The Decision

The case was ruled in favor of Ferguson. The vote was 8 to 1. Once again, the lone dissenter was Justice Harlan. He claimed that the Constitution was colored-blind and that separate could not be equal. The majority opinion said that,"the assumption that the enforced separation of the races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority is false." Basically, they said that just because they were separated, did not mean that one race was given a preference over the other.

The Case

Homer Plessy sued the train company on the grounds of the 13th and 14th amendments. The case was lost in the lower courts but Plessy's lawyers brought the case all the way to the Supreme Court. The case was called Plessy v. Ferguson because the judge who had called the Separate Car Act constitutional in the lower court had the name Ferguson. He had declared it constitutional because the train had never left the state of Louisiana, therefore the laws of the state could be in effect. If it had left the state, the case would have been different.

Homer Plessy

On June 7, 1892 a man named Homer Plessy attempted to board a all white car on a train going from New Orleans to Covington. Both cities were located in Louisiana. He was one eighth black and the conductor would not allow him to board. He was also arrested. But little did the conductor know that it had all been done as a test to see what would be done if he had sat there.

The Separate Car Act

The Separate Car Act of Louisiana stated that on all trains in the state the cars should be divided according to race. The colored citizens must go on one side, and the whites on the other.

Background on the Country

The United States of America ended its most bloody war in 1865. This was the Civil War. After the war, a 13th Amendment was added to the Constitution. This amendment ended slavery. Soon afterwards, two more amendments were added. The first made all persons born or naturalized in the United States a citizen. The next one gave all citizens the right to vote. This angered the whites because now blacks had just as many rights as them. After much racism and violence the Civil Rights Cases of 1883 occurred. They were a group of cases where blacks felt they had their rights violated. They based their cases on the Civil Rights Act of 1875. This act gave all citizens the right to go to all places of public amusement, such as theaters or restaurants. However, they lost the cases and the whites prevailed. The vote was 7 to 1. One justice abstained. Justice John Marshall Harlan was the lone dissenter.