Plessy V Ferguson Reflection

The rundown and discussion of the case, Plessy V. Ferguson.

In class, a few of my peers discussed the case of Plessy V. Ferguson. I would like to go over the facts of the case, the argument presented by the plaintiff, and why I found it interesting and important. 

In the year 1896, the state of Louisiana had a statue that ordered whites and blacks had to ride in separate cars on private railroads. While they are technically equal cars, it was evident that the cars for white people were nicer than the cars for black people. 

Homer Plessy had an immense impact on C.R. 

Homer Plessy, a man who was only 1/8 African American, participated in an experiment where he road in a white people only car. This experiment was to challenge the law under the 14th amendment's equal protection clause. The question to court ended up being: Did Lousiana's car act of 1890 violate this clause?

Giuliana and Bianca posed in their arguments for Plessy. They both had excellent points. 

The legal argument discussed the fact that while it was a 14th amendment case, this violated the 13th amendment as well. To quote Giuliana, she said: "The 13th amendment didn’t just end slavery, it meant getting rid of the system itself; and treating African Americans this way is a remnant of that system" I thoroughly enjoyed when she made the point that 'the law is colorblind'. It simply seemed unconstitutional for the people to be treated separately based on skin color, after every effort made to change that. 

The Biblical argument was fascinating as well; there were plenty of books in the Bible that state how we are made in the like image of the Lord. If that is so, it is not a Christian value to neglect others because of what they were born with. Bianca also made a beautiful connection, stating that black hands were present in white homes fairly often. They raised white children, cooked and cleaned for white families, etc... Why then should they be separated when their lives are so intertwined?

The law itself is obviously important, but the emotional, moral play at hand was also very compelling. I liked learning about this case and hearing what the sides had to say in order to make their claims.