Unit VII: What, Then, Is This American? ca. 1865 - 1900

Question/Problem 3: What was it like to live under segregation?

In 1892, Plessy purchased a first class ticket on the East Louisiana Railway, from New Orleans to Covington, Louisiana. Plessy, who was of racially mixed decent (one-eight black and seven-eighths Caucasian), was a United States citizen and a resident of the state of Louisiana. When he entered the train, he took a seat in the coach where only whites were permitted to sit. He was told by the conductor to leave the coach and to find another seat on the train where non-whites were permitted to sit. Plessy did not move and was ejected with force from the train. Plessy was sent to jail for violating the Louisiana Act of 1890, which required railway companies to provide "separate but equal" accommodations for white and black races. Plessy argued that this law was unconstitutional.

Issue

Whether laws which provided for the separation of races violated the rights of blacks as guaranteed by the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Opinion

The Supreme Court of the United States held that the Louisiana Act, which stated that "all railway companies were to provide equal but separate accommodations for white and black races" did not violate the Constitution. This law did not take away from th e federal authority to regulate interstate commerce, nor did it violate the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery. Additionally, the law did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, which gave all blacks their constitutional rights. The Court believed that "separate but equal" was the most reasonable approach considering the social prejudices which prevailed at the time.