Dred Scott Vs Ferguson Essay

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"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." - Martin Luther King Jr. In order to achieve equality for all races people needed to live by this quote. Sadly people didn't realize that what they were doing was cruel and wrong until some bigger problems occurred. Over the years, the Supreme Court has impacted thousands of lives through their decisions: Brown vs. Board of Education, Plessy vs. Ferguson, and Dred Scott vs. Sanford.

The beginning of the Civil Rights movement began hundreds of years ago in the year 1846 when colored folk were still considered as slaves. One slave's experience, Dred Scott, helped pushed things into motion once he pleaded his case. Scott was born into slavery and lived with his master in the south for many years. His master decided to move to a northern free state where Scott could earn his freedom. The case of Dred Scott vs. Sanford notes, "The Scotts' freedom could be established on the grounds that they had been held in bondage for extended periods in a free territory and were then returned to a slave state (Dred Scott v. John F.A. Sanford)." Scott appealed his case to the court hoping it would be a guarantee
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Ferguson "racial discrimination was attacked" which was a very big topic in "the Civil Rights Act of 1875 (Plessy vs. Ferguson)." The "separate but equal" laws were put in place so colored folks were treated equally but separately from the whites. Everything was segregated, schools, bathrooms, and even train cars. A colored man known as Homer Plessy had taken a seat in a white train car and was soon arrested and charged for violating the state law of "separate but equal." He pleaded to the court but had no luck when Judge John H. Ferguson ruled against him. He immediately appealed to the Supreme Court only for them to come to the conclusion that no amendments were violated and the "separate but equal" laws remain intact. After this case took place many more disturbances were yet to