Plessy v. Ferguson

The famous court case of Plessy verses Ferguson was a very important court case in the time of the civil rights era which made segregation legal under “separate but equal” and the beginning of the Jim Crow era. Even though Justice Harlan’s decision was one against the rest of the majority vote he did not really case what his decision was because the vote was already in majority, so he really had no say. He made this decision because he wanted to show everyone that not everyone is for the idea of segregation. He wanted to express his opinion, which he had the right to do, and maybe he hoped that it would influence other people to think in the same way that he did.

In 1896, people probably would have disagreed with his argument during the time since he is arguing for African Americans as opposed to his own race, even though there had already been significant progress in the progression of the rights of African Americans at the time. If more people during that time had agreed with his argument, I feel that his argument could have been great leverage for the advancement of black rights, but at that time not many white people would favor his argument especially using the 14th Amendment in his argument. Now, in 2016, I feel that people would have reacted to his argument in a completely different way. People would see his argument being very brave and noble being that in today’s society most people really don’t have an issue with the integration of blacks and whites and black rights. And I feel that If he was to make that argument in court today, many more of the justices would see his argument as fair and most likely agree with it.

From the time of 1896 to 2016 and the present, I feel that his dissent was one of many small pushes towards the understanding and acceptance of a dissent like that in the court of law. His dissent could have influenced future Justices to not be hesitant to disagree with what may be the common decision and leaves room for compromise and consideration when it comes to statements that may seem to be in the complete opposite direction of what all the other justices may think.