On June 7, 1892 a man named Homer Adolph Plessy was arrested and jailed for refusing to leave the "White" section of an East Louisiana Railroad train. Although Plessy was only one-eighths black, under Louisiana law he was considered black and, therefore, required to sit in the "Colored" section. The punishment for breaking this law, the Separate Car Act, was a fine of twenty-five dollars or twenty days in jail. Plessy went to court and argued, in Homer Adolph Plessy v. The State of Louisiana, that the Separate Car Act violated the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution. The judge hearing the case was John Howard Ferguson, who had recently ruled that the Separate Car Act was unconstitutional if the train was traveling through different states. However, in Plessy's case, he decided that the state had the right to segregate the trains that operated in Louisiana only. Therefore, Plessy was found guilty. He, then, appealed to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, which upheld Ferguson's decision. In 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States heard the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. Once again, Ferguson's decision was upheld and Plessy was found guilty. The Suprem

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...In my opinion, the judgment this day rendered will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott case...(Cozzens).

Eventually, the personnel of the Supreme Court began to change. In 1945 and 1949, Truman appointed four new justices. And after the Court began to hear the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case, the conservative chief justice, Vinson, died unexpectedly of a heart attack. Earl Warren, who was far more liberal, replaced Vinson.

Southern blacks began to steadily move to the bigger cities in the North, and by 1920 a million and a half African Americans resided in northern cities. Even in the north, the blacks had trouble with discrimination. Membership in the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, grew rapidly. In the 1920s, a section in New York known as Harlem became the center of Africa American culture. The "Harlem Renaissance" was born, and it earned the respect from the whites in America for the blacks. Eventually, though, Harlem turned into a ghetto for African Americans, and by the time the Great Depression hit in 1929 the "Harlem Renaissance" was non-existent. To make circumstances worst for African Americans, violence against them increased during this time as well with the second rise of the Ku Klux Klan.

All cases before the Supreme Court are argued in two steps: a written step and an oral step. In the written step, both side's lawyers submit written arguments, briefs, to the judges to try and persuade them to make a decision in their favor. In the Brown case, and the other four cases, the plaintiffs argued that segregation was unconstitutional because it causes inequality in education. Also, in the Brown case, nearly two dozen amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs were submitted, with permission, by organizations and individuals who were not directly involved in the case. These briefs were very influential in the Court's decision. In the oral step, the lawyers speak for a limited amount of time. They are able to touch up on any unclear points as well as answer any questions the justices have. In order to really understand why the justices came to the decision they did, it is important to examine the Fourteenth Amendment, the more influential amicus curiae briefs, and the oral exchanges between the lawyers and the Court.

After the Civil War ended in 1865, the south was in chaos both economically and politically. The Reconstruction era that followed was a time of turmoil between the Radical Republicans and President Andrew Johnson. Both sides wanted to be able to deal with the South as they saw fit. The most complicated, and argued, issue of that time was what to do with the recently freed African Americans. Three amendments were soon added to the constitution, giving the slaves freedom, citizenship, the Bill of Rights and, for men, the right to vote.

The Supreme Court struck down the separate but equal doctrine on the grounds that it was in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. In the Fourteenth Amendment it states that, "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." The Court, finally, recognized that the idea of separate but equal did abridge the privileges of African American citizens. Segregation caused them to receive an inferior education.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Supreme Court, Fourteenth Amendment, African Americans, War II, Attorney United, African American, Plessy Ferguson, Industrial Organizations, College York, Car Act, supreme court, african americans, fourteenth amendment, separate equal, separate equal doctrine, equal doctrine, board education topeka, segregation unconstitutional, car act, war ii, separate car, court decided, separate car act, brown board education, world war ii,
Approximate Word count = 3023
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)