AAS 111 Lecture 16: Plessy Handout

• School: U of M
• Department: Afroamerican & African Studies
• Course: AAS 111
• Professor: Sandra Gunning

Document Summary

The argument [of the plaintiff plessy] . assumes that social prejudices may be overcome by legislation, and that equal rights cannot be secured to the negro except by an enforced commingling of the two races. If the two races are to meet upon terms of social equality, it must be the result of natural affinities, a mutual appreciation of each other"s merits and a voluntary consent of individuals. Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences, and the attempt to do so can only result in accentuating the difficulties of the present situation. If the civil and political rights of both races be equal one cannot be inferior to the other civilly or politically. If one race be inferior to the other socially, the constitution of the united states cannot put them upon the same plane.