Mock Trial of Plessy v. Ferguson

     For our second mock trial during class, Professor Smith chose to use the famous case of Plessy v. Ferguson. This case is a model case of the 13th and 14th amendment which preserve equality among the people. The problem was that Plessy purchased a white "train car" ticket, therefore he was going against the "Separate car act." The separate car act made it that train cars were separate, determined by race, but equally nice.
     Arguments brought up during the trial were that of color and segregation. Plessy was a man who was 7/8th a white man, and only 1/8th a black man. I believe with this being the case, the overrulling color should be that of the person. Therefore, there wouldn't be a problem with Plessy to go on the white persons train car. But because he was 1/8th a black man, he was kicked off the train car prior to getting to where he was headed. Another argument was that of any type of segregation is illegal and there shouldn't be any in the train cars. This argument was opposed because it is stated that Louisiana had the right to do what they wanted to do with their rail road cars within the states boundaries. During the time, there were law distinctions among blacks and whites, but it was never stated that blacks were lesser than the whites. So there is segregation, but according to law, it is equal. This case was important in history because it was a model for the "separate but equal" law.