Essay On Homer Plessy
What is white? Is it long blonde hair, big blue eyes, small red lips and a perky nose? And what is black? Is it dark, curly hair, small brown eyes, big brown lips and a wide nose? No one person can define race based upon looks, as race is a label, not a definition. African Americans have been racially segregated throughout America, ‘the home of the free’. Two of the most famous cases fighting against the corrupt system are Homer Plessy, in Plessy v. Ferguson and Oliver Brown, in Brown v. Board of Education. What separates ‘black’ and ‘white’? According to Louisiana; a train car.
Homer Plessy was born march 17th, 1862, in New Orleans, Louisiana. In the year 1890, Louisiana passed a statute stating that blacks must sit in a separate train car and were not allowed in the much nicer, and cleaner, white car. A fine of $25 and up to 20 days in jail, was the penalty for violating this law. In 1892, Plessy purchased a ticket for the whites only train car, when the ticket collector reached Plessy’s seat, he told the man he was of black decent. The law stated if you were lighter than a brown paper bag, you could sit in the white car, Homer then showed the man he was, indeed, lighter than a brown paper bag, but the man still had Plessy …show more content…
Martin Luther King jr. is famous for his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. Plessy had a dream, that one day, no matter your decent, your skin pigment, or your background, you were subject to equal citizen ship. His small rebellion sparked an inferno throughout the black community, inspiring those to take action and act out against the iron fist of racial suppression. Although he lost his case, he still was able to set precedent and evidence for future generations to draw upon and use as a weapon in the fight for equality. Brown made possible, the mixing of two repellent peoples, the path was never easy and will never be easy but hopefully, in 100 years, humans of all origins will join hands and fight in unity in the face of
Homer Plessy was born march 17th, 1862, in New Orleans, Louisiana. In the year 1890, Louisiana passed a statute stating that blacks must sit in a separate train car and were not allowed in the much nicer, and cleaner, white car. A fine of $25 and up to 20 days in jail, was the penalty for violating this law. In 1892, Plessy purchased a ticket for the whites only train car, when the ticket collector reached Plessy’s seat, he told the man he was of black decent. The law stated if you were lighter than a brown paper bag, you could sit in the white car, Homer then showed the man he was, indeed, lighter than a brown paper bag, but the man still had Plessy …show more content…
Martin Luther King jr. is famous for his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. Plessy had a dream, that one day, no matter your decent, your skin pigment, or your background, you were subject to equal citizen ship. His small rebellion sparked an inferno throughout the black community, inspiring those to take action and act out against the iron fist of racial suppression. Although he lost his case, he still was able to set precedent and evidence for future generations to draw upon and use as a weapon in the fight for equality. Brown made possible, the mixing of two repellent peoples, the path was never easy and will never be easy but hopefully, in 100 years, humans of all origins will join hands and fight in unity in the face of