Plessy v. Ferguson

In class we held a mock trial for the case Plessy v. Ferguson.  This case is about a man, Homer Plessy, who was put in jail because he was an African American man riding inside of the "White's Only" train car.  This was an incident where civil rights activists purposely had Homer Plessy sit in the white's only car although he identified himself as an African American.   Lawyers on Plessy's side tried to argue that this was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.  Although they make a fair argument, the "separate but equal" doctrine was upheld.  Thinking about this in our day and age is ridiculous.  It still to this day shocks me that a group of people were discriminated against and still are discriminated against simply because they have a different skin color.  Although African Americans are still discriminated against today the progress that has been made has been tremendous.    This case is proof of how far we have come as a society.  It is hard to believe that not too long ago if I was riding on a bus or a train that there would be different sections for myself and African Americans.  Thank you to the two teams in class that did a great job displaying this trial for us.