Plessy Vs Ferguson Case Analysis

In the mid 1800’s segregation played a big role in society. All public areas such as restrooms restaurants and schools were separate but not equal like the law said it should be. Even the railways were segregated, there were different railway cars for blacks and whites. The only exception was that nurses working on children of the opposite color were allowed to sit in the different compartments. A penalty of twenty-five dollars or up to twenty days in jail was the consequence for sitting in the opposite cart. Homer Plessy was seven-eighths white and only one-eighths black. Although he looked white he was still required to sit in the “blacks only cart”. On June 7, 1892 Homer Plessy obtained a first class ticket from New Orleans to Covington …show more content…
In Linda Alchins article, “Plessy VS Ferguson Case” Plessy said, “I am an American citizen and I paid for a first class ticket and I intend to ride in this first class car.” Plessy didn’t believe in the separation of the carts, but he was aware that was the law in Louisiana. He later was imprisoned and fined for breaking a state law. Although this could have been prevented, it was the Committee of Citizens (group of blacks and whites business leaders from Louisiana) plan all along so they could take this case to court. The Committee of Citizens joined together to make efforts to dispute the “separate car act” law in court. The group raised enough money to hire a private detective and a lawyer. The separate car act was passed two years previous to this case, and it stated that blacks and whites would be on separate trains but the trains would still be equal . The committee alerted the railroad officials that Homer Plessy would board the train and sit in a “whites only cart” . The plan went as followed and Homer was immediately arrested by the private detective. The next day Plessy went to criminal court and stood before Judge John