Can separate ever be considered equal? This is the controversial question that has been argued in the U.S Supreme Court for over 50 years. One of the most famous cases that talks about separate equality is the Supreme Court case Plessy vs. Ferguson.
Separate, but equal has been a huge issue for the past 100 + years because black people didn't feel as if their schools and facilities were as good as the white peoples? schools and facilities. The black people were right to question the equality of their facilities compared to the whites, because they were in fact unequal to a large extent.Segregating states spent 5 million dollars on black colleges, while they spent 86 million dollars on white schools, white school teachers got paid 30 percent more than black school teachers, and whites had 36 engineering schools while blacks had none?. Those are just a few examples from theState of Education Black and White? of separate not being equal.
In 1896 there was a law that said black people could not use the same public bathrooms, water fountains or seats on the bus. In the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896), Homer Plessy purchased a bus ticket and insisted on sitting in the white section. He was told to sit in the blacks? only section, but he refused, upon refusal Plessy was immediately arrested and convicted in the state courts. Homer Plessy appealed to the U.S Supreme Court and lost his case on the grounds that the Constitution had not been violated. The court stated thatto separate races did not in itself suggest that one race was inferior to the other?. When I read the Justice's statement I was appalled because it is obvious that Plessy was arrested because he was black and because he was not considered good enough to be seated with whites.
Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas (1954) is the court case that overturned the separate but equal law that had been stripping blacks? of their equal rights and equal protection for over 50 years.
