When the reconstruction era began after the civil war, many human rights had to change for “colored” people. Abraham Lincoln did pass the Emancipation Proclamation, which made slaves only in certain areas become free. This act also gave thousands of “colored” men the …show more content…
Even though the Government claimed it was “equal and separate,” what they faced was worse. They were not allowed to go into any dining areas or places, that had whites in it, or were they allowed to ride in the same transportation as whites. If a “colored” person was caught in an all white area, the law would be called immediately, and most of the time the “colored” people would face the harsher fines. It just kept going downhill from there. For these reasons, and more, two men decided to get their opinion out, and act on it. These men came up with the idea to challenge this issue in court. Even though some of the men were white themselves, they still felt sentiment for other “colored” people going through harsher times because of this act. Their plan was to send Plessy on an all white train, (he was one-eighth black but passed as a white man) and turn himself in, therefore getting arrested so they could preach their case in a district court. However, their case was denied, and seen as equal by the congress, therefore not