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Among the grievances were exclusion from a hotel dining room; refusal of admission to a New York City opera; segregation to lower-quality seats in a theater; and removal from a train car set aside for white women. All of these indignities were violations of rights enumerated in the 1875 legislation. The Supreme Court analyzed these cases in view of the Fourteenth Amendment and concluded the Amendment was not designed to apply to private citizens or private organizations, but only to the federal and state governments. This decision resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1875 being invalidated, and opened the doors to blatant discrimination by businesses and individuals. John Marshall Harlan, who was a supporter of civil rights, was the lone voice of dissent on the Court, which ruled 8-1 against the petitioners. Harlan argued that the Thirteenth Amendment was intended to remove the badge of servitude, and that Congress had the right to legislate against the
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In New Orleans, attorney, newspaper publisher (The Crusader), and later physician, Louis André Martinet helped organize the "Citizens' Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law" (generally called the "Citizens' Committee") in 1891. Their first orchestrated challenge was carried out by Daniel Desdunes, who purchased a first-class ticket from the Louisiana & Nashville Railroad to travel from New Orleans, LA, to Montgomery, AL, across state lines. The initial protest was against practices that violated established federal statutes, in this case invoking the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which granted Congress the right to regulate travel and business between the states. Congress earlier declared segregation could not be applied to interstate travelers because it disrupted the flow of commerce, a rule not based on individual rights, but on federal supremacy. On February 24, 1892, Desdunes boarded a segregated "whites-only" coach and refused to leave. He was duly arrested. Desdunes case never went to trial, however, because the Louisiana Supreme Court voted in another case on May 25, 1892, Abbott v. Hicks, 44 La.Ann. 770, to uphold federal Commerce Clause regulations, rendering the Desdunes case moot. The Citizens' Committee raised $3,000 to finance a second dispute. Martinet had established ongoing correspondence with New York attorney Albion Tourgee, a well-known, "white" former judge (Tourgee's comments about himself actually suggest he considered himself an a person of mixed heritage who was "passing" as white) and author of French descent. Tourgee helped create the North Carolina Constitution, and had served as a superior court judge for several years. He was known for his intensity and intelligence, and was also a militant supporter of equality. The Citizen's Committee
In New Orleans, attorney, newspaper publisher (The Crusader), and later physician, Louis André Martinet helped organize the "Citizens' Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law" (generally called the "Citizens' Committee") in 1891. Their first orchestrated challenge was carried out by Daniel Desdunes, who purchased a first-class ticket from the Louisiana & Nashville Railroad to travel from New Orleans, LA, to Montgomery, AL, across state lines. The initial protest was against practices that violated established federal statutes, in this case invoking the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which granted Congress the right to regulate travel and business between the states. Congress earlier declared segregation could not be applied to interstate travelers because it disrupted the flow of commerce, a rule not based on individual rights, but on federal supremacy. On February 24, 1892, Desdunes boarded a segregated "whites-only" coach and refused to leave. He was duly arrested. Desdunes case never went to trial, however, because the Louisiana Supreme Court voted in another case on May 25, 1892, Abbott v. Hicks, 44 La.Ann. 770, to uphold federal Commerce Clause regulations, rendering the Desdunes case moot. The Citizens' Committee raised $3,000 to finance a second dispute. Martinet had established ongoing correspondence with New York attorney Albion Tourgee, a well-known, "white" former judge (Tourgee's comments about himself actually suggest he considered himself an a person of mixed heritage who was "passing" as white) and author of French descent. Tourgee helped create the North Carolina Constitution, and had served as a superior court judge for several years. He was known for his intensity and intelligence, and was also a militant supporter of equality. The Citizen's Committee