Sociological Perspective: Separate but Equal

747 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Research essay on Plessy vs. Ferguson

Sociological Perspective: Separate but Equal

African Americans (blacks) give different meaning to the word equal than others. The social product that blacks assigned to the meaning of equal suggest that is has the same value. Plessy v. Ferguson was instrumental in dealing with separate but equal. Plessy believed that separate was not equal. Plessy was a man who was born free and was one-eighth black and seven-eighths white. Just because he was he had a small percentage of black in his blood, he was forced to move from a white only car on the train to the colored car on the East Louisiana Railroad. He was arrested then jailed for civil disobedience. Plessy argued that his 13th and 14th amendments of the United States Constitution were violated. The Plessy case suggested that separate was equal.

Others might think of equal as everyone getting the same treatment amongst one another. Blacks always had lesser education, different water fountains and dirtier bathrooms. There was a “colored only” sign posted outside of the black’s bathroom facilities. Even though they were both public facilities and one had “colored only” on the outside, the assumption was that both facilities would be of equal quality. Blacks saw it as they weren’t getting fair treatment but others saw it as equal just because they had a bathroom period. Just because the blacks had their own bathroom didn’t make the situation equal. Say that the “colored only” bathroom was out of order, there would be no place for them to use the bathroom unless they used the other bathroom. This is significant because the black people had a different meaning of the word equal. People who were not black thought that just because there was a bathroom to be used by bl...

... middle of paper ...

...ater. As they were approaching the water fountain in front of the diner, they were told that they had to go around back and drink water from a hose. They thought it was equal just because the blacks drank water. It did not matter that the water traveled through a hose rather than traveling through a purified apparatus

This writing should illustrate and demonstrate the meaning that blacks assigned to separate but equal. It is significant to understand that blacks defined equal as being the same, as opposed to others defining equal as the same but separate. The social construction and consequences due to the aforementioned is a reality to blacks. The life experiences of a people are their reality. The consequences of the realities mentioned in this writing assisted in sustaining the black thought of being treated different rather than being treated the same.

Show More
Related

  • Plessy V Ferguson Court Case Analysis

    756 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1896, the Supreme Court was introduced with a case that not only tested both levels of government, state and federal, but also helped further establish a precedent that it was built off of. This court case is commonly known as the case that confirmed the doctrine “separate but equal”. This doctrine is a crucial part of our Constitution and more importantly, our history. This court case involved the analysis of amendments, laws, and divisions of power. Plessy v. Ferguson was a significant court case in U.S history because it was shaped by federalism and precedent, which were two key components that were further established and clarified as a result of the Supreme Court’s final decision.

    Read More

  • The Fourteenth Amendment In Melba Beals's Warriors Don T Cry

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Plessy v Ferguson case would be overturned, ruling the “separate but equal” law to be unconstitutional. Melba Beals was in school that day and was sent home early with the warning to hurry and stay in groups. Even so, it had been decades since the passing of the Fourteenth Amendment. No much had changed. Melba’s teacher knew that this ruling would cause rage among the citizens of Little Rock and she was right.

    Read More

  • Plessy V Ferguson Essay

    545 Words  | 2 Pages

    Plessy v. Ferguson was the first major inquiry into the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal-protection clause, which prohibits states from denying equal protection of the laws to any person within their jurisdictions. Although the majority opinion did not contain the phrase separate but equal, it gave constitutional sanction to laws designed to achieve racial segregation by means of separate and supposedly equal public facilities and services for African Americans and whites. It served as a controlling judicial precedent until it was overturned by the ...

    Read More

  • Plessy vs. Ferguson: A Case for Desegregation

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    Homer Plessy vs. the Honorable John H. Ferguson ignited the spark in our nation that ultimately led to the desegregation of our schools, which is shown in the equality of education that is given to all races across the country today. “The Plessy decision set the precedent that ‘separate’ facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional as long as they were ‘equal’” (“The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow”). The case of Plessy vs. Ferguson not only illuminated the racial inequality within our education system, but also brought to light how the standard of ‘separate but equal’ affected every aspect of African American lives.

    Read More

  • Racial Injustice In Fallen Angels By James Baldwin

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    Racial inequality is a disparity in opportunity and treatment that occurs as a result of someone 's race. Racial inequality has been affecting our country since it was founded. This research paper, however, will be limited to the racial injustice and inequality of African-Americans. Since the start of slavery, African Americans have been racially unequal to the power majority race. It was not until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when African Americans received racial equality under the laws of the United States. Many authors write about racial injustice before and after the Civil Rights Act. In “Sonny’s Blues”, James Baldwin tells a fictional story of an African American who struggles to achieve racial equality and prosper

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast A Lesson Before Dying

    1317 Words  | 3 Pages

    Segregation is the act of setting someone apart from other people mainly between the different racial groups without there being a good reason. The African American’s had different privileges than the white people had. They had to do many of their daily activities separated from the white people. In A Lesson Before Dying there were many examples of segregation including that the African American’s had a different courthouse, jail, church, movie theater, Catholic and public school, department stores, bank, dentist, and doctor than the white people. The African American’s stayed downtown and the white people remained uptown. The white people also had nicer and newer building and attractions than the African American’s did. They had newer books and learning tools compared to the African American’s that had books that were falling apart and missing pages and limited amount of supplies for their students. The African American’s were treated as if they were lesser than the white people and they had to hold doors and let them go ahead of them to show that they knew that they were not equal to them and did not have the same rights or privileges as they did just because of their race. In A Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass segregation is shown through both slavery and the free African American’s during this time. It showed that the African American’s were separated from the white people and not

    Read More

  • W. E. B. Dubois Thesis

    617 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Color lines” led to the literal and metaphorical separation of the races and led to a “double consciousness,” in which blacks were “born with a veil” in a world where they had to see “[themselves] through the eyes of others” and live with “two souls, two thoughts…two warring ideals in one dark body” (The Souls 38). The identities of African and American conflicted, as the former was considered inferior and the latter originated from slavery. Racism affected the way whites viewed blacks and created “the Veil,” which could only be fully understood from within. This led to insistent inequality and not only were blacks blocked from the same employment and educational opportunities as whites, but also the ability to achieve their full potential, and so the “freedman [had] not yet found in freedom his promised land” (The Souls 40). Additionally, as industrialism developed, wealth became more important than “truth, beauty, and goodness” (The Souls 84). As focus on education decreased in favor of workforce training, blacks were unable to reach the same levels of wealth as whites and color lines were

    Read More

  • Jim Crow Law Essay

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    Does the name Jim Crow ring a bell? Neither singer nor actor, but actually the name for the Separate but Equal (Jim Crow) Laws of the 1900s. Separate but Equal Laws stated that businesses and public places had to have separate, but equal, facilities for minorities and Caucasian people. Unfortunately, they usually had different levels of maintenance or quality. Lasting hatred from the civil war, and anger towards minorities because they took jobs in the north probably set the foundation for these laws, but it has become difficult to prove. In this essay, I will explain how the Separate but Equal Laws of twentieth century America crippled minorities of that time period forever.

    Read More

  • The Civil Rights Movement In The 1920's

    617 Words  | 2 Pages

    The 13th, 14th, and the 15th amendment was supposed to assure equal rights for African Americans, but even then there was segregation, Jim Crow laws, and the mindset that African Americans were inferior. One of the most notorious events prior to the Civil Rights Movement is the Plessy vs. Ferguson case of 1896 which declared “Separate but equal”, meaning blacks and whites would be

    Read More

  • The Warren Court Effects

    840 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even though the Declaration of Independence stated that "All men are created equal’’ this hasn’t always been the case. In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified and finally put an end to slavery. In addition, the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) strengthened the legal rights of newly freed slaves by stating that no state shall deprive anyone of either "due process of law" or of the "equal protection of the law." And finally, the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) further strengthened the legal rights of newly freed slaves by prohibiting states from denying anyone the right to vote due to race. Despite these Amendments, African Americans were still treated differently than whites in many parts of the country, especially in the South. In 1954 the Warren Court ruled that separate educational facilities for whites and blacks are unequal, and don’t follow the 14th amendment, which is the right of “equal protection under the law”. This resulted in the Brown v. Board of education case, which stated that publ...

    Read More

  • 13th Amendment Essay

    1609 Words  | 4 Pages

    Because of the 13th and 14th Amendments freeing slaves and granting equal protection under the law grants Jon the same rights to ride the train as any other citizen. Santa Clara County v. Southern Public Railroad, Even though the case was not about the 14th Amendment, Justice Morrison Remick Waite made it so by arguing that corporations must comply with the 14th Amendment. Santa Clara County v. Southern Public Railroad, 118 U.S. 394 (1886). Plessy v. Ferguson, Homer Plessy sat in a whites-only train car, he was asked to move to the car reserved for blacks, because state law mandated segregation. The court held that segregation is not necessarily unlawful discrimination as long as the races are treated equally. The impact of Plessy was to relegate blacks to second-class citizenship. Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896). However, this is not equal

    Read More

  • Jim Crow Laws

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    “In 1943, indicates separate facilities for black customers at a bus station in Rome. Segregation of blacks and whites became a common occurrence in the South with the rise of Jim Crow laws in the 1890s. In the 1890s, Georgia and other southern states passed a wide variety of Jim Crow laws that mandated racial segregation or separation in public facilities and effectively codified the region's tradition of white supremacy” (Hatfield, 2013). Segregation -which means to be separate but equal – was one way the south avoided blacks’ rights. Some examples are: they weren’t permitted to go to the same schools. Colored children had to go to certain schools even if there was a white school down the road. Another example is blacks’ had to use different restrooms and different drinking fountains. Here’s another example: they also had to go to certain restaurants and stores. In the summer most of the places blacks had to go to weren’t air conditioned. They couldn’t even ride in the same railroad car as white people. They weren’t even allowed to be buried where a white person was buried. Blacks’ weren’t permitted to marry a white person. Black children weren’t even permitted to have the same textbooks as white children. The textbooks were not interchangeable, the school that had the book first got to keep it. Colored children had to go to certain schools even if a white school is just down the road. Another way the south avoided b...

    Read More

  • Dr. King’s Argument Against Segregation

    1382 Words  | 3 Pages

    The injustice of segregation laws is leading to a violent impact throughout the African American community, as they strive to have equal rights. In the essay, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. describes the many struggles the African American community is going through. Dr. King effectively uses rhetorical appeals to persuade the clergymen that segregation laws are unjust and must end. Dr. King exemplifies his credibility as an advocate for the ending of segregation laws. He gives an example of how society should realize that there is no need for violence by comparing both Socrates’ and his techniques.

    Read More

  • The Ethics of Living Jim Crow an Autobiographical Sketch by Richard Wright

    711 Words  | 2 Pages

    Annenberg Foundation. (2014). Separate is not equal: Enforcing the codes of the Jim Crow south. Retrieved from http://www.learner.org/amerpass/unit13/context_activ-2.html

    Read More

  • Examples Of Political Culture In America

    1369 Words  | 3 Pages

    Under American law everyone is considered equal, the term equal refers to the many different ways people are treated the same in American society; even if they are not truly equal with each other. Everyone ranges from being poor to rich; they also range in

    Read More

More about Sociological Perspective: Separate but Equal

Open Document