Period 6, Day 3: "Separate But Equal" in the Jim Crow South

Last updated over 1 year ago

14 questions

Note from the author:

Content Objective: I will be able to evaluate the legal claims that support and refute the Supreme Court’s ruling  in Plessy v. Ferguson.

Standard Objective: I will be able to identify claims and counterclaims explicitly stated in text or determine implicit claims and counterclaims from text.

Instructions

Content Objective: I will be able to evaluate the legal claims that support and refute the Supreme Court’s ruling  in Plessy v. Ferguson.

Standard Objective: I will be able to identify claims and counterclaims explicitly stated in text or determine implicit claims and counterclaims from text.

Period 6, Day 3: "Separate But Equal" in the Jim Crow South

Last updated over 1 year ago

14 questions

Note from the author:

Content Objective: I will be able to evaluate the legal claims that support and refute the Supreme Court’s ruling  in Plessy v. Ferguson.

Standard Objective: I will be able to identify claims and counterclaims explicitly stated in text or determine implicit claims and counterclaims from text.

Instructions

Content Objective: I will be able to evaluate the legal claims that support and refute the Supreme Court’s ruling  in Plessy v. Ferguson.

Standard Objective: I will be able to identify claims and counterclaims explicitly stated in text or determine implicit claims and counterclaims from text.

Warm Up: Please rate how well you understood last night's pre-work on a scale from 1 to 4. If you have any questions, drop them in the "Show Your Work" area.

Warm Up: Do you feel like people are separated by race in the United States (i.e. segregation)? Explain.

Warm Up: One interesting historical fact I learned from the pre-work is…

Building Knowledge Together: Please follow along as we take notes as a class.

Required

Building Knowledge Together: Although the Declaration of Independence affirmed that “all men are created equal,” and had inalienable rights including liberty, African Americans were _______  denied their liberty with the institution of slavery. Even after the Civil War and the passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, _______  was a fact of life in the United States. Throughout the country, the races remained separated by both custom and law.
With the end of Reconstruction, every southern state, as well as some northern ones, passed what came to be termed _______  laws. These policies required segregation in public places. African Americans were denied equal _______  to public facilities like transportation, education, and the voting booth. In 1878, the Supreme Court held that states could not require integration on interstate common carriers. In 1890, the Court held that Mississippi could require segregation on modes of interstate transportation.
📷

Required

Five years later, Homer _______ , a resident of Louisiana, decided to challenge a Louisiana law requiring segregation on railcars by purchasing a train ticket and sitting in a “whites only” car. Because Plessy was an “octoroon” (1/8th Black), he was subject to the _______  of Louisiana. When he was questioned as to his status, he admitted to being an octoroon, and was arrested when he refused to leave the car. He appealed his case to the Supreme Court of Louisiana and eventually the United States Supreme Court, claiming that the Louisiana law violated the _______  Amendment.

Applying Knowledge: Well done! Let’s now apply the new knowledge and vocabulary that we just learned to today’s topic.

Required

What kinds of laws does the Court say that state legislatures have the rightful power to pass?

Required

What does the Court say is the basic flaw in Plessy’s argument?

Required

What does the dissenting opinion mean by “Our constitution is color-blind”?

Required

What does the dissenting opinion claim is the “real meaning” of the Louisiana segregation law?

Required

How does this photograph from 1940 reveal the legacy of the Plessy decision?

Justice Harlan was the sole voice who disagreed with the majority of his colleagues in the 6-1 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling.
While some Supreme Court cases are decided unanimously, other times the justices do not agree with the majority decision. These justices often write dissenting opinions that express how and why they disagree with the majority decision. In his dissent, Justice Harlan argues that segregation violated the 14th Amendment because it used the law to sanction inequality among races.
Though dissents do not become law as majority opinions do, they are important because they document the struggle between different interpretations of the law. Sometimes the dissent in one case becomes the prevailing viewpoint in a future case that overturns an earlier decision.

Exit Ticket: What are the flaws of the Majority Opinion [Document B]? Explain why using ideas from the Dissenting Opinion [Document C] of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).

Period 6, Day 3: "Separate But Equal" in the Jim Crow South

Period 6, Day 3: "Separate But Equal" in the Jim Crow South

Warm Up: Please rate how well you understood last night's pre-work on a scale from 1 to 4. If you have any questions, drop them in the "Show Your Work" area.

Warm Up: Do you feel like people are separated by race in the United States (i.e. segregation)? Explain.

Warm Up: One interesting historical fact I learned from the pre-work is…

What kinds of laws does the Court say that state legislatures have the rightful power to pass?

What does the Court say is the basic flaw in Plessy’s argument?

What does the dissenting opinion mean by “Our constitution is color-blind”?

What does the dissenting opinion claim is the “real meaning” of the Louisiana segregation law?

How does this photograph from 1940 reveal the legacy of the Plessy decision?

Exit Ticket: What are the flaws of the Majority Opinion [Document B]? Explain why using ideas from the Dissenting Opinion [Document C] of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).

Exit Ticket: Please evaluate how well you understood today’s lesson on a scale from 1 to 4:

Warm Up: Please rate how well you understood last night's pre-work on a scale from 1 to 4. If you have any questions, drop them in the "Show Your Work" area.

Warm Up: Do you feel like people are separated by race in the United States (i.e. segregation)? Explain.

Warm Up: One interesting historical fact I learned from the pre-work is…

What kinds of laws does the Court say that state legislatures have the rightful power to pass?

What does the Court say is the basic flaw in Plessy’s argument?

What does the Court argue about laws that try to abolish racial prejudices?

How does the decision in Plessy affirm the doctrine [legal theory] of “separate but equal”?

What does the dissenting opinion mean by “Our constitution is color-blind”?

What does the dissenting opinion claim is the “real meaning” of the Louisiana segregation law?

How does this photograph from 1940 reveal the legacy of the Plessy decision?

Exit Ticket: What are the flaws of the Majority Opinion [Document B]? Explain why using ideas from the Dissenting Opinion [Document C] of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).

Exit Ticket: Please evaluate how well you understood today’s lesson on a scale from 1 to 4:

What does the Court argue about laws that try to abolish racial prejudices?

How does the decision in Plessy affirm the doctrine [legal theory] of “separate but equal”?