Question

Give a 250 word post that completely identifies and explains the historical significance of Plessy v. Ferguson.

Answer 1

Plessy v. Ferguson, case was one of the landmark cases in US history. It upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality – a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal". This means it upheld if there are two schools and both are having same facilities, then school authority can bar black students in their schools and vice versa. The decision legitimized racial segregation that had been passed in the American South( southern states were more discriminatory than south) .The decision was handed down by a vote of 7 to 1, with the majority opinion written by Justice Henry Billings Brown and the lone dissent written by Justice John Marshall Harlan. John Marshall Harlan became known as the "Great Dissenter due to this case. This decision was regraded as worst decision in US history. Then in series of judgements in 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education—which held that Plessy's "separate but equal" doctrine is unconstitutional.

Historical Sognificance-

Plessy had not only legitimized the state laws establishing racial segregation in the South but also provided an impetus for further segregation laws. It also legitimized laws in the North requiring racial segregation as in the Boston school segregation case noted by Justice Brown in his majority opinion. Legislative effort which were achieved during during the reconstruction era were minimized by this separate but equal doctrine. The ruling basically granted states legislative immunity when dealing with questions of race, guaranteeing the states' right to implement racially separate institutions, requiring them only to be "equal". The effect of the Plessy ruling was immediate; there were significant differences in state fundings to schools and mostly black schools were underfunded till 20th century. Supreme Court Justice John Harlan, who wrote in his Plessy dissent, "we shall enter upon an era of constitutional law, when the rights of freedom and American citizenship cannot receive from the nation that efficient protection which heretofore was unhesitatingly accorded to slavery and the rights of the master." Many human rights organization also criticized this judgement heavily.

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