"Separate But Equal" | Plessy v. Ferguson
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- čas přidán 3. 10. 2019
- I wrote a new book all about the Supreme Court. Order your copy here: amzn.to/45Wzhur or visit www.iammrbeat.com/merch.html.
In episode 50 of Supreme Court Briefs, a man with lighter skin is arrested after refusing to leave the whites-only railway car of a segregated train in the Jim Crow South. #supremecourtbriefs #plessyvferguson #apgov
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Produced by Matt Beat. All images by Matt Beat, found in the public domain, or used under fair use guidelines. Music by Electric Needle Room (Mr. Beat's band).
A special thanks to Phoebe Ferguson and the Plessy AND Ferguson Foundation.
Check out cool primary sources here:
www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/...
louisianadigitallibrary.org/i...
Other sources used:
www.plessyandferguson.org/hist...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_P...
www.thirteen.org/wnet/supreme...
law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects...
users.soc.umn.edu/~samaha/case...
www.nola.com/news/article_a11...
neworleanshistorical.org/item...
New Orleans, Louisiana
June 7, 1892
Homer Plessy buys a first-class ticket and boards a train headed to Covington. He sits in a vacant seat in a whites-only train car. You wouldn’t think Plessy would draw any attention since he was seven-eighths white and one-eighth black. There are no known pictures of Homer Plessy, but historic records describe him as a white man. And yet, the conductor knew that he was one-eighth black, and he told Plessy he had to get up and move back to the blacks-only car. After Plessy refused to leave his seat, almost immediately a detective named Christopher Cain came over and arrested him.
Wait a second, how did this detective dude know Plessy was one-eighth black? Well, this was all planned. Plessy was acting on behalf of a civil rights group called the Citizens’ Committee. They had carefully planned for this moment to protest the Separate Car Act, a law recently passed by the Louisiana legislature that required “equal, but separate” train cars for Blacks and Whites, and defined what it meant to be...uh...“black” and “white.”
So get this. The Citizens’ Committee not only let the railroad company know ahead of time of Plessy boarding, but they also hired that private detective I mentioned, Christopher Cain, to make sure he arrested him for breaking the Separate Car Act and not vagrancy or some other crime. The railroad company, by the way, also hated the Separate Car Act because it meant they had to spend more money on additional train cars so it cut into their profits.
So it all went according to plan. Plessy later appeared in the Criminal District Court for New Orleans, arguing that the Separate Car Act denied him his rights that were protected under the 13th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The judge, a dude named John H. Ferguson, ruled that Louisiana had the right to regulate railroad companies as long as they ran within state boundaries.
So Plessy filed a petition against Ferguson at the Louisiana Supreme Court. The Louisiana Supreme Court sided with Ferguson, citing a precedent that came before the 13th and 14th Amendments. :sigh: Anyway, so Plessy appealed again, this time to the Supreme Court of the United States. And heck yeah, the Court agreed to take on the case, hearing oral arguments on April 13, 1896. Justice David Brewer wasn’t there to hear the oral arguments due to the death of his daughter, so he did not participate in the case.
The main thing the Court focused in on was the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. DID the Separate Car Act go against the 14th Amendment? The Court said “no.” On May 18, 1896, they announced they had sided with Ferguson, and upheld the law. It was 7-1. Justice Henry Billings Brown wrote the opinion, saying yeah, the 14th Amendment guaranteed equality for all Americans regardless of skin color, but that separate treatment didn’t mean that blacks were inferior to whites. As evidence, Brown stressed how there wasn’t a meaningful difference in quality between the whites-only and blacks-only railway cars. In other words, segregation didn’t automatically mean discrimination. Not only that, but the Court said ALL segregated facilities based on skin color were ok, again as long as both facilities were the same quality. This became known as the “separate but equal” doctrine.
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respect to that one dissenting judge. we need to remember the people who stood for the right thing, even if they were hopelessly outnumbered.
"Fun" fact: John Marshall Harlan was pro-slavery (and had slaves) before the civil war (while being pro-union during the war).
@@sacha9593 guess he learned something in his life after the war
i just read a bit about him. interesting guy. and yea, clearly switched his stance on slavery during or after the war
Harlan with the mic drop!
And I let him have the mic for awhile this time. :)
Harlan’s dissent is one of the best written imo. It’s so eloquent without using unnecessary legalese, keeping it accessible
Would you consider ever doing a bit about constitutional amendments which didn't pass?
2nd the motion! You could even recruit a few of your comrades to do it with you!
the Hatch amendment would be a good starter
Absolutely!
@@gastonestbon5439 Third the Motion! It must go to Committee!
John Marshall Harlan, what a man!
Ahead of his time. More folks should be aware of him.
@@iammrbeat he like wtf if only he was chief justice
Sure he argued for plessy but only to uphold the status quo - he was anti Chinese and believed that whites were superior to all races. If the constitution is color blind then the issue of race is not a constitutional one. Clever racist.
JOHN HARLAN HAD A LIGHT SKIN MIXED RACE OLDER BROTHER, SO LETS CONNECT THE DOTS!!!
o7
What’s even more fascinating about Harlan’s opinion was that during the Civil War, he was pro-slavery and after the war, he was a vocal opponent of the 13th and 14th Amendments. So to see someone go from that to defending black Americans is truly amazing.
...or he was just upholding the Constitution despite personally hating those Amendments.
@@Compucles That's also pretty remarkable.
@@CompuclesEither way that's pretty remarkable. And how the Supreme Court should be.
Love this series! You should do the top 10 best and top 10 worst Supreme Court decisions in us history. I think this one would fall under the latter
That would be highly subjective dumbass , it would be his opinions and not FACTS.
@@jomolololo4398 It was a suggestion not an insult on how fat your mom is. Calm down.
Well thank you! Yeah that would be a fun video. I haven't done an opinion video in awhile, so that might be a good fit.
All right. I'll give you some of the worst supreme Court desicions. Debs vs. United States, Kelo vs. City of New London, Dred Scott vs. Sanford, and Plessy vs. Ferguson. It isn't an opinion that these were bad desicions; IT'S A FACT. Almost all Americans who know about these cases, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Independent, will tell you that these desicions were horrendous.
@@iammrbeat did you end up doing the video
This was up there with the Dred Scott case as one of the worst cases ever at the Supreme Court
Yeah! It's all this case's fault that prejudice is here. I mean, it was already, but there was more of it now.
i didn't realize this was planned.
This was sorta mentioned on the side, but I wish you pointed out the infamous, and pathetic "one drop of blood" thing, where regardless of how distant it was, where one drop of african blood, ie having one african ancestor was enough to make you legally a black person and non-white. Also if you want something not terrible to think about, look at the stories of how some Asians survived in this era. Like the Mississippi delta Chinese.
I learned a lot. Like how the railroad company was tipped off and allowed this to happen, how it was planned by the committee, how they arranged for a private detective to do the arrest, that the railroad company was in on it because it cost more to get additional cars, yet interestingly had comparable cars for both passengers. Seems like the company both understood this was law bad for profits, and such segregation was wrong.
So was Rosa Parks.
Most people don't!
Which Supreme Court case should I cover next?
Gregg v. Georgia?
New York VS New Jersey (1998)
I'd still like to see Connecticut vs. Teal.
Goldwater v. Carter
Masterpiece Cakeshop V. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Can you deny custom service you don't (religiously) agree with?
This updated video is awesome! You are definitely my go to CZcams channel on everything USA, as a Canadian you have helped me tremendously in understanding the US legal system and it’s history.
Thank you
I really appreciate the kind words! Glad the videos have helped. :)
Very late reply but someone should make a similar channel for Canadian law and history. I don’t believe I’ve seen one yet. Or maybe Mr. Beat can do a little branching out 😊
You better keep these briefs coming or else i'll take you to the supreme court.
Your honor, I solemnly swear I will.
@@sandboxproductions_youtube i could just the Wiki article called Mr Beat v Fans
David Brewer: Glad I wasn't there
It was kind of a big one to miss
I live in New Orleans - there’s a neighborhood near the French Quarter called the Marigny. It’s where Plessy lived and there are many paintings and murals of him. I’m not sure how accurate they are, but if they are indeed are accurate, I do actually know what he looked like! He looked totally like an average white man, relatively old, and had a beard!
Holy crap, I must see these!!!
Another great video, Next Friday can’t come any sooner!
Aw thanks! :D
Thank you this was very helpful and informative 👍👍
Another SCB knocked out of the park by Mr. Beat!
lol thank you buddy
I’ve heard of this! Thanks for making a video on it.
Profile pic checks out, and it's my pleasure. :)
Great Video Mr Beat!!
Thanks Ermes!
I'm taking history 108 in college right now and I knew I had to watch your video to get more information! :)
Congratulations 50th SCB! ✨😊🎊👏🏾 Ones I looking forward is "Castle Rock v. Gonzales" "Tennessee v. Garner" "McDonald v. City of Chicago" "Gomillion v. Lightfoot"
Thank you so much! And that's a fine list of suggestions.
Fun fact about the dissenting justice John Marshall Harlan: he had a grandson also named John Marshall Harlan who would later also serve on the supreme court.
John Marshall was a badass.
Defending civil rights and equality for all Americans!
Didn't know he even existed before now.
Thanks a lot for this awesome video. Please, do the trail of tears history.
Austria and Switzerland compared?
Or Austria and Hungary perhaps?
Mr. Beat Would also be nice!
Very interesting. It shows how deep rooted racism was in US society in even recent history.
Yep might as well nuke the country
My god that was an inspiring quote, also some quality old timey talk
Thank goodness for Brown v Board of Education that Plessy v Ferguson got overturned
Indeed
Unfortunately school segregation is still a thing, especially on the East coast. We need to repeal some of our zoning laws that were put in place to segregate people.
Awesome show Mr and Mrs Beat 👍..my father used to tell me about the paperbag clubs in Louisiana...basically it was racism amongst the blacks in the South.. I know I have a percentage of African American mostly Jamaican French and a tad bit of Irish.. funny us French don't care
.however the paperbag clubs were you couldn't be darker than a paperbag..wierd right..
Yeah I had heard of that, too. That's so twisted. :(
great video!!
why does the Supreme Court granted Certiorari ?
Oh my god that backfired in the worst way possible. Like…Imagine you take this gamble and figure you’ve got solid odds… And then this happens…
My mouth would have been gaped open with a “Fuck” falling out of it.
Let’s goo new video
YAS
Have a good day
Are you going to do a stream or video on the Supreme courts docket like you have done in the past?
I might do that in the spring, yes!
Since I've understood that a lot of the audience on this channel also watch Atun-Shei Films, Atun-Shei did a video on this, too. It's named "Homer Plessy, civil rights pioneer" and can be found near the bottom of his posted videos list.
I don't believe you've done a Supreme Court brief for Lochner v New York. Could you possibly do that next?
I can definitely do it sooner than later.
Fun fact. Covington no longer have train tracks but the old depot is there. It's a restaurant
The Plessy-Ferguson foundation is so interesting, it's so important to not forget how the world once was but still working towards reconciliation, what a great way to get across a message by having the descendants involved so we know that neither were a legal fiction they were both real people.
Maybe it would’ve been another 7-2 decision like the Dred Scott case if Brewer would’ve attended. I know it wouldn’t have made a difference, but it’s just an observation that surprised me
The railcars may have been alike in quality, but the fact remained that black passengers could not occupy white railcars. That, by default, is unequal treatment based on race, as only one race could sit in the specific seats within those railcars.
I mean you could technically make that same argument the other way around
Supreme Court Briefs: Filburn v. Wickard.
'An Ohio farmer, Roscoe Filburn, was growing wheat to feed animals on his own farm. The US government had set limits on the production of wheat. Filburn grew more than was permitted and was ordered to pay a penalty.'
A surprising overreach of power or a necessary tool of socialist ideals? Both? Did the US govt need to prevent farmers growing wheat for personal use? Or for use solely to feed their own farm animals that they plan to profit from?
I get that it incentivizes purchasing wheat that way, but it's also strong arming farmers a lot more than was probably necessary given with our nearly 2020 vision we can see that they had enough wheat stockpiled to meet the country's needs for over two years... and they were trying to lower the price of wheat based foods too...
Gods i wish i had a better memory as i have no idea where i heard about this case but gods do i wanna know more now xD
The subtitles are a bit to big. They basically cover half the screen. Would you mind splitting it up a bit more?
I'm sad it was overturned. We must provide equal services for every race!
50th episode? But it's the 51st in the playlist!
You know how you can tell mr. Beat isn't from the South? He pronounces New Orleans correctly.
If you haven't already done it, could you do a clip on Hammer v. Dagenhart aka the Child Labor Case of 1918? Justice William Rufus Day of Canton, Ohio, who wrote the majority opinion for the 5-4 case, I've found to be a very fascinating person to read about for about the last year and a half or so (as of November, 2023). Justice Day also wrote the dissenting opinion in United States v. Midwest Oil Co. aka the Presidential Powers Case of 1915 aka the Wyoming Oil Case of 1915. Justice Day's dissenting opinion in the 5-3 case was joined by Justices Willis Van Devanter of Wyoming (the State that this case primarily took place in!) and Joseph McKenna of Benicia, California. Between Justices Day, Van Devanter, and McKenna, from 1911-22, between the joining (or swearing-in, by taking both the Constitutional oath and the judicial oath) in January, 1911, of Van Devanter, and the retirement, on November 13, 1922, of Day, the three Justices made up the three Westerners on the Supreme Court, since Day, Van Devanter, and McKenna were from, respectively, Ohio, Wyoming, and California, although nowadays, Ohio is considered to be a marginally Western State. There one book that can be found on Justice Day, though it's a fairly old book, and it's called: William Rufus Day: Supreme Court Justice from Ohio. There's also a great article about him that talks primarily about his love of baseball, and it's called: A Crank on the Court: The Passion of William R Day.
The names of the justices are even better
One of the Supreme Court decisions of all time.
^worst
You're welcome.
Great video. Although I’m shocked by the racists defending segregation in the comments
So essentially this is like the NAACP and Rosa Parks but the plan backfired horribly?
During the Jim Crow era, railroads provided separate cars for "whites" and "coloreds". When the amount of passengers was large on popular trains, separate cars were generally used. On trains that had small passenger loads, partitioned cars were often used. Dining cars were often partitioned because providing two dining cars would cost too much and require too much staff. The last partitioned cars were built in the 1950's. Partitioned cars came to be known as Jim Crow cars in railroad equipment circles and many still exist today in museums. The operation of Jim Crow cars was an inconvenience to railroads. The Southern Pacific Railroad's Sunset Limited which ran from New Orleans to Los Angeles had Jim Crow cars upon departing New Orleans but switched the cars out of the train at El Paso, TX requiring moving passengers to other cars. The same happened in reverse eastbound. Railroad compliance with various states Jim Crow laws was a cost they were glad to get rid of.
Good information there!
Very interesting.
where was this video when I was doing my essay?
Now this is depressing
President During this time: Grover Cleveland
Chief Justice: Melville Fuller
Argued April 13, 1896
Decided May 18, 1896
Case Duration: 35 Days
Decision: 7-1 in favor of Ferguson (Harlan)
You should do NFIB v Sebelius - Obamacare case
Great suggestion!
Wow. I did not know that Homer Plessy was only 1/8th black.
Can Penal Code Rehabilitation use this case cite, in Civil Rights Litigation?????
Civil Right groups: this is an easy case lets get this over with
Court: sides with racism
Do Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co
YESS
HECK YEAHH
I know that Melville W. Fuller was the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court during the US Supreme Court Case
Plessy v. Ferguson and the US Supreme Court Case is One of the Worst Supreme Court Case in American History because it caused it strengthened Jim Crow Laws and Caused African Americans to be Treated as Second Class Citizens and
Melville W. Fuller was an American Lawyer and Melville W. Fuller was the 8th Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court from
October 8, 1888 to July 4, 1910 and Melville W. Fuller was Appointed by President Grover Cleveland and from
October 8, 1888 to July 4, 1910 was 21 Years and Melville W. Fuller was the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court for
21 Years and Melville W. Fuller had a Job for 21 Years and it’s Amazing when someone has a Job for 21 Years as an Adult.
Oh snap, Harlan!
Man, the US went so hard on segregation to the point some parts of hte US are in permanent state of shittiness, as in houses that cannot be legally sold due to their low value because the houses were in what was once called "black neighborhood", which I believed was called red lining and I think its still a thing today.
Next to the Roger Taney Court, the Melville Fuller Court made some of the worst decisions regarding race.
Of course it’s New Orleans
2:05 That's a German train, with German OR British passenger cars, but ok.
Not to flex or anything, but John Marshall Harlan was from my home state
Kentucky?
Yup!
It's all thanks to this case that the world was prejudiced for 60 years. It just makes me want to, AGRGESGAGWHEHSGEEHAHAHSJSJWJWJEJESJSNSJSJEJE!!!!!!! That's legitimately what my brain goes to whenever I'm reminded about this case.
The light just went out is the best patreon supporter
high quality comment
Was this arrest consensual on Plessy's part
Yes, he wanted to get arrested. Similar to Rosa Parks.
@@iammrbeat Ok. For a second I thought that the organisation and cops planned it and just selected him unbeknownst to him
Just goes to show you, precedent can change.
Preston?
@@iammrbeat I corrected it thank you
Can't use for school age kids. The graphic with briefs is inappropriate.
3:35 HITLERS LOVE LIFE REVEALED
I want to see a video about THAT
Luckily it was overturned but it was in the 1950s
Holy shit you got phoebe furgeson
Based Harlan
hey
Do McConell v FEC
Thanks for the suggestion :)
Meanwhile the only thing I can think about is how there's a pretty big movement going on right now to bring segregation back...
"True story
Hitler's love life revealed"
3:33 , left side
Now that's quite a Clickbait headline.
Equal and separate my arse,
this idea sucked and I'm still disappointed
in history even to this day.
God bless john marshall harlan
You left out an “interesting” passage from Justice Harlan’s dissenting opinion.
“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.”
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, 559 (Harlan, J., dissenting).
Of course this little inconvenience was left out. Got to praise Harlan, right?
Rosa Parks of the Railroad!
Both Plessy and Brown were decided right.
No. Plessy was the biggest violation of constitutional protections ever seen in American law
@@Jane-qh2yd Well, first of all. Plessy was a fictitious case.
@@GLASBE How so?
@@Jane-qh2yd Plessy was white and was arrested by a private detective hired to do just that by Plessy and his friends.
Plessy vs Flegussy
I dunno why folks thought separate but equal would truly be equal. Like on a bus, if it was truly separate but equal, it wouldn't be whites up front, coloreds in the back. It would be one column white, one column colored. So Plessy was 1/8th black, but what about the white passing? Black folks who could truly pass for white? Then we'd need the registration like the Jews?
What makes the back of the bus inherently worse than the front? I never understood that lol.
But white is a color...
I ride in color car.
Harlan is based
Sentenced to death by the jury.
________ County District Attorney
District Court Judge
Public defenders are government workers though
Jurors aren’t
Defense attorneys often are not government workers
so he was white what gave the 1/8th away, lips, nose, hair?
The aura maybe...
Harlan was based
*SIGH*
I knew this would happen. I hate this topic. It is just disliked.
Huh?
Good video but maybe use a less intense color for the background. It tires out people's eyes which is why I use less saturated colors with my art.
R
The issue wasnt segregation, the issue was the constant subjugation and undermining of blacks by whites despite being segregated. Had blacks had completely equal rights as whites and been left COMPLETELY alone, you could have had a potential utopia without the racial tensions we have today despite the bitterness blacks harbored and rightfully so. Everybody would have been segregated but happier
Not really.
@kelbel nice try
How the heck do you define "blacks" and "whites?" Did you know that "race" is a social construct?
Yeah… No.
@@iammrbeat Black is an ethnicity in the US as well. I’m sure you knew that, but don’t care.
And now we have people on the Left demanding separate "black spaces" 🤦♂️
Who specifically is demanding black spaces?
I've never heard of such a thing. What are you referring to?
4:53 Oh boy, that sign. 😁 .... and to think our generation is so soft, we are easily 'offended' by _words_ on the internet. So much oppression today, I tell ya!
Just because things were worse at one time doesn't mean we can't keep moving towards equality and acceptance now.
I actually don't think we are as easily offended as previous generations. Previous generations STARTED WARS over things today that would be considered petty.
this is one of the disgusting cases that shows the supreme court's previous rulings can and should be overturned
*eh eh Roe v Wade, Planned Parenthood v Casey