Plessy v Furgeson

After the Civil War ended in America there came a period of time referred to as Reconstruction.   During this time period, the federal government provided some protection for the newly freed slaves by safeguarding their civil rights against the deeply imbedded segregation rituals of the south before the war.   When Reconstruction ended however, the troops upholding these civil rights were made to leave, and southern state governments began to pass Jim Crow laws that separated the public facilities that were used by black people and white people.   Reconstruction ended in 1877, and right after that the Jim Crow laws began to be implemented.
In 1892 however, an “African American man named Homer Adolph Plessy boarded a train in Louisiana that was designated for whites only” (Goode, 32).   He was asked to leave by the authorities, and when he refused, and he was promptly arrested and jailed for his actions.   He took his case to the Louisiana State Courts and argued his constitutional rights under the 13th and 14th Amendments had been taken away.   “The 13th Amendment abolished slavery.   The 14th Amendment guarantees all citizens equal protection under the law”(George 136).   John Howard Ferguson, the judge presiding over the case, ruled that railroad companies, as long as they operated within the state boundaries of Louisiana, had the right to control the rules as they saw fit.
Plessy then took his case to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, and pleaded his argument yet again.   And yet again, the courts overruled his opinions.   He then appealed the decision only to find himself in the same position as before.

The Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896 was a milestone marker in terms of the history of education in the United States and also the United States Supreme Court.   It upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation in the everyday lives, the African Americans in public accommodations, and even in the public schools.   “It was mandated under the “separate but equal”...