White Reactions
In the white community an immediate reaction to the case was indifference. After the court case segregation began to spread throughout the south and through different aspects of life.
Prior to the case only three states required Jim Crow laws, however, in the next ten years almost all southern states followed.
"[The] country as a whole received the news of its momentous decision upholding the "separate but equal" doctrine in relative silence and apparent indifference. Thirteen years earlier the Civil Rights Cases had precipitated pages of news reports, hundreds of editorials, indignant rallies, congressional bills, a Senate report, and much general debate. In striking contrast, the Plessy decision was accorded only short, inconspicuous news reports and virtually no editorial comment outside the Negro press. A great change had taken place, and the Court evidently now gave voice to the dominant mood of the country."
Woodward, Birth, p. 103
Woodward, Birth, p. 103
Signs enforcing segregation soon became more numerous as they separated many aspects of life as whites southern governments had gained the right to "separate but equal" facilities.
"...caused scarcely a ripple when it was announced."
Fireside, Harvey, Separate and Unequal: Homer Plessy and the Supreme
Court Decision that Legalized Racism , Carroll and Graf Publishers, 2004,
p. 224-225
Fireside, Harvey, Separate and Unequal: Homer Plessy and the Supreme
Court Decision that Legalized Racism , Carroll and Graf Publishers, 2004,
p. 224-225