Racism and Civil Rights – Homer Plessy
Homer Plessy was arrested in 1892 for sitting in a car on a train that required only whites. He violated an 1890 state law ( the separate car law ) that required that passengers on Louisiana trains be segregated by race. Plessy’s arrest was an orchestrated event; he was chosen to be the subject of a legal challenge to the segregation laws because he was of mixed race. After arguing that the “separate but equal” law violated the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments he was still found guilty and later in 1896 the case was brought all the way to the U.S. supreme court which upheld the legality of Judge Ferguson’s ruling by an 8-1 majority. Plessy did not win his case, and he was put in jail, yet the impact of his case was huge. It made others believe that it was right to require blacks and whites to have separate things ( restaurants, theaters ect. ) as long as they were equal. It took 64 years before the separate but equal law was finally ruled against. It was ruled that separate was not equal in the public school system and was illegal to require blacks and whites to go to separate schools.
Ahh, your person of choice sounds very simular to mine (he too took his case for equality to coart, but failed
but it made a big impact ). All of these smaller/less known people all fought for the same cause the more famous ones, like Martin Luthar King Jr., fought for. I’m sure without people like Homner Plessy, the equality laws wouldn’t been as effective as they are today..maybe not even in place! Btw, this was a good read, gj! (good job for those who dunno what gj is :p)