Ferguson constitutionally supported segregation under the doctrine of “separate but equal”. This case began with Homer Plessy, a 30-year-old African American, challenging Louisiana's "Separate Car Act" by arguing that it violates the 13th and 14th Amendments. The Louisiana law was upheld by the United States Supreme Court claiming the intent of the 14th Amendment "had not been intended to abolish distinctions based on color." Consequently, Plessy v. Ferguson makes "separate but equal" policies legal. It set a legal precedent for others to justify many other segregation laws, including "separate but equal" education for colored students. However, despite the implications of “separate but equal”, schools for colored students were drastically underfunded, overcrowded, and fewer in number, especially in rural areas where there were more African Americans. The schools themselves were in poor condition with not enough books, desks, supplies, and a lacking of properly trained teachers. Society influenced the politics which influenced the economics of how education was handled. Whites, the societal majority, wanted segregation, which was reflected in its politic, Plessy vs. Ferguson, which impacted the economic standings of black schools. Plessy vs. Ferguson was the politically triggered the widening gap between blacks and white in the American …show more content…
John Scopes ("the Monkey Trial") demonstrated the rise in traditionalism among some parts of the South, while at the same time other parts of the South were looking for better, more modern education opportunities. This case garnered national attention as John Scopes, a high school biology teacher, was accused of teaching evolution in his classroom. The trial ended in Scopes' conviction and left a long-standing controversy that still persists today over whether evolution of creationism should be taught. While the North seemed to embrace the age of “Progressivism in Education”, started by John Dewey, the South struggled with changing its traditional roots. The South was facing political and social changes around the time of this trial with some southerners wanting to modernize the South and other southerners wanting to maintain the “safety” of Southern traditionalism. Southern traditionalists wanted to maintain segregation and gender inequality, including in Southern schools. To the antimodernists, teaching evolution in schools represented a precedent for other “radical” ideas, such as gender and racial equality, to be