Plessy and Brown: How They Changed History

A nation that was segregated and unfair was pushed to the point of cracking under the pressure due to the sensitive nature of cases such as Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education. As a nation who's Declaration of Independence states that "all men are created equal" would be foolish to impose such rules as segregation, however it was found as constitutional one more than one level of the local, state, and federal government. That is until one case overturned the other and shook a prejudice nation to it's very core and changed history as the United States of America knew it.

In 1896, during the trial Plessy v. Ferguson, the United States Supreme Court made the final decision that separate accommodations for whites and blacks on railroads that travel within the state was constitutional. The foundation to justify other laws passed by many other states to separate whites and blacks was provided by the decision that was made during Plessy v. Ferguson. It wasn't until 1954 that the Supreme Courts decision during Plessy v. Ferguson was overturned by the trial Brown v. Board of Education. The arrest of Homer Plessy on June 7, 1892, was planned as a part of a challenge to the 1890 Louisiana Separate Car Act by a group of black professionals out of New Orleans. Soon after its organization in 1891, the committee appointed Albion Tourgee its legal representative. They had managed to prove that segregation in railroad cars traveling between states was unconstitutional and now they wanted to prove that it was also unconstitutional to segregate railroad cars that only traveled within the state. They wanted someone who had "mixed blood" and   Plessy jumped at the opportunity because he was half white, half black and therefore could legally pass as white. Plessy ended up being arrested and his case was taken before the Louisiana district court. When Plessy went before district court in Louisiana, the court ruled that Louisiana had the power to regulate the companies...