Plessy v. Ferguson

In 1896 a single court case helped establish the phrase "separate but equal." Plessy was a man who was just  one-eighth black and when he attempted to sit in the white section of a train he was asked to give up his seat. When Plessy refused to move "he was then arrested and ordered imprisoned Ferguson, a local judge;" This specific case was known as Plessy v. Ferguson.

Plessy defiantly has the right to fight this case. Plessy was able to buy a ticket for a higher class coach seat, but when a white man needed that seat the conductor ordered Plessy to be removed. That completely goes against the fourteenth amendment. Even though the Jim Crow Laws state that there has to be separate places for black and white individuals, one person cannot decide at one moment that there is one car for black individuals then change that same car to one for white individuals. Sadly, the court argued that those laws do not count on a train.

 In the end Plessy was found guilty, but his idea of separate but equal lives on even till this day. Rosa Parks was one of the most famous people who took Plessy's decision to heart. She did the same thing in 1955 when she refused to move from the white section of the bus to the black section in the back. Plessy was the start of the whole colored revolution. Many people think of Rosa Parks as the start, but really it was Plessy who refused to move from the white section of the train.