2.
What does this particular
speech by Martin Luther
King, Jr. foreshadow?
3.
Summarize and evaluate the changing
interpretations of the Bill of Rights through
the decisions in: Plessy v. Ferguson & Brown v.
Board of Education
4.
Precedent: When the Supreme Court defers
to their previous cases.
Segregate: To separate or keep apart from
others
Integrate: To end separation of different
races and bring into equal membership in
society
Deprive: keep from having, keeping, or
obtaining
5.
6.
On June 7, 1892, Homer Adolph Plessy was arrested
for sitting in a white only section of a train. He later
went to court and argued that the Separate Car Act
violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments.
The judge at the trial was a lawyer from
Massachusetts by the name of John Howard
Ferguson. He had declared the Separate Car Act illegal
on trains that traveled through different states. In
Plessy's case he decided that states should choose
how to regulate trains running within their borders.
Homer Plessy took his case to the Supreme Court of
Louisiana and the Supreme Court of the United
States. Both courts upheld Ferguson's decision.
7.
8.
The courts believed that as long as the
facilities were equal, people could have
separate facilities based on color.
Unfortunately, Homer Plessy did not win and
was jailed.
Thus, the "separate but equal" doctrine
became the constitutional basis for
segregation.”
9.
The scary part is
that Plessy did not
look black. Society
hated black people
so much that the
law stated:
If you had at least
1/16th black in you,
you had to legally
claim yourself as
black.
Black
White
White
White
White
White
White
White
White
White
White
White
White
White
10.
It wasn’t until the 1950’s that the case was put
to the test again in the courts.
11.
A little girl wanted to go to a school that was
closer to home instead of walking miles away
to a school that was not adequate. Her father
took the case to court and won. The judge
ruled that separate was not equal.
Brown v. Board of Education overturns
“separate but equal”
12.
"We come then to the question presented: Does
segregation of children in public schools solely on the
basis of race, even though the physical facilities and
other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the
children of the minority group of equal educational
opportunities? We believe that it does...We conclude
that in the field of public education the doctrine of
'separate but equal' has no place. Separate
educational facilities are inherently unequal.
Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others
similarly situated for whom the actions have been
brought are, by reason of the segregation complained
of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws
guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.
13.
"...if the colored children are denied the
experience in school of associating with white
children, who represent 90 percent of our
national society in which these colored
children must live, then the colored child's
curriculum is being greatly curtailed. The
Topeka curriculum or any school curriculum
cannot be equal under segregation."
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
The decision was heavily influenced by the
issue of human rights and feelings.
They made the courts feel empathy for
minority children.
24.
“To separate children solely because of their race
generates a feeling of inferiority that may affect
their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.”
