Elizabeth's Blog

The case Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) is one of the most famous landmark cases in United States history. The rule was a 7-1 vote (one justice did not participate) that ruled in favor of Ferguson or the state of Louisiana. The one judge who voted in favor of Homer Plessy was named Justice Harlans.  Justice Harlan's opinion is one of the most famous dissenting opinions in United States history. Along with his deception opinion in the civil rights cases of 1883, this opinion earned him the nickname "the great decenter". Justice Harlan's dissenting opinions paved the way for the supreme court to eventually overturn Plessy v. Ferguson in Brown v. Board of Education.  Justice Harlan's descent reiterated what was stated in the 13th amendment. He argued that the 13th amendment did more than abolish slavery. He argued that the 13th amendment also abolished the   “badges and incidents”  of slavery as well. He wrote that the 13th  amendment  ordered civil freedom in...

During our class discussion of the State vs. Mann case, an argument that stood out to me was the argument in support of the state of North Carolina. My peers who argued in favor of the State argued that because Lydia (the slave) was technically considered property she was subject to any force of punishment. Although modernly that seems crazy, back in the 1830s that's a completely reasonable argument. The most compelling and interesting part of this case to me was the difference between societal and social thinking. The fact that slavery was perfectly legal at the time was overlooked by the modern way slavery is viewed today.  I noticed in class that most of my classmates who were not arguing in this case sided with those who were arguing in favor of Mann. It led me to question whether this was because they actually thought our arguments were better, or if they morally agreed with our side more. While I was listening to the arguments of the other side, I thought they were strong and...

Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark case in the United States that affected the way segregation was viewed by law. It is one of the most famous landmark cases of all time because of the ruling "separate but equal" which legalized racial segregation. Plessy v. Ferguson was one of the first cases that tested the interpretation of the "equal protection" clause of the 14th amendment.  To give background information on this case it originated in 1892 in retaliation to Louisiana's separate car act of 1890. In 1891 a group of people in Louisiana formed the "citizens committee" to test the constitutionality of the separate car act. The committee with its legal council choose a bi-racial candidate for the test case. Homer Plessy was a man who was 7/8 white and 1/8 black. The council selected Plessy to support their argument that the clause failed to clearly define white and colored races. Homer Plessy purchased a railroad ticket and proceeded to seat himself in a...

In the recent mock trial held in class covering the Plessy v. Ferguson case, my peers argued their sides on whether it was constitutional for Mr. Plessy, who was 1/8th black, to sit on the first class car in the train.  The facts of the case were first presented to the class where it was revealed to us that Homer Plessy was a man who lived a good majority of his life as white. He appeared to present as a white man because he was only 12.5% black. In this case, Mr. Plessy bought a first-class ticket on a train. He bought the ticket and boarded the train without any problems, but after it was revealed that he was black he was removed from the first-class car.  My peers took their assigned position on this case and presented many different arguments. There were some arguments that stood out to me specifically. First, one of my peers argued that the state of Louisiana was trying to intemperate the constitution when that was the direct role of congress. I found that argument to be ...

Radical reconstruction is a period in United States History that took place after the American Civil War ended in 1865. After the Union defeated the confederacy the two sides worked together to restore the nation from 1865 to 1867 in a period called reconstruction.  During Reconstruction, there were disagreements about how exactly the United States was going to accomplish this goal of reconstruction. Specifically, there were disagreements about how the southern states were going to be readmitted back into the unions and about African American rights after they were freed from slavery. During the Civil War, however, Lincoln had made a plan to quickly readmit the confederate states after the war, but after he was assassinated in 1865, Andrew Johnson became the president and Lincoln's plan was not followed.  A group of people called radical republicans disagreed with the way President Andrew Johnson was handling reconstruction. They believed that the southern states should be pun...

The film Band of Angels is a film that was released in 1957. The plot took place during the last year of the antebellum period. Written about a woman named Amantha Starr, the daughter of a Kentucky plantation over, who finds out after her father's death that her mother was one of his slaves making her half-black. After this, she is sold as a slave to go work for a man in Louisiana. She ends up falling in love with him until she finds out about his involvement with the slave trade.  Throughout this film, there are multiple notable slaves that are all portrayed very similarly. The first is his housekeeper Michelle who was also his former lover. Next, a man by the name of Ru-Ru is basically Bond's right-hand man.  What I find most interesting about this film is the way that Bond treats his slaves. Unlike most slave owners at the time Bond treated his slaves very kindly. He did not physically harm them or bestow any sort of physical punishment to them. Despite this fact, Ru-Ru sti...

Gone with the wind is a movie based off of a book written in 1939 by Margarett Mitchell. It is a historical romance film that took place during the civil war and reconstruction periods, which opened viewers' eyes to the reality of these times while still entertaining them with the romantic plot. T he film tells the story of  Scarlett O'Hara  the daughter of a Georgia plantation owner, during her romantic pursuit of  Ashley Wilkes  who is married to his cousin  Melanie Hamilton  and Scarlett's later marriage to  Rhett Butler .  After its release, the movie received a large amount of criticism for how it portrayed African Americans/Slaves in the movie. There are claims that the film whitewashed and hid the horrors of slavery and its "racist  stereotypes".  This movie has been receiving criticism and protest from the time it was released all the way up to today in modern-day America.  The movie glamor...