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Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America: Plessy v. Ferguson

Tyra Shepherd

5/29/2019

HIS 204
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On May 18, 1896, the U.S Supreme Court delivered its verdict on the case Plessy v.

Ferguson. After Reconstruction ended in 1877, African Americans were free but had no

freedom. It was widely accepted that all rights issued in the Constitution should only be applied

to white men and women in some cases. During Reconstruction, three landmark amendments

had been passed that gave African Americans more rights. The 13th Amendment abolished

slavery, the 14th gave those born in the U.S citizenship or the ability to become a citizen through

naturalization, and the 15th gave people the right to vote regardless of race or previous position of

servitude. Though they had these rights, African Americans were prevented from using them by

Jim Crow Laws and violence. The Ku Klux Klan was a white supremacist group that terrorized

African Americans. The group formed in 1865 with the intent of reversing Reconstruction

policies.1 Many times, its members held positions of authority, including judges and police

officers. Jim Crow Laws were very common in the South and used legal loopholes to prevent

African Americans from using their rights as well as to separate them from white people.

Literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses were used to prevent blacks, and often poor

people, from voting. Other laws segregated public services, from trains to restaurants and even

bathrooms. In Louisiana in 1890, a law called the Withdraw Car Act was passed that called for

"providing for separate railway carriages for the white and colored races." It claimed that the

facilities would be equal, but, as was true with most segregated areas, the black section was

poorly cared for and often ignored. Homer Plessy, a man who was only one-eighth African,

volunteered to break the law so it could be challenged in court. He purchased a train ticket in

New Orleans and sat in the whites-only section. When asked to leave, he refused and was jailed.

Plessy was found guilty and then petitioned the law as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause

of the 14th Amendment.2 The case went to the Supreme Court and became a monumental case
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that decided the fate of race relations in the U.S. The Supreme Court upheld the law, claiming it

was constitutional if the facilities were “separate but equal.” It was easy to predict the outcome

the case would have on the Jim Crow South, but the racial turmoil and struggle that continued for

years unexpectedly changed America.

The passage of many new laws and amendments during Reconstruction gave African

Americans hope that the law was finally on their side. Many believed they could gain rights by

appealing to federal law since state law was often biased. The decision of Plessy v. Ferguson

proved otherwise. The case validated Jim Crow Laws. The recent rights blacks gained were

essentially useless because they were prevented from exercising them. In many ways, segregation

limited opportunities for black citizens. Schools were segregated, and blacks often received a

limited education because of it. The careers and jobs available to African Americas were limited

because of minimal education.3 Literacy tests and poll taxes prevented them from voting, so they

were unable to change these restrictions by voting. If someone did pass all these tests, it was likely

that the KKK would harm or threaten them to stop them from voting. This widespread

disenfranchisement caused African Americans to stop trusting law and authority. They had

repeatedly been lied to and mistreated by authority and had no reason to trust them. This also

affected some authority figures, who felt the validation of Jim Crow allowed them to treat African

Americans poorly. Though it is not as severe as it once was, these ideas have carried over into

present society. Blacks struggle to trust authority, while some authority figures abuse their power.

Police brutality, though rare, often results in the deaths of blacks and other minorities. As of 2018,

black people are three times more likely to be shot by police. Of these people, 30% are unarmed.

In 2015 alone, about 104 unarmed black people were shot.4 The Black Lives Matter movement

was created to heal this relationship. The goal of the movement, which began in 2013, is to expose
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the reality African Americans face every day. By making police brutality public, they hope

discussion will begin to prompt police and blacks to accept and trust each other. They also try to

hold police guilty of racism and discrimination accountable. Unfortunately, the Black Lives Matter

movement has exposed many cases of police brutality, but few are held accountable for their

actions. In 2014, a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri shot Michael Brown, an unarmed

black teenager, and faced no criminal charges.5 Since Plessy v. Ferguson, this mistrust between

African Americans and authority has hardly been addressed, resulting in the deaths of many.

When the Plessy v. Ferguson trial began, most presumed it would be the end of political

and legal debates about segregation. The exact opposite happened, and legal debates occurred in

the immediate years and many years later. The decision of Plessy v. Ferguson interfered with the

constitutional rights of African Americans, whether the Supreme Court agreed or not. They refused

to give up on their rights and many court cases occurred in the U.S. to try and reverse the decision.

In the Plessy v. Ferguson, every judge voted in favor of the defendant except for John Marshall

Harlan. Once a slave owner, Harlan opposed emancipation and many Reconstruction-era

progressive laws. The injustice African Americans faced, however, and the violence of the KKK

inspired Harlan to change his opinion.5 In his dissent, Harlan stated:

While there may be in Louisiana persons of different races who are not citizens of the United

States, the words in the act 'white and colored races' necessarily include all citizens of the United

States of both races residing in that state... However apparent the injustice of such legislation

may be, we have only to consider whether it is consistent with the constitution of the United

States.

Harlan claimed that the racist nature of the U.S. was an injustice, but the Constitution did not

necessarily protect different races. According to the interpretation of some, because the
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Constitution does not plainly state that blacks and whites are equal, they do not have to be treated

as such. Harlan also added, however, that:

In respect of civil rights, common to all citizens, the constitution of the United States does not, I

think, permit any public authority to know the race of those entitled to be protected in the

enjoyment of such rights. Every true man has pride of race, and under appropriate circumstances,

when the rights of others, his equals before the law, are not to be affected, it is his privilege to

express such pride and to take such action based upon it as to him seems proper.6

The Constitution also does not specify that authority has the right to know one’s race and use it

to discriminate. Harlan was very passionate and confident in his opinion, but, only three years

later, he changed his opinion in the case Cummings v. Board of Education. The complaint in the

case was that Richmond County had used funds to improve a white school district but had done

nothing to help a black school in the county. The state court decided that this inequality was not

based on race, so it was not a violation of the 14th Amendment. The case did not originate from

the same circumstance, but both addressed the unfairness of segregation. Despite the “separate

but equal” claim in Plessy v. Ferguson, equality was inherently impossible if races were

segregated. After years of fighting this law, African Americans made some progress.7 In 1938,

the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lloyd Gaines, a black man, in Gaines v. Canada. Gaines

graduated from Lincoln University, a black university in Missouri. Lincoln did not have a law

school, so he applied to the University of Missouri Law School. He was rejected because they

claimed it contradicted the segregation policies in their state laws and constitution. The Supreme

Court disagreed, however. The Court ruled that by establishing a black university, they also

established an equal education opportunity precedent. Based on this precedent, denying him

access to a law school violated his rights.8 Gaines v. Canada did not reverse the Plessy v.
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Ferguson decision, but it proved that it was a possibility. Many more similar cases occurred

within the next thirty years, including Briggs v. Elliott in 1952. The most significant of these was

Brown v. Board of Education.9 Oliver Brown filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education of

Topeka, Kansas after his daughter was rejected from a white elementary school. The official

complaint in the case stated:

A. The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of

the United States forbids the racial separation herein practiced.

i. The mere unjustified fact of segregation in education is unconstitutional.

ii. (a) Plessy v. Ferguson is inapplicable to this case, (b) but even under a

“separate but equal” interpretation, the Constitution is being violated

because, the uncontradicted evidence shows that segregation per se

constitutes an inequality.10

The complaint highlights that segregation is not and cannot be equal. In a landmark decision, the

Supreme Court decided that segregation in schools violated 14th Amendment rights and made

public schools integrate. The decision did not outlaw Jim Crow, however. Though some schools

fought this, it ultimately led to the integration of schools, and this law still applies in modern

America.

Over fifty years later, African Americans received some justice through legal routes

following Brown v. Board of Education, the decision of Plessy v. Ferguson inspired them to fight

for their rights in other ways. Rather than use legal channels, African Americans used political

and social movements. The Civil Rights Movement, which began in 1954, was a series of

movement and civil protests carried out by blacks and others sympathetic to their cause to

achieve rights. White and black people participated in the movement and their perseverance
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through violence and brutality ultimately led to the expansion of democracy. Upon recognizing

that the law was not helping them, blacks knew they needed to sway the law to their side. They

did this through the Civil Rights Movement. They organize sit-ins, marches, voter registration

movements, bus boycotts, as well as other non-violent forms of protest.11 The Civil Rights

Movement ultimately led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed

discrimination and segregation in public facilities based on race, and the Voting Rights Act of

1965, which prohibited restricting voting rights based on race. More laws that expanded the

rights of blacks were passed in following years. Plessy v. Ferguson was supposed to limit the

power of African Americans. Instead, it taught them to use other routes to achieve true freedom.

Segregation laws that were established by Plessy v. Ferguson have been outlawed, but

blacks and whites are still not completely integrated today as a result. When suburbanization

began in the 1950s, segregation was still legal. Many suburbs only allowed white residents. This

left many blacks stuck in crowded cities. Educational restrictions also contributed to this. African

Americans often had limited educations because of segregation and were restricted to simple,

manufacturing jobs in cities. The proximity to work anchored blacks to cities. When segregation

was outlawed when the Civil Rights Act or 1964 was passed, the separation was so significant

that it still has not been corrected. Many new suburban homes already had occupants, and there

was an educational gap that still affected many generations. Though progress has been made,

cities and suburbs are still racially separated. In most urban areas, whites are the minority, but

they make a significant majority in suburban and rural areas.12 It is possible for blacks and other

minorities to move out of cities, but it is still rather difficult. There is still an educational gap

resulting from income inequality. As of 2018, for every $1,002 a white man made, a black man

made about $735.13 This wage gap means inner-city schools generally receive less funding,
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which can result in poorer quality education. Blacks are also confined by a "ghetto" stereotype.

Many people are accepting of other races today, but some still hold prejudices. The ghetto

stereotype is one of these. Blacks are viewed by some as inferior and uncivilized criminals

because of higher crime rates in cities. When blacks try to move out of urban areas, these people

will not respect them and acknowledge them as equals, thus making it harder for African

Americans to thrive outside of cities. Though Plessy v. Ferguson has been reversed, the

precedents set by the years of segregation it permitted have created a present society that is not

entirely equal and integrated.

When the verdict in Plessy v. Ferguson was delivered in 1896, it was impossible to deny

it would change the racial dynamics of the country. Segregation was declared constitutional, and

most accepted this inequality and moved on with their lives. What they did not know, however,

was how it would shape the U.S. in the years to come. The case, which was supposed to be an

end to the segregation debate, caused widespread injustice that impossible for some to ignore.

Blacks and whites who supported equality were motivated to pursue justice through social and

political movements, resulting in the historic Civil Rights Movement. During this, segregation

was outlawed, but years of segregation made it difficult to integrate whites and blacks. Though

not entirely segregated, certain races are still confined to living in certain areas. Others continued

to pursue rights through legal routes, resulting in various lawsuits and court cases, one of which

outlawed segregation in schools. The injustice of Plessy v. Ferguson permanently altered the

relationship between authority, specifically police, and African Americans. Currently, this

relationship has still not been repaired. On May 18, 1896, many hoped that the decision made by

the Supreme Court would put an end to years of debate about the constitutionality of segregation.
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The decision offered peace but only for a short time. It ultimately led to years of reform that

unexpectedly changed the racial dynamics of the U.S.

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Endnotes

1. Linda Gordon, “When the Ku Klux Klan was a Mass Movement,”

https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/ku-klux-klan-mass-movement-
organisation-secret-society-rise-american-south-1920s/ (accessed June 3, 2019).
2. History.com Editors, “Plessy v. Ferguson,” https://www.history.com/topics/black-
history/plessy-v-ferguson (accessed May 20, 2019).

3. Richard Rothstein, “The Racial Achievement Gap, Segregated Schools, Segregated

Neighborhoods- A Constitutional Insult,” https://www.epi.org/publication/the-racial-
achievement-gap-segregated-schools-and-segregated-neighborhoods-a-constitutional-insult/
(accessed May 20, 2019).

4. Mapping Police Violence, “2015 Police Violence Report,”

https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed (accessed May 20, 2019).

5. Monica Davey and Julie Bosman, “Protests Flare After Ferguson Police Officer is Not
Indicted,” https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/us/ferguson-darren-wilson-shooting-
michael-brown-grand-jury.html (accessed June 3, 2019).

6. U.S. Supreme Court, Plessy v. Ferguson, Case #163US537, May 18, 1896.

7. Justia, “Cumming v. Board of Education of Richmond County,”

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/175/528/ (accessed May 21, 2019).

8. Oyez, “Missouri ex. rel Gaines v. Canada,” https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-

1940/305us337 (accessed May 21, 2019).

9. South Carolina Turning Point, “Briggs v, Elliott,”

https://www.turningpointsouthcarolina.com/briggs-v-elliot (accessed May 22, 2019).

10. National Archives, “Complaint in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,”

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6997520 (accessed May 22, 2019).

11. Constitutional Rights Foundation, “Social Protests,” http://www.crf-usa.org/black-

history-month/social-protests (accessed May 23, 2019).

12. Pew Research Center, “Demographic and Economic Trends in Urban, Suburban, and
Rural Communities,” https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2018/05/22/demographic-and-
economic-trends-in-urban-suburban-and-rural-communities/ (accessed May 25, 2019).

13. Ariane Hegewisch and Heidi Hartmann, “The Gender Wage Gap: 2018 Earnings
Differences by Race and Etnicity,” https://iwpr.org/publications/gender-wage-gap-2018/
(accessed May 25, 2019).
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Works Cited
Constitutional Rights Foundation. “Social Protests.” 2019. http://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-
month/social-protests (accessed May 23, 2019).
Davey, Monica, and Julia Bosman. “Protests Flare After Ferguson Police Officer is Not
Indicted.” 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/us/ferguson-darren-wilson-
shooting-michael-brown-grand-jury.html (accessed June 3, 2019).
Gordon, Linda. “When the Ku Klux Klan was a Mass Movement.” 2019.
https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/ku-klux-klan-mass-movement-
organisation-secret-society-rise-american-south-1920s/ (accessed June 3, 2019).
Hegewisch, Ariane, and Heidi Hartmann. “The Gender Wage Gap: 2018 Earnings Differences
by Race and Etnicity.” 2019. https://iwpr.org/publications/gender-wage-gap-2018/
(accessed May 25, 2019).
History.com Editors. “Plessy v. Ferguson.” 2009. https://www.history.com/topics/black-
history/plessy-v-ferguson (accessed May 20, 2019).
Justia. “Cumming v. Board of Education of Richmond County.”
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/175/528/ (accessed May 21, 2019).
Mapping Police Violence. “2015 Police Violence Report.” 2016.
https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed (accessed May 20, 2019).
National Archives. “Complaint in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.” 1951.
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6997520 (accessed May 22, 2019).
Oyez. “Missouri ex. rel Gaines v. Canada.” https://www.oyez.org/cases/1900-1940/305us337
(accessed May 21, 2019).
Pew Research Center. “Demographic and Economic Trends in Urban, Suburban, and Rural
Communities.” 2018. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2018/05/22/demographic-and-
economic-trends-in-urban-suburban-and-rural-communities/ (accessed May 25, 2019).
Rothstein, Richard. “The Racial Achievement Gap, Segregated Schools, Segregated
Neighborhoods- A Constitutional Insult.” 2014. https://www.epi.org/publication/the-
racial-achievement-gap-segregated-schools-and-segregated-neighborhoods-a-
constitutional-insult/ (accessed May 20, 2019).
South Carolina Turning Point. “Briggs v, Elliott.”
https://www.turningpointsouthcarolina.com/briggs-v-elliot (accessed May 22, 2019).
U.S. Supreme Court. Plessy v. Ferguson. Case #163US537. May 18, 1896.
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