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  • Essay / Critical Analysis of the Plessy v. Ferguson Case

    The Plessy v. Ferguson case was one of many important court cases of the 19th century, among many others. It was Homer Adolph Plessy who opposed John Ferguson for segregation on one of his trains from New Orleans to Louisiana. This trial highlighted equality. Adolph v. John was a Supreme Court case. The case came before the court on April 13, 1896 and a decision was made on May 18, 1896. The case of Plessy v. John concerned equal treatment and non-segregation on the company train. Louisiana adopted segregation as long as they were treated equally. By equal treaties, they mean separate but benefiting from the same processing facilities. Ferguson and company believed that genetic separation was okay as long as they had equal rights, which will never be the case. Plessy was white and one-eighth African American. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Adolph boarded the train run by the Ferguson company. Since Plessy appeared to be white, he sat with the white people because there was an empty car and felt he had the right to sit there because he looked like he was only Caucasian and not African American. Plessy was arrested because he was only one-eighth African American and seated in the white section of the train. He also refused to sit in cars with the African American because he looked more Caucasian than African American. Plessy wanted to take legal action and fight against segregation. Plessy wanted to do everything he could to go against Louisiana's segregation law, even if he suffered no harm. Plessy's idea was to go to court and tell everyone that segregation was against the Constitution. Plessy felt his rights were being taken away and he should be allowed to sit wherever he wants. Plessy decided to file a petition against the Ferguson railroad company to demonstrate that racial separation was wrong. The rights he said were being taken away were the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Thirteenth Amendment, simply put, is that slavery is illegal. The Fourteenth Amendment states that states cannot take away anyone's citizenship rights. Plessy felt that his rights as a citizen were being exercised. The segregation law only divided America, which is why I believe Plessy was right. The case was a semi-long trial because they couldn't decide if Adolph was right or John was right. The judge wanted to vote on the trial. The vote cast was seven to one, meaning his petition was rejected because he didn't have much evidence to support his claims. On the other hand, John has plenty of evidence. It was not passed primarily because of his rights which were set forth in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. His citizenship was not exercised because of the Thirteenth Amendment. I say this because in Louisiana, the law was passed establishing racial separation. Also in the Fourteenth Amendment it says that slavery or involuntary labor is not permitted. Plessy wasn't forced to work involuntarily or anything like that, he was asked to move due to the fact that he only had one-eighth Black in him, even though he identified for most of them. like white. I don't think the law should have been overturned because racial separation is so bad and I think people should be able to sit where they..