(Mock Trial) Plessy v. Ferguson

    The case of Plessy v. Ferguson is one that became a landmark decision made by the Supreme Court in the late 1890s. Homer Plessy was an African American with fair skin. Plessy passed as a white man and lived in a white society because of his skin. This case was based on the fact that a mixed man was jailed for sitting in the whites-only section on a train when it was forbidden and refused to move to his correct place on the train.

     Recalled, in the past, white Americans had more privileges than black Americans. So in this case, when it came to being a passenger on a locomotive, whites were first class and blacks were second class. Plessy bought a first-class ticket from New Orleans, Louisiana to Covington, Louisiana. When he boarded the "whites only" railroad car and handed his ticket to the conductor, J.J. Dowling, Plessy had to tell the conductor that he was one-eighth black.

  Why? Keep in mind, Plessy was seven-eighths white. He was told to move to the colored car but refused to do so. The conductor took fury to this and called police. From there, Plessy was thrown off the train then was arrested and beaten by police. As Plessy was doing no harm, he was still jailed. Although Plessy used no force at all, the conductor AND police used violent and physical force. 

    Plessy then challenged the Jim Crow laws stating that it violated the Equal Protection Clause. The case went all the way up to the Supreme Court. It is to be said that Plessy was kicked off because of bad morals and that he should be treated as equal. This being said, this case goes against the 13th and 14th Amendments, which "abolished slavery “within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction" and "guaranteed all citizens 'equal protection of the laws' ". In addition, Plessy was born in the states thus no matter skin color, should have the same rights. According to the legal arguments in Plessy's defense, this case was unconstitutional. To continue, the bible was used to back up this matter. In other words, the bible said " Masters should respect the slaves because they too are slaves to the lord." 

    Now, in Ferguson's (John Howard Ferguson) defense, he argued that black Americans were ungrateful and that they violated the law. Said in History. com, In declaring separate-but-equal facilities constitutional intrastate railroads, the Court ruled that the protections of the 14th Amendment applied only to political and civil rights (like voting and jury service), not "social rights" (sitting in the railroad car of your choice).

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/plessy-v-ferguson

    In Fergusons legal argument, it is said that the state has the right to make laws for public safety. Also, Plessy tampered with the Separate Car Act. The argument was also more personal than legal. Therefore, the Court, 7-1, decided that its ruling goes to the state and not Plessy. In the words of Judge Henry Brown," 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."

(EOTO) Race Riots

                                   RACE RIOTS 

The definition of a race riot is a riot caused by racial dissensions or hatreds. Many of these riots took place in states big and small.  "Race riots broke out in most of the country’s large cities, notably in 1965 in the Watts district of Los Angeles, which left 34 dead, and two years later in Newark, New Jersey, and Detroit. Four summers of violence resulted in many deaths and property losses that left whole neighborhoods ruined and their residents more distressed than ever." 

In addition, Chicago had one of the worst race riots and took 38 lives. Going into depth about this particular riot of cause. In 1919, a riot was triggered when a black youth swam in Lake Michigan and drifted into area that was strictly reserved for whites. This very much upset the whites causing them to have rage therefore stoning him and sadly he drowned. 

According to many sources, Chicago was and unfortunately still is the state that has the most race riots. “Since the mid-1960s, the nature of race riots in Chicago (as elsewhere) has significantly shifted. Although violent black/white clashes continued into the mid-1970s, the term's use shifted during the 1960s to refer to the uprisings of poorer blacks (or Latinos) protesting ghetto conditions, especially police brutality…suggests that the issues surrounding racial violence are by no means a finished chapter in Chicago history.” 

Furthermore, in an article by after a final round provoked by the assassination of King in April 1968, the rioting abated. Yet the activist pursuit of political and economic empowerment for African Americans continued, reflected culturally in the Black Arts movement—which pursued populist art that promoted the ideas of Black separatism—and in the politicized soul music that replaced gospel and folk music as the sound track of the freedom struggle.

Race riots were an outcome of men and women of different races unnecessary a reason to take each other’s lives based off the difference of the color of their skin. What happened to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness? Does it not exist anymore? The United States of America will never know.

Mapping Chicago’s 1919 race riots

 

Bibliography:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/race-riot

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1032.html

https://news.uchicago.edu/story/mapping-chicagos-1919-race-riots

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/03/opinion/how-a-brutal-race-riot-shaped-modern-chicago.html