Unit
Years: 1896
Historical Events, Movements, and Figures
Reconstruction formally ended in 1877 with the removal of federal troops from the former Confederate states in the South–but the union was far from united. The federal Constitution now featured three new “Reconstruction Amendments” guaranteeing freedom from enslavement, the rights of citizenship for Black Americans, and suffrage for Black men, and the former Confederate states had agreed to accept these. Still, Southern states in this period quickly encoded racial segregation into their state laws. Under the so-called Jim Crow restrictions, Black Americans faced separate public accommodations–in schools, trains, buses, bathrooms, and more. In the eyes of the White majority, these restrictions marked Black people as inferior second-class citizens. The Jim Crow laws reinforced racism and fueled white supremacist campaigns of racial terror and violence against Black communities throughout the South.
Black lawyers in this period undertook a campaign to challenge these Jim Crow laws using the Fourteenth Amendment’s promise of “equal protection” as a basis. However, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with segregationists in the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896. The decision stated that “separate but equal” facilities were legal and constitutional. The Plessy v. Ferguson decision led to decades of legal segregation across the South, and in many parts of the North, limiting Black communities’ access to quality public accommodations and depriving all Americans of the promise of a truly diverse, integrated society.
Document 5.1.2: Excerpt from “Brief for Homer Plessy,” by Attorney Albion Tourgée, October term, 1895
Tourgée was a white writer and lawyer from the North who led Plessy’s suit all the way to the Supreme Court. This is part of his argument before the Court.
The evident effect of these provisions (in the Fourteenth Amendment) taken alone and construed according to the plain and universal meaning of the terms employed, is to confer upon every person born or naturalized in the United states two things:
1) National Citizenship.
2) State citizenship, as an essential incident of national citizenship.
This grant of both a national and state citizenship in the constitution of the United States is a guarantee not only of equality of right but of all natural rights and the free enjoyment of all public privileges attaching to either state or national citizenship. Its effect is (1) to make national citizenship expressly paramount and universal; (2) to make state citizenship expressly subordinate and incidental to national citizenship
Source: Reprinted in Olsen, Otto H. The Thin Disguise: Turning Point in Negro History. Plessy v. Ferguson, a documentary presentation (1864-1896). New York: Humanities Press, 1967, pp. 103–108.
Excerpts from U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson, May 18, 1896
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. The argument necessarily assumes that if, as has more than once been the case, and is not unlikely to be so again, the colored race should become the dominant power in the state legislature . . . it would thereby relegate the white race to an inferior position. We imagine that the white race at least would not necessarily acquiesce in this assumption. The argument also assumes that social prejudices may be overcome by legislation, and that equal rights cannot be secured to the negro except by an enforced commingling of the two races. We cannot accept this proposition. If the two races are to meet upon terms of social equality, it must be the result of natural affinities, a mutual appreciation of each other’s merits and a voluntary consent of individuals....Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences, and the attempt to do so can only result in accentuating the difficulties of the present situation. If the civil and political rights of both races be equal one cannot be inferior to the other civilly or politically. If one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane. . . .
The judgment of the court below is affirmed.
Document 5.1.3
Excerpts from Justice John Marshall Harlan’s dissenting opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson, May 18, 1896 Justice Harlan was the lone dissenter in this case – an 8 to 1 decision.
In respect of civil rights, common to all citizens, the Constitution of the United States does not, I think, permit any public authority to know the race of those entitled to be protected in the enjoyment of such rights. Every true man has pride of race, and under appropriate circumstances when the rights of others, his equals before the law, are not to be affected, it is his privilege to express such pride and to take such action upon it as to him seems proper. But I deny that any legislative body or judicial tribunal may have regard to the race of citizens when the civil rights of those citizens are involved. Indeed, such legislation, as that here in question, is inconsistent not only with that equality of rights which pertains to citizenship, National and State, but with the personal liberty enjoyed by every one within the United States....
The white race deems itself to be the dominant race in this country. And so it is, in prestige, in achievements, in education, in wealth and in power. So, I doubt not, it will continue to be for all time, if it remains true to its great heritage and holds fast to the principles of constitutional liberty. But in view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved. It is, therefore, to be regretted that this high tribunal, the final expositor of the fundamental law of the land, has reached the conclusion that it is competent for a State to regulate the enjoyment by citizens of their civil rights solely upon the basis of race...
The arbitrary separation of citizens, on the basis of race, while they are on a public highway [railroad], is a badge of servitude wholly inconsistent with the civil freedom and equality before the law established by the Constitution. It cannot be justified upon any legal ground.
If evils will result from the commingling of the two races upon public highways established for the benefit of all, they will be infinitely less than those that will surely come from state legislation regulating the enjoyment of civil rights upon the basis of race. We boast of freedom enjoyed by our people above all other peoples. But it is difficult to reconcile that boast with a state of the law which, practically, puts the brand of servitude and degradation upon a large class of our fellow-citizens, our equals before the law. The thin disguise of “equal” accommodations for passengers in railroad coaches will not mislead any one, nor atone for the wrong this day done. . . .
For the reasons stated I am constrained to withhold my assent for the opinion and judgment of the majority.
Document 5.1.4
Race is a socially constructed category used to classify human populations based on physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, and facial features, and often associated with shared ancestry, culture, or geographic origin, despite lacking biological or genetic basis. The concept of race has been historically used to justify systems of hierarchy, privilege, and discrimination, and has evolved over time to reflect shifting social, political, and cultural contexts, including colonialism, slavery, and scientific racism. Contemporary understandings of race recognize its fluidity, complexity, and cultural variability, and emphasize the social, political, and economic dynamics that shape racial identities and experiences.
The period in American history following the Civil War, approximately from 1865 to 1877, where efforts were made to rebuild and transform the Southern states that had seceded from the Union. It aimed to address issues such as the integration of formerly enslaved African Americans into society.
A system of racial segregation and discrimination that prevailed in the Southern United States from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century, characterized by laws, policies, and practices that enforced racial separation and promoted white supremacy, particularly in public facilities, accommodations, and institutions.
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was a crucial step in ending institutionalized slavery in the United States following the Civil War and emancipating millions of enslaved individuals.
An amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1868, which grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and guarantees equal protection under the law and due process of law to all citizens. This amendment played a crucial role in advancing civil rights and ensuring equal treatment for African Americans following the Civil War.
A legal principle enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which guarantees that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. This principle prohibits discrimination and ensures that all individuals are entitled to equal treatment under the law, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or other protected characteristics. Equal protection requires that laws and government policies be applied fairly and without unjustifiable distinctions or classifications, and it serves as a cornerstone of civil rights and antidiscrimination law, promoting equality and justice for all citizens.
An amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1870, which prohibits the denial of voting rights based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This amendment extended suffrage to African American men and aimed to ensure their political participation and rights as citizens.
A landmark legal case decided by the United States Supreme Court in 1896, which upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation and the principle of "separate but equal" facilities, establishing the legal precedent that racial segregation was permissible as long as facilities for African Americans were deemed equivalent to those for white Americans. The Plessy v. Ferguson decision sanctioned racial discrimination and segregation in public accommodations, transportation, and other areas, and remained in effect until it was overturned by the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
"Separate but equal" was a legal doctrine in the United States that allowed for racial segregation as long as the separate facilities provided for different races were deemed to be of equal quality.
Segregation refers to the practice of separating people based on their race, ethnicity, religion, or other characteristics, often resulting in unequal access to resources, opportunities, and public services.