PLESSY VS. FERGUSON 1896 

In 1892 Homer Plessy, from New Orleans, Louisiana, bought a first class train ticket to Covington, Louisiana. He was ejected by a train conductor from a car assigned for whites only. He was also imprisioned in New Orleans. Plessy seems to have deliberately planned and wanted this action. He was involved with civil rights groups and a good friend to Rodolph Desdunnes, a leader of the American Citizens' Equal Rights Assocaition. Following the 13th and 14th amendment additions to the Bill of Rights, other means were used by many people to circumvent the law. Jim Crow laws were established that continued to separate the races.

Plessy argued such laws were opposite to the new amendments. The court ruled against Plessy saying that as long as the accomadations were equal there was nothing wrong with separation of the races. Again the Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 decision against Plessy in an action that reflected the attitudes of the time. The important point of this case is it allowed prejudice between races to continue unfer the sanction of law. Obviously, this was decision unsatisfactory with many citizens and only postphoned problems for a time. The Plessy decision was confronted with the case of Brown vs. the Board of Education.