Skip to main content

Explain how the Supreme Court justified the practice of segregating railroad passengers in Louisiana by race.

In this question, you are referring to the Supreme Court case of Plessy v Ferguson, which was decided in 1896.  In that case, the Court had to decide whether a Louisiana law that required whites and blacks to sit in separate train cars violated the 14th Amendment.  The Court held that it did not.  There were two main reasons for this.


First, the Court said that the 14th Amendment was meant to make blacks...

In this question, you are referring to the Supreme Court case of Plessy v Ferguson, which was decided in 1896.  In that case, the Court had to decide whether a Louisiana law that required whites and blacks to sit in separate train cars violated the 14th Amendment.  The Court held that it did not.  There were two main reasons for this.


First, the Court said that the 14th Amendment was meant to make blacks and whites equal in legal terms, but not in social terms.  It said that there was a difference between making sure that blacks had the right to vote and requiring that they be allowed to sit in the same train cars as whites.  The Court pointed to previous cases, including one in which segregated schools in Boston were found to be constitutional.  The Court held that the amendment was meant



…to enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law, but in the nature of things it could not have been intended to abolish distinctions based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political equality…



In saying this, the Court asserted that there was a real difference between political rights such as voting and social rights such as the right to share public facilities.


Second, the Court said that Louisiana’s law did not imply that blacks were inferior to whites.  Instead, it was based only on the idea that the two races were different.  Although the Court did not draw this analogy, we can think of this in terms of having different bathrooms for the different sexes.  Most people do not believe that we imply that women are inferior to men when we set up separate bathrooms for them.  Why, then, would we think that separate facilities imply that blacks are inferior to whites.  The Court said that these laws only labelled blacks as inferior if black people thought they did.  In the words of the majority decision,



We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff's argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority. If this be so, it is not by reason of anything found in the act, but solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it.



There are, then, two main reasons ways in which the Court justified segregation.  First, it said that the 14th Amendment guaranteed only political rights and not social rights.  Second, it said that it was only in the imaginations of black people that the law implied that whites were superior.

Popular posts from this blog

In chapter one of The Great Gatsby, what advice does Nick's father give him? How does this make him a good person to tell this story?

Nick says that his father advised him that, before "criticizing anyone," he "remember that all the people in this world haven't had the same advantages" as Nick.  As a result, Nick claims that he is "inclined to reserve all judgments," presenting himself to the reader as a fair and dispassionate arbiter of character, and thus, a reliable narrator.   The problem is that Nick immediately reveals himself as anything but reliable, as he then launches... Nick says that his father advised him that, before "criticizing anyone," he "remember that all the people in this world haven't had the same advantages" as Nick.  As a result, Nick claims that he is "inclined to reserve all judgments," presenting himself to the reader as a fair and dispassionate arbiter of character, and thus, a reliable narrator.   The problem is that Nick immediately reveals himself as anything but reliable, as he then launches into a discussion of how pe...
Post a Comment
Read more

How and why does James Gatz become Jay Gatsby? Describe the young Gatsby/Gatz.

James Gatz, a poor Midwestern boy of probable Jewish lineage, becomes Jay Gatsby, a presumed WASP and wealthy socialite, when he moves to New York City and acquires his fortune. It is wealth that has allowed Gatz to transform himself into Gatsby. However, those who know his background (e.g., Daisy and Tom Buchanan) never allow him to forget that he is nouveau riche -- that is, an upstart who has just recently made his fortune,... James Gatz, a poor Midwestern boy of probable Jewish lineage, becomes Jay Gatsby, a presumed WASP and wealthy socialite, when he moves to New York City and acquires his fortune. It is wealth that has allowed Gatz to transform himself into Gatsby. However, those who know his background (e.g., Daisy and Tom Buchanan) never allow him to forget that he is nouveau riche -- that is, an upstart who has just recently made his fortune, whereas they arose from well-to-do families. Gatz became Gatsby through determination and discipline. At the end of the novel, the narr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Explain and discuss how the definitions of freedom change for the nation, for the freedmen and for southern whites after the Civil War.

After the Civil War, the definition of freedom changed in the nation, as slavery was ended with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. The practice of slavery was disallowed, but definition of the freedom that would take its place was a subject of controversy, ongoing debate, and even violence in the decades to come.  For freedmen, freedom often meant reconciling with their families, who were broken up by slavery; choosing which church to... After the Civil War, the definition of freedom changed in the nation, as slavery was ended with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. The practice of slavery was disallowed, but definition of the freedom that would take its place was a subject of controversy, ongoing debate, and even violence in the decades to come.  For freedmen, freedom often meant reconciling with their families, who were broken up by slavery; choosing which church to belong to without being ordered to attend religious services (or not to attend) by their mast...
Post a Comment
Read more