Chapter16wikiMaggio

Chapter 16 Plessy v. Ferguson

[[image:220px-Plessy_marker.jpg width="263" height="232" align="center" caption="Site Plessy got arrested at is at this billboard. "]] Plessy v. Ferguson was a major United States supreme court case in 1896 that changed discrimination towards blacks. After the reconstruction from the civil war, the newly freed slaves were free but they were not allowed to enjoy their freedom because they had to deal with discrimination. Jim Crow laws were state and local laws to enforce racial segregation. The Plessy v. Ferguson case was the challenging of a Jim Crow law requiring people of color to ride in a separate train car. In order to challenge this law they needed the right person, which is where Plessy comes in here. Plessy was 7/8 white and 1/8 black which legally made him black which means he had to ride in a seperate train car. Plessy sat in a white's only railroad and was arrested for violating the law. Plessy sued stating that the law is unconstitutional because it labels someone in order to discriminate them. The judges that took this case all agreed that separation is not discrimination and Plessy lost this case. Even though Plessy lost the case, the United States changed their decision in 1944 in the Brown v. Board of Education Source: Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.