Plessy vs Ferguson

Today I’m going to be talking about the 1892 incident in which African American train passenger, Homer Plessy, refused to sit in a car for blacks. This law was passed by Louisiana state legislature in 1890 which required “equal, but separate.” This does not sit as equal to me. Plessy had every right to refuse to move as his constitutional rights were violated. Duly arrested and imprisoned, he was then brought to New Orleans for a trial and convicted of violating the 1890 law. He then filed a petition against the judge in that trial, arguing that the segregation law violating the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.  

As stated, in the 14th and 15th amendment, that it guarantees all citizens “equal protection of the laws” and the 15th stating “The right of citizens of the U.S to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the U.S on account of race, color, or previous conditions of servitude.” If the 14th amendment is trying to state that everyone born or neutralized in the U.S are citizens and should be treated equally, but if there is still segregation, it’s violating that amendment. The court ruled that while the object of the 14th amendment was to “create absolute equality of the races before the law”, but such equality extended only so far as political and civil rights and not social rights.  

This contradicts itself, saying that people of color are allowed to be equal with everyone else on a political view, but in the real world they are to be treated differently just because of their own color? The arbitrary separation of citizens, on the basis of race, while they are on a public highway, is a badge of servitude inconsistent with civil freedom and equality. If a black and white man choose to occupy the same public conveyance on a public highway, it is their right to do so and no government, proceeding alone on the grounds of race, can prevent it without violating the personal liberty of each. Plessy did nothing wrong and stood up for racial segregation that violated his rights. Thank you.