1881-1900

Plessy v. Ferguson

A 30 year-old man named Homer Plessy was jailed for sitting in the "white" car at the East Louisiana Railroad. Plessy looked like a white, but he was considered black. Since he was considered black, he was required to sit in the "colored" car. Louisiana passed the Separate Car Act, legally segregating common carriers. Plessy constantly sat in the white section and was arrested for it. His lawyer argued that the Separate Car Act violated the 13th and 14th amendment. The court, overruled Plessy's lawyer and declared that separate facilities for whites and blacks were constitutional as long as they were "equal." White facilities were rarely equal to black facilities.

Williams v. Mississippi

Mississippi elections were always violent as whites tried to prevent blacks from voting. Democrats held a constitutional convention to deprive illiterate voters of their right to vote. They made this because most blacks were illiterate so they used this as an excuse to keep blacks from the polls. Once the court gave the Mississippi Constitution it's blessing, other states adopted the same means to disfranchise blacks. A man named Marsh Cook took the extreme of risking his life for the rights of blacks to vote freely at the polls. He was ambushed and murdered which made him one of the first whites to be killed after reconstruction.