What happened in the Plessy vs Ferguson? Summarize the event!
1 answer
Plessy vs Ferguson was a landmark Supreme Court case in 1896 that upheld racial segregation laws in the United States. The case originated when Homer Plessy, a black man, was arrested for sitting in a white-only train car in Louisiana, violating the state's segregation law. Plessy argued that the law violated his rights under the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. However, in a 7-1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled against Plessy, establishing the infamous "separate but equal" doctrine. This decision legitimized segregation laws across the country, allowing for racial segregation and discrimination to be enforced until the Supreme Court's Brown v Board of Education decision in 1954, which declared separate educational facilities inherently unequal.