Hi. In my class we are in the Plessy V Ferguson case. I need to write a paragraph on how the decision of this case helped African Americans gain more.

I am confused on the decision. In my text book, it reads "The majority rejected the argument that segregation gave Aftican Americans inferior status." I do not know what that means, none the less how that helped African Americans gain more. Please help.

This case established segregation of the races in "separate but equal" facilities. It helped blacks by directing that schools, institutions, etc. for blacks had to be equal to those for whites.

"The majority rejected the argument that segregation gave Aftican Americans inferior status."

This sentence means that the majority of the Supreme Court justices agreed that segregation wasn't wrong as long as the facilities were equal. They didn't believe that segregation itself would mean that blacks were inferior. They were separate, yet still equal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plessy_v._Ferguson

Of course! I'll explain both the decision made in the Plessy v. Ferguson case and how it relates to African Americans' quest for equality.

In the Plessy v. Ferguson case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1896 that racial segregation, specifically the "separate but equal" doctrine, was constitutional. The case involved a Louisiana law that required separate railway cars for Black and White passengers. Homer Plessy, who was of mixed racial heritage but identified as Black, intentionally violated this law and was arrested.

Now, let's break down the statement you mentioned from your textbook: "The majority rejected the argument that segregation gave African Americans inferior status." This means that the majority of the Supreme Court justices did not accept the argument presented by Plessy and his lawyers that racial segregation inherently treated African Americans as inferior to White Americans.

However, despite this ruling, it is essential to understand that the decision in Plessy v. Ferguson did not lead to African Americans directly gaining more rights or equality. In fact, it upheld the legality of segregation practices, which further entrenched racial discrimination and segregation in the United States for many years.

The Plessy v. Ferguson decision ultimately resulted in the establishment of the "separate but equal" doctrine, which allowed states to pass laws enforcing racial segregation as long as the separate facilities were theoretically equal in quality. Unfortunately, in practice, these separate facilities for African Americans were almost always inferior to those provided for White Americans.

It was not until many years later, in 1954, that the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education would overturn the Plessy v. Ferguson decision, stating that racially segregated public schools were inherently unequal and violated the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. This landmark decision sparked significant advancements in the Civil Rights Movement and played a crucial role in African Americans' fight for equality.

So, to conclude, the Plessy v. Ferguson decision did not directly help African Americans gain more rights. On the contrary, it perpetuated segregation and inequality. Rather, it was the eventual overturning of this decision in the Brown v. Board of Education case that paved the way for progress and advancement in the struggle for African American equality.