Plessy v. Ferguson
· Case: Plessy v. Ferguson
· Year: 1896
· Result: 7-1, favor Ferguson
· Related constitutional issue/amendment: Amendment 14: Equal Protection Clause
· Civil rights or Civil liberties: Civil Rights
· Significance/ Precedent: The state law is constitutional. The Court upheld the state-imposed racial segregation. The Court based its decision on the separate-but-equal doctrine, that separate places for blacks and whites
are protected by the 14th Amendment as long as the places were equal. The Court held that segregation does
not constitute unlawful discrimination.
· Quote from majority opinion: “ If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it… The argument also assumes that social prejudice may be overcome by legislation, and that equal rights cannot be secured except by an enforced commingling of the two races… If the civil and political rights of both races be equal, one cannot be inferior to the other civilly or politically. If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane.”
· Illustration/image: See Below
· 6-word summary: seperate but equal, train for blacks.
· Year: 1896
· Result: 7-1, favor Ferguson
· Related constitutional issue/amendment: Amendment 14: Equal Protection Clause
· Civil rights or Civil liberties: Civil Rights
· Significance/ Precedent: The state law is constitutional. The Court upheld the state-imposed racial segregation. The Court based its decision on the separate-but-equal doctrine, that separate places for blacks and whites
are protected by the 14th Amendment as long as the places were equal. The Court held that segregation does
not constitute unlawful discrimination.
· Quote from majority opinion: “ If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it… The argument also assumes that social prejudice may be overcome by legislation, and that equal rights cannot be secured except by an enforced commingling of the two races… If the civil and political rights of both races be equal, one cannot be inferior to the other civilly or politically. If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane.”
· Illustration/image: See Below
· 6-word summary: seperate but equal, train for blacks.