Segregation+definition,+Plessy+Vs.+Ferguson+&+Separate+but+equal

__The Definition of "Segregation", Plessy Vs. Ferguson and Separate but Equal__
 * The Definition of "Segregation":**


 * Segregation bears a negative connotation and is defined as providing unequal opportunities or privileges to minority groups, based on their racial, religious, or geographic origin.
 * Those who are segregated are taught that they are inferior and often react with feelings of humiliation and question their own worth. They are also provided with a distorted sense of social reality.
 * It lessens communication between the segregators and those being segregated, increasing mutual distrust and hostility. This often reinforces negative stereotypes and attitudes.


 * Plessy Vs. Ferguson and Separate but Equal:**


 * When Louisiana passed the Separate Car act in 1890, requiring the separation of white and colored races on trains, the black community of New Orleans became angry and decided to challenge the rule.
 * Homer Plessy deliberately sat in a seat designated for whites, identified himself as black, and was then arrested for refusing to move on June 7, 1892.
 * The judge John H. Ferguson agreed the law was fair.
 * The case was moved to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled segregation in America was constitutional on May 18, 1896.
 * Plessy’s lawyer had argued the law violated the 13th and 14th amendments.
 * There was only one dissenter, Justice John Harlan, who stated, “Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens… The present decision, it may well be apprehended, will not only stimulate aggressions, more or less brutal and irritating, upon the admitted rights of colored citizens…”
 * Because of this decision, "separate" facilities for blacks and whites were considered to be constitutional so long as they were "equal", leading to the phrase "Separate but Equal". Many public places such as restaurants, theaters, restrooms, and public schools were segregated, however, the facilities for blacks were always inferior to those for whites. This continued until Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954.


 * Plessy Vs. Ferguson Case Background:**
 * Plessy filed a petition in the Louisiana for writs of prohibition and certiorari, an order issued by a higher court commanding a lower court to cease proceeding in some matter not within it’s jurisdiction, against the Hon. John H. Ferguson, the judge of the criminal district court for the parish of Orleans.
 * Plessy was 7/8ths Caucasian and 1/8th African. The mixture led to it not being discernible (without prior knowledge one would not be able to tell) in him that he was at all African.
 * Plessy believed he should also be given every recognition, right, privilege, and immunity that was secured for the white citizens of the united states by the constitution and laws of the united states.
 * Plessy paid for a first class ticket on the East Louisiana Railway going from New Orleans to Covington. In which he was forced to move to a different carriage because he was in a carriage where white passengers were placed.


 * The 13th + 14th Amendments:**
 * The 13th Amendment states that: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Which simply means that there will be no inferiority laws or hierarchy among the races.
 * The 14th amendment: The 14th Amendment states that: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Which simply means that any person born in the United states is a citizen and deserves all the privileges that any other person has. Because the court ruled against Plessy, the court session was unconstitutional and was not fair in the Black Man's defense.

__Resources__ //The definition of "segregation"://

http://psy2.ucsd.edu/~hflowe/1954socialsciencestatement.pdf //Plessy vs. Ferguson and Separate but Equal://

http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/separate-but-equal.htmlhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_plessy.html// //Transcript of Plessy vs. Ferguson:// http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=52&page=transcript

//The amendments:// http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html