Topic > Critical Analysis of the Plessy v. Ferguson Case

The Plessy v. Ferguson case was one of many important trials of the 1800s, among many others. It was Homer Adolph Plessy railing against John Ferguson for segregation on one of his trains leaving from New Orleans to Louisiana. This process put an eye on equality. The case of Adolph v. John was a Supreme Court case. The case was presented to the court on April 13, 1896, and the decision was made by May 18, 1896. The Plessy v. John case was about obtaining equal treatment and no greater segregation on the company train. Louisiana overcame segregation as long as they were treated equally. Equal treaties mean separate but with the same treatment facilities. Ferguson and his company believed that genetic separation was acceptable as long as they had equal rights, while segregation will never be acceptable. Plessy was Caucasian and one-eighth African American. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Adolf boarded the train operated by the Ferguson company. Since Plessy appeared to be Caucasian, he sat with the Caucasian people because there was an empty car and felt he had the right to sit there because it appeared he was only Caucasian and not African American. Plessy was arrested because he was only one-eighth African American and sat in the white section of the train. He also refused to sit in the carriages with the African American because he looked more Caucasian than African American. Plessy wanted to go to court and fight against segregation. Plessy wanted to do everything he could to go against Louisiana's segregation law, even if he wasn't harmed in any way. Plessy's idea was to go to court and tell everyone that segregation was against the Constitution. Plessy felt that his rights were being taken away from him and that he should be allowed to sit wherever he wanted. Plessy decided to file a petition against Ferguson's railroad company to prove that racial separation was wrong. The rights he believes were taken away are the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Thirteenth Amendment in simple terms is that slavery is illegal. The Fourteenth Amendment states that states may not take away the rights of citizenship from anyone. Plessy felt his citizenship rights were being exercised. Segregation law was simply dividing America, which is why I believe Plessy was right. The case was a semi-long trial because they couldn't decide whether Adolph was right or John was. The judge wanted to cast a 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 claim. On the other hand John has a lot of evidence. It was primarily not passed because of his rights set forth in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. His citizenship was not exercised because in the Thirteenth Amendment. I say this because the racial separation law was passed in Louisiana. Even in the Fourteenth Amendment it says that slavery or involuntary labor is not allowed. Plessy wasn't forced to work involuntarily or anything like that, he was asked to move out due to the fact that he only had an eighth of black in him, even though he identified primarily as white. I don't believe the law should have been struck down because racial separation is wrong and I believe people should be able to sit wherever they want regardless of the color of their skin or what anyone identifies as.