intentions with a white person.