Plessy v. Ferguson

(How the issue of ‘Separate but Equal’ was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States?)

A WEBQUEST FOR AN ELEMENTARY LEVEL CLASS

Robert Melendez

John B. Russwurm School

Introduction

The Supreme Court of the United States of America makes decisions on cases that have a direct impact on the lives of all Americans. These decisions are made based on what the Constitution of our land dictates. The nine justices (http://oyez.nwu.edu/justices/justices.cgi) interpret and explain the U.S. Constitution and make sure that all the laws of the land abide by the Constitution. If they determine that a law does not abide by the precepts of the U.S. Constitution the justices of the Supreme Court will declare the law unconstitutional and thereby not a law of the land.

The power of the Supreme Court lies directly in the words of our founding fathers, the words of the U.S. Constitution.

Task

In this webquest you will take the role of a Supreme Court Justice. You will look at many different aspects of a case, review its facts, and use the amend-ments of the Constitution to make a decision.

As a Supreme Court Justice you are presented with a case where an African American man named Plessy was arrested because he sat in an area of a train car reserved only for Whites. He simply wanted to sit comfortably on the first empty seat that he saw so that he could enjoy the train ride until he arrived at his destination. He had paid for his ticket and was not a nuisance to anyone on the train.

After making your decision you will review the official decision passed down by the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. You will compare and contrast the reasons for your decision with the reasons the Supreme Court gave for their decision.

You will be assessed based on a written response you will develop at the end of this webquest. Your written response will incorporate the responses to the questions that you answered during each step of the webquest and the information that you gathered.

Process

1. Review the following images and article. As you review them think of the following questions but do not answer them until you have viewed all the information. Write both the questions and the answers on a sheet of

looseleaf paper using complete sentences. Please remember to include a

school heading.

http://memory.loc.gov/learn/collections/aaohio/images/colored.jpg

http://www.nps.gov/malu/graphics/jimcrow1.gif

http://dbs.ohiohistory.org/africanam/images/Nwspaper/Advocate/Vol04/num44/01_11/01_11.gif

http://www.chicora.org/_borders/colored_water_fountain.jpg

http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/abouteleanor/q-and-a/images/vanderbilt_jimcrow.jpg

http://pages.ivillage.com/kelly_chase_2004/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/restrum.jpg

http://www.ushmm.org/olympics/images/c31-4.jpg

http://www.ushmm.org/olympics/images/c31-3.jpg

What do all the images and article have in common?

How do the images and article make you feel? Explain why.

Do you see signs like the ones in the images you viewed in the

world today?

2. Now review 2 important amendments to our United States Constitution.

These amendments will be helpful to you as you make a decision on the Plessy v. Ferguson case.

10^th Amendment

https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips/bor.html

(Although there are 10 pictures representing the first 10 Amendments,

focus on the 10^th Amendment.)

What right does the 10^th Amendment guarantee?

How is this amendment important to individual states?

Can you think of an example where one state does something differently or has a different law than another state?

14^th Amendment

http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/USA/14Ammend.htm

According to the summary of the 14^th Amendment that you just read, what right does it guarantee?

How is this amendment important to individual Americans?

3. Now review a short cartoon summary of the case.

https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/plessyvis.html

Why was Plessy arrested?

Paraphrase the judge’s decision?

4. Next review the arguments presented to you by each side of the case.

https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/plessyargu.html

In your own words, summarize the points of each argument.

5. Using the information you gathered in the previous steps of this webquest,

make a decision. Decide whether Plessy had a right to sit anywhere on the

train or whether Judge Ferguson’s initial decision

was constitutional and thereby lawful.

6. Finally review the actual decision of the Supreme Court of the

United States. Focus on their reasons for their decision and whether or not

they were logical.

https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/scales/plessydec.html

Summarize the decision in your own words.

Underline those parts of the decision that you agree with a pencil.

7. Now you will review all the written responses to each step of this

webquest process and complete an essay comparing and contrasting your

decision with the actual decision of the Supreme Court justices. You may

use the following outline below to assist you in planning your written

response.

Paragraph 1

Introduce your topic.

Your topic is the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court Case

that made segregation constitutional.

Explain how you will be comparing and contrasting the Supreme Court decision with the decision you made after completing a webquest on the case.

Paragraph 2

Present the facts of the case in your own words.

Do not include any opinions.

Paragraph 3

Include how you felt about the circumstances of the case.

Explain how you would have ruled if you were presented with

a case like Plessy v. Ferguson.

Include your reasons why.

Paragraph 4

Paraphrase the actual decision of the Supreme Court and

their reasons for the decision.

Paragraph 5

Finally explain how this decision changed or prevented change

in America during the turn of the century.

Conclusion

Based on the information reviewed in this webquest you should be able to understand that cases argued in the Supreme Court of the United States both strengthens our constitution and affects our daily lives.

Evaluation

Students will be assessed based on the following rubric:

Excellent Level 4	Satisfactory Level 3	Approaching Grade Level Level 2	Below Grade Level Level 1
Factual references are included	Some factual references are included	Few factual references are included	No factual references are included
Overall presentation is logical and clear	Overall presentation is clear and most times logical	Overall presentation is logical and clear at a minimal level	Overall presentation is illogical and unclear
Demonstrates understanding of subject matter and more	Adequate knowledge of subject matter	Little knowledge of subject matter demonstrated	Student does not demonstrate any understanding of the subject matter
No Grammatical Errors	Few Grammatical Errors	Grammatical Errors that interfere minimally with understanding the content	Grammatical Errors that interfere greatly with understanding the content

Performance Standards

History

Standard 1 History of the United States and New York

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and

New York.

Standard 5 Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for establishing govern-ments; the governmental system of the U.S. and other nations; the Constitution; the basic civic values of American constitu-tional democracy, and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of citizenship, including avenues of participation.

English Language Arts

Standard 1 Language for Information and Understanding

Students will read, write, and speak for information and understanding.

Standard 3 Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.