The Plessy v. Ferguson case involved Homer Plessy, a black man who was arrested for sitting in the whites-only car of a train in Louisiana in 1892. The case went to the Supreme Court to determine whether racial segregation of public facilities was constitutional. The Supreme Court ruled in a 7-1 decision that the doctrine of "separate but equal" was constitutional, allowing racial segregation if black and white facilities were equal. This decision had far-reaching negative impacts by legalizing racial segregation across many aspects of public life and encouraging the continuation of racism in America for decades.

1. Plessy vs.
Ferguson
Amendment 13 & 14
Keri Hays
“Separate but
Equal”

2. Historical
Background
• Reconstruction Period
•Ellis Island becomes the reception
center for new immigrants
• The first African-American
newspaper, called “Afro- American”
was published from Baltimore
•Pledge of Allegiance was first recited
in public schools
•Grover Cleveland is elected as
President
•1876-1965, Jim Crow Laws
characterize America.

3. Circumstances of the Case
• On June 7, 1892, 30-year-old Homer Plessy was jailed for
sitting in the "White" car of the East Louisiana Railroad.
• He was considered black, even thought he was white in
color, and therefore required to sit in the "Colored" car.
• Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, legally
segregating train carriers in 1892.
• A black civil rights organization decided to challenge the
law in the courts.
• Plessy purposely sat in the white section and made it
clear the he was African-American.
• He was arrested and the case went all the way to the
United States Supreme Court.

4. Constitutional
• 13th Amendment Issues
-Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within
the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction
-Segregation was forcing them into involuntary servitude.
-Amendment was to protect former slaves from laws that would
hinder them from life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
• 14th Amendment
-No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State
deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws.
-Segregation was hindering the Africa-Americans and not giving them
the same privileges as the whites.

5. Arguments
Plessy Ferguson
• Segregation was • Segregation had no
unconstitutional because it intentions of destroy the
hindered the African- legal equality of the two
races
American from living a life
• 14th Amendment was to
similar to the whites.
enforce the ABSOLUTE
• Segregation stigmatized
equality of the two races
blacks and made them worthy before the law.
of disgrace • It was not Intended to
• “Stamped them with a badge abolish distinctions based
of Inferiority upon color, but to create
•Segregation violated the equality between the two.
Equal Protection Clause • Our constitution is color-
blind.

6. Court Ruling
• Ferguson won the case with a majority of 7
votes
• Separate facilities for blacks and whites were
constitutional as long as they were "equal.”
•The Separate but Equal doctrine quickly spread
to cover many areas of public life such as
restaurants, theaters, restrooms, and public
schools

7. Impact
•Imaginary wall between blacks and
whites.
•Many whites who felt threatened
by emancipation, could maintain
their delusion of superiority.
•Encouraged racism to continue
unchecked
•Even though they were supposed
to be “equal”, facilities for blacks
were always inferior to those for
whites

8. References
Wormser, Richard. “Plessy vs. Ferguson” The Rise and Fall of
Jim Crow. 2002. Accessed October 24, 2012
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_plessy.html
No Author. “Plessy v. Ferguson- A Brief Case Summary” Lawnix.
2008-2012. Accessed October 24, 2012
http://www.lawnix.com/cases/plessy-ferguson.html
Cozzens, Lisa. “Plessy v. Ferguson” Watson. 1999. Accessed
October 25, 2012
http://www.watson.org/~lisa/blackhistory/post-
civilwar/plessy.html