Separate But Equal Case Study

Words: 495
Pages: 2

In 1887 Florida law required the railroads to add separate cars for each race, although it doesn’t mention Hispanics, or American Indians. Apparently the Teamsters weren’t running the railroads, because they gave in, and the paid the extra money for separate rail cars to accommodate everyone. Passengers who broke the law, and sat in the wrong area faced a twenty-five dollar fine, or twenty days in jail (N.A. n.d.1). The only exception to this law was a black nurse could sit in a white section, if she was accompanying a white child.
Four years later in 1891 a group of African American men formed a group to challenge the law. They hired a great lawyer, who argued the law was unconstitutional based on interstate travel. The Louisiana State Supreme
…show more content…
Not only is justice slow, but it is also prejudice.
There is absolutely no way for people to be separate but equal. Some people are still using this argument today, when the discussion of diversity is brought up.
The “separate but equal” law lasted until 1954 when Brown took on the Board of Education in Topeka Kansas. In this case the Supreme Court finally saw that the “black only schools” were intrinsically unequal. Since that time the idea of being separate but equal has been shot down by the Civil Right Act of the 1960s, and other subsequent cases. This change in the way other races are viewed as caused most every state to rewrite their laws.
With that thought in mind. Some public schools are starting to separate classes into boys, and girls. They claim they need to do this so the girls can learn confidence in math, and science. Is this a case of separate but equal, or is it sex discrimination? Perhaps it only stereo typing.
After the Supreme Court handed down their decision, it still took the effort of both White, and Black Americans to put pressure on the legal system to bring an end to the