Plessy v. Ferguson

After the Separate Car Act, the Citizens' Committee was formed in order to bring justice and challenge the unfairness of the constitution. Albion W. Tourgee, an upstate New York attorney who was one of the founders of the biracial Citizens' Equal Rights League, represented this group free of charge, prioritizing the rights of all people without need for anything back (Plessy v. Ferguson National Archives 2022). Tourgee fought the case in their state court, arguing that this law went against the 13th and 14th amendment. When the judge didn’t rule in his favor, he appealed to the Supreme Court of Louisiana. His appeal was accepted, however, they ruled against him as well, so he appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. After a month of debating, the Supreme Court reached their decision, ruling that the 13th amendment was largely irrelevant because of his voluntary choice to do whatever he wants. However, the controversial validity of the 14th amendment was denied when the Judges voted against Plessy, 7-1. This set the tenor of the overall federal view of the entirety of the “separate but equal” acts. 

Important Figure

The lone dissenter, Justice John Marshall Harlan, strongly disagreed with the Court's conclusion that the Louisiana Separate Car Act did not imply inferiority upon black people, and he thought and accused many of them of being knowingly ignorant to the issue entirely. He then wrote an inspirational opinion, breaking down the reality of the "legality" of these social statutes put into place (Plessy v. Ferguson National Archives 2022). Harlan also pointed out a stipulation within the document that had terrible implications, stating that a black woman attending to a white child may board as well. However, this implies that black people are only on the same social or conscious level as whites if they were serving them. Harlan defined the future opinion of the country, courageously standing up for what he thought was wrong.