Plessy vs. Ferguson
Despite the three amendments passed during Reconstruction that were supposed to give African Americans rights that whites had, segregation was still a major issue in the country. In June of 1892, Homer Plessy sat in a white compartment on a train traveling over an interstate route. Because he was of mixed ancestry(he was part white, part black), the conductor of the train had an issue with him sitting there. After his lawyer expressed his opinion saying that he felt the "separate but equal accommodations was unconstitutional, a judge that went by the name of John H. Ferguson ruled against them. Plessy then decided to bring the dispute to the Supreme Court. The verdict of the case ended up being that the "separate but equal" laws are constitutional.This outcome was important because it showed the continuation of racial segregation, and the thought that doing so was constitutional.
Brown vs. Board of Education
May 17, 1954 marked a significant day in the history of the Civil Rights Movement. On this day the Warren Court deemed the principle of "separate but equal" unconstitutional when it involved racial segregation in schools. The case that brought about this decision was caused by an issue involving a little girl from Topeka, Kansas named Linda Brown, and her dad. Her dad felt that the school Linda went to was too far out of the way from where they lived, so he tried enrolling her in a white school. After being refused admittance by both the principal and the board of education, the case was brought to the Supreme Court by Brown and the NAACP. The decision reached by the court was unanimous, but was not given a certain timetable with which it was to be carried out by. This ruling brought about resistance by many, as well as buoyed minority groups in the fight for Civil Rights. The decision was the first to ever go against the ruling from Plessy vs. Ferguson.
Loving vs. Virginia
In many states, marriages between a white and an African American were illegal. In Virginia, there were laws that went as far to make marriage between whites and other ethnic groups illegal. Loving vs. Virginia was a court case in 1967 that made laws prohibiting interracial marriage illegal. This case was controversial but the ruling stands; interracial marriage is legal.