Plessy Before Plessy: The ICC and Race in the 1880s

This paper describes the Interstate Commerce Commission's (ICC's) handling of racial discrimination in the interstate railroad transportation of passengers in the late 1880s. Although an 1877 Supreme Court decision clearly established that state segregation statutes could not apply to interstate rail movements, the ICC approved the provision of separate interstate transportation facilities for white and black railroad passengers in two separate cases in 1887 and 1888. In these cases, the ICC did nothing more than attempt to require that racially separate facilities were indeed equal. In the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case, the Supreme Court adopted the ICC's reasoning that a state could mandate racial segregation.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/31144651
• Authors:
  • Emery, Robert A
• Publication Date: 2005

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 483-489
• Serial:
  • Journal of Transportation Law, Logistics and Policy
  • Volume: 72
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: Association for Transportation Law, Logistics and Policy
  • ISSN: 1078-5906
  • Serial URL: http://www.atlp.org/journal.html

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: 19th century; Discrimination; History; Interstate transportation; Legal documents; Legal rights; Passenger transportation; Race; Railroad transportation
• Identifier Terms: Plessy v. Ferguson; U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission; U.S. Supreme Court
• Subject Areas: History; Operations and Traffic Management; Passenger Transportation; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01016335
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 31 2006 10:16AM