This court case was not just about children and education; it was about creating equality within a society that had claimed African Americans were treated …show more content…
Though he was only one-eighths black and seven-eighths white, according to Louisiana law he was still considered black. He was charged with violating the Separate Car Act, which was a law that required all railroads operating in the state to provide “equal by separate accommodations” for white and African American passengers (Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2016). At Plessy’s trial in U.S. District Court, Judge John H. Ferguson ruled that Louisiana had the right to regulate railroad companies while operating within state boundaries. This resulted in Plessy’s being convicted and sentence to pay a fine of $25. With a seven-to-one majority vote, the U.S Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson advanced the controversial “separate but equal” doctrine for assessing the constitutionality of racial segregation laws (Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2016). During the early twentieth century, the Supreme Court continues to uphold the legality of Jim Crow laws and other forms of racial discrimination all as a result of the decision in the Plessy v. Ferguson court case (History - Brown v. Board of Education Re-enactment, 2017). Brown vs. Board of Education changed everything …show more content…
Chief Justice Warren delivered the opinion of the Court, stating that “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal…” (History - Brown v. Board of Education Re-enactment, 2017). The Effects In many areas of the U.S. the effects of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision became apparent in education, employment, voting, and all publically supported services. Protest against segregation spread amongst many parts of the U.S., specifically in Montgomery, Alabama when Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to sit at the back of the bus. Soon many civil rights leaders, like Dr. Martin Luther King, arose and challenged the deep-rooted patterns of racial discrimination. The Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Board of Education II that school desegregation should proceed with “all deliberate speed” (Ornstein, p. 374). Resistance to this ruling could be seen in many different forms. They delayed the reassignment of African American students to different schools, the altered the school boundary lines to increase segregation, and they even began closing desegregated schools. All of this set the stage of the development of more ambitious, yet controversial plans in order for the Court to achieve school integration