The Impact Of The Case

“Plessy V. Ferguson” On America Essay, Research Paper

The case of Plessy vs. Ferguson affected the United States greatly. The decision of “Separate but Equal” made the segregation of the races legal. There were separate churches, schools, libraries, and all things in between. It helped continue discrimination and hatred of Negroes. The Jim Crow Laws were laws that did every possible thing to keep the black man small.

1. No voting rights.

2. Job discrimination.

3. Separate, but “equal” facilities.

This decision fueled riots and social unrest for years to come in America, and led to at least 3000 lynchings and burnings from 1882 up until 1900. This was when the southerners enacted the notorious Jim Crow Laws that caused black riots and some “sit down strikes” where people refused to either leave someplace, or work in factories. One more prominent one was where blacks refused to ride buses, causing bankruptcy for the companies.

The civil rights movement wasn’t at all set back by the “Separate but Equal” decision. In fact, it was intensified in protest to the doctrine, which was repealed after the “Brown vs. Board of Education” Case, thereby allowing integrated schools. After the Plessy vs. Ferguson Trial, life for blacks inched forward, steadily gaining rights and privileges through the 20th century. Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to move out of a bus seat for a white person. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out against segregation and for equal rights, and was assassinated in 1968.

Even as we speak, blacks and other minorities are beginning to have a greater influence on our society. In 1995, huge numbers of African Americans marched on Washington, and in 1997, Tiger Woods was the first racial minority member to win a world championship of golf. There will probably never be a completely equal world out there, but it has made huge steps towards that goal in the past, and will continue to do so, at least I hope it will.