In my opinion, the judgment this day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott case. [36] Maltz has argued that "modern commentators have often overstated Harlan's distaste for race-based classifications", pointing to other aspects of decisions in which Harlan was involved. In Plessy v.Ferguson the Court infamously ruled it was within constitutional boundaries for the state of Louisiana to enforce racial segregation in public facilities. “Our Constitution is color-blind,” Harlan wrote. “Separate but equal” stayed standard teaching in U.S. law until its disavowal in the 1954 Supreme Court choice Brown v. Board of Education. [12] After Plessy took a seat in the whites-only railway car, he was asked to vacate it, and sit instead in the blacks-only car. [30] Legislative achievements won during the Reconstruction Era were erased through means of the "separate but equal" doctrine. Every one knows that the statute in question had its origin in the purpose, not so much to exclude white people from railroad cars occupied by blacks, as to exclude colored people from coaches occupied by or assigned to white persons. No one would be so wanting in candor as to assert the contrary. Plessy's lawyer, Albion Tourgee, claimed Plessy's 13th and 14th amendment rights were violated. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Ferguson was represented by Louisiana Attorney General M. J. Cunningham and Plessy by F. D. McKenney and S. F. Phillips. Yet the act did not conflict with the Fourteenth Amendment either, Brown argued, because that amendment was intended to secure only the legal equality of African Americans and whites, not their social equality. At Plessy’s trial in U.S. District Court, Judge John H. Ferguson dismissed his contention that the act was unconstitutional. Brewer took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved. [15] Two legal briefs were submitted on Plessy's behalf. [33], Despite the pretense of "separate but equal", non-whites essentially always received inferior facilities and treatment.[34]. The Plessy Decision. Some established de jure segregated educational facilities, separate public institutions such as hotels and restaurants, separate beaches among other public facilities, and restrictions on interracial marriage, but in other cases segregation in the North was related to unstated practices and operated on a de facto basis, although not by law, among numerous other facets of daily life. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld state-imposed racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, a civil rights case involving Louisiana train cars. The effect of the law, he argued, was to interfere with the personal liberty and freedom of movement of both African Americans and whites. On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy, a light-skinned black man, sat in a "White" car, identifying himself as black in order to challenge the law. That meant that buses, water fountains, lunch counters, restrooms, movie theaters, schools, courtrooms, and even the United States Army could all be segregated. [35] In addition, from 1890 to 1908, Southern states passed new or amended constitutions including provisions that effectively disenfranchised blacks and thousands of poor whites. After refusing to move to a car for African Americans, he was arrested and charged with violating the Separate Car Act. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. [32] The ruling basically granted states legislative immunity when dealing with questions of race, guaranteeing the states' right to implement racially separate institutions, requiring them only to be "equal". Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. C) It broke a long-standing rule in the Major League Baseball not to hire African American baseball players. At trial, Plessy’s lawyers argued that the Separate Car Act violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. After losing twice in the lower courts, Plessy took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the previous decisions that racial segregation is constitutional under the "separate but equal" doctrine. The Plessy v.Ferguson decision upheld the principle of racial segregation over the next half-century. Significance: The decision in Plessy v. Ferguson continued to permit public segregation under the guise of “separate but equal.” It ultimately set back civil rights in the United States and resulted in many businesses defining themselves as “serving whites only.” Plessy v. Ferguson was eventually overturned in 1954. [51], "Plessy" redirects here. [50], In 2009 a marker was placed[12] at the corner of Press and Royal Streets, near where Plessy had boarded his train. [2], The Comité des Citoyens took Plessy's appeal to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, where he again found an unreceptive ear, as the state Supreme Court upheld Judge Ferguson's ruling. This ruling set the tone in all of the south politically, which allowed white supremacy to thrive l… Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality,[2] a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal". The Court reasoned that laws requiring racial separation were within Louisiana's police power: the core sovereign authority of U.S. States to pass laws on matters of "health, safety, and morals". [5] Despite its infamy, the decision itself has never been explicitly overruled. [8] Concerned, a group of prominent black, creole of color, and white creole New Orleans residents formed the Comité des Citoyens (Committee of Citizens) dedicated to repeal the law or fight its effect. The Court rejected Plessy's lawyers' arguments that the Louisiana law inherently implied that black people were inferior, and gave great deference to American state legislatures' inherent power to make laws regulating health, safety, and morals—the "police power"—and to determine the reasonableness of the laws they passed. Board of Education of Topeka explicitly rejected Plessy’s “separate but equal” doctrine as it applied to public education and implied its unconstitutionality in all other spheres of public life. "[16] The law itself was repealed five years later, but the precedent stood. Legal equality was adequately respected in the act because the accommodations provided for each race were required to be equal and because the racial segregation of passengers did not by itself imply the legal inferiority of either race—a conclusion supported, he reasoned, by numerous state-court decisions that had affirmed the constitutionality of laws establishing separate public schools for white and African American children. Tourgée built his case upon violation of Plessy's rights under the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery, and the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees the same rights to all citizens of the United States, and the equal protection of those rights, against the deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Decided in 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson dictated … In the case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public education was unconstitutional. Plessy v. Ferguson established the constitutionality of laws mandating separate but equal public accommodations for African Americans and whites. The Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson formalized the legal principle of "separate but equal". It was a group of Creole professionals that formed the committee that tried to have the Louisiana Separate Car Act of 1890 declared unconstitutional through Plessy v. Ferguson. Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to be known as " separate but equal ". In 2009, Keith Plessy and Phoebe Ferguson, descendants of participants on both sides of the 1896 Supreme Court case, announced establishing the Plessy and Ferguson Foundation for Education and Reconciliation. The 1896 landmark Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson established that the policy of “separate but equal” was legal and states could pass laws requiring segregation of the races. Plessy then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear his case. Some commentators, such as Gabriel J. Chin[36] and Eric Maltz,[37] have viewed Harlan's Plessy dissent in a more critical light, and suggested it be viewed in context with his other decisions. Please select which sections you would like to print: While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. [46], From 1890 to 1908, state legislatures in the South disenfranchised most blacks and many poor whites through rejecting them for voter registration and voting: making voter registration more difficult by providing more detailed records, such as proof of land ownership or literacy tests administered by white staff at poll stations. [31] The doctrine had been strengthened also by an 1875 Supreme Court decision that limited the federal government's ability to intervene in state affairs, guaranteeing to Congress only the power "to restrain states from acts of racial discrimination and segregation". But in view of the constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. Significance. Plessy vs. Ferguson, Judgement, Decided May 18, 1896; Plessy v. Ferguson , 163, #15248; Records of the Supreme Court of the United States;Record Group 267; National Archives. of Okla. Griffin v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. Allowed for Segregation and Separate but Equal which limited rights of African Americans. Tourgée and Phillips appeared in the courtroom to speak on behalf of Plessy. In 1891 a group of Creole professionals in New Orleans formed the Citizens’ Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law. Plessy v. Ferguson, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court, on May 18, 1896, by a seven-to-one majority (one justice did not participate), advanced the controversial “separate but equal” doctrine for assessing the constitutionality of racial segregation laws. [12] Additionally, the Comité des Citoyens hired a private detective with arrest powers to detain Plessy, to ensure that he would be charged for violating the Separate Car Act, as opposed to vagrancy or some other offense. The U.S. Supreme Court’s majority held that such laws neither imposed a “badge of servitude” (in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery) nor infringed on the legal equality of blacks (in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, guaranteeing equal protection of the laws), because the accommodations were supposedly equal and separateness did not imply legal inferiority. Justice John Marshall Harlan was the lone dissenter from the Court's decision, writing that the U.S. Constitution "is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens", and so the law's distinguishing of passengers' races should have been found unconstitutional. 5/18/1896. As plaintiff in the test case the committee chose a person of mixed race in order to support its contention that the law could not be consistently applied, because it failed to define the white and “coloured” races. Write in complete sentences. The case originated in 1892 as a challenge to Louisiana’s Separate Car Act (1890). Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Title U.S. Reports: Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. However, the judge presiding over his case, John Howard Ferguson, ruled that Louisiana had the right to regulate railroad companies while they operated within state boundaries. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) was a historic point sacred law instance of the US Supreme Court. On May 18, 1896, the Supreme Court issued a 7–1 decision against Plessy that upheld the constitutionality of Louisiana's train car segregation laws. [48] Plessy v. Ferguson was never explicitly overruled by the Supreme Court, but is effectively dead as a precedent. [9] They persuaded Homer Plessy, a man of mixed race who was an "octoroon" (person of seven-eighths white and one-eighth black ancestry), to participate in an orchestrated test case. For the British company, see, Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, "Plessy and Ferguson unveil plaque today marking their ancestors' actions", "Negro drinking at "Colored" water cooler in streetcar terminal, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma", "Separate But Equal: The Law of the Land", "Plessy v. Ferguson – 163 U.S. 537 (1896) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center", "Civil rights pioneer celebrated with marker", "Anthony Kennedy and the Ghost of Earl Warren", "A Celebration of Progress: Unveiling the long-awaited historical marker for the arrest site of Homer Plessy", Landmark Cases: Historic Supreme Court Decisions, Newspaper articles and clippings about Plessy v. Ferguson at Newspapers.com, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, John F. Kennedy's speech to the nation on Civil Rights, Chicago Freedom Movement/Chicago open housing movement, Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, Council for United Civil Rights Leadership, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, List of lynching victims in the United States, Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health, Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of New England. African-American community leaders, who had achieved brief political success during the Reconstruction era and even into the 1880s, lost gains made when their voters were excluded from the political system. S opinion, which was voted on 7 to 1 was within constitutional for. 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