{"id":6235,"date":"2020-10-22T14:25:41","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T13:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/loiseaumoqueur.com\/?p=6235"},"modified":"2020-12-28T14:37:48","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T13:37:48","slug":"larret-plessy-v-ferguson-du-18-mai-1896-ii-la-validation-de-la-segregation-par-la-cour-supreme-des-etats-unis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loiseaumoqueur.com\/?p=6235","title":{"rendered":"L’arr\u00eat Plessy v. Ferguson du 18 mai 1896 (II) : la validation de la s\u00e9gr\u00e9gation par la Cour Supr\u00eame des Etats-Unis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image_pdf\"<\/a>\"image_print\"<\/a><\/div>

L’abolition de l’esclavage en 1865 avec la ratification du treizi\u00e8me amendement \u00e0 la constitution des Etats-Unis ne r\u00e8gle pas la question du statut et des droits des afro-am\u00e9ricains. Tr\u00e8s vite, des Etats du Sud adoptent de nouvelles l\u00e9gislations restreignant les droits des esclaves affranchis (parfois appel\u00e9es \u00ab\u00a0Black Codes<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0).<\/p>\n

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Gravure de Frederick Dielman (1866) Celebration of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia by the colored people, in Washington<\/em>, Library of Congress<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

L’objectif de ces l\u00e9gislations, qui prennent souvent la forme de lois contre le vagabondage, est de maintenir une emprise tr\u00e8s forte sur les anciens esclaves en encadrant leur travail et leurs d\u00e9placements [1]<\/a>. Apr\u00e8s la guerre civile, des centaines de milliers de noirs am\u00e9ricains, pour la plupart anciens esclaves, se retrouvent sur les routes \u00e0 la recherche d’un travail ou de membres de leur famille.<\/p>\n

La loi sur le vagabondage promulgu\u00e9e en 1865 dans l’\u00c9tat du <\/span>Mississippi pr\u00e9voit ainsi que tout travailleur noir, qui n’a pas de logement ou contract\u00e9 un emploi \u00e0 compter du d\u00e9but du mois de janvier 1866, peut \u00eatre arr\u00eat\u00e9 pour vagabondage [2]<\/a>. Celle de l’\u00c9tat de Virginie de 1866 contraint les personnes sans emploi ou sans domicile \u00e0 un travail forc\u00e9 pour une p\u00e9riode pouvant aller jusqu’\u00e0 trois mois [3]<\/a>. D’autres lois interdisent les mariages mixtes, le droit de vote des noirs, le droit d’\u00eatre jur\u00e9 ou de porter une arme, etc.<\/p>\n

Le quatorzi\u00e8me amendement \u00e0 la constitution des Etats-Unis est ratifi\u00e9 en 1868 pour r\u00e9pondre \u00e0 ces l\u00e9gislations en assurant aux anciens esclaves le statut de citoyen et en proclamant l’\u00e9gale protection de tous en vertu de la loi. En 1870, le quinzi\u00e8me amendement leur garantit le droit de vote. Ces dispositions ne mettent pas un terme aux discriminations \u00e0 l’encontre des anciens esclaves et de leurs descendants. A la fin des ann\u00e9es 1870, des lois dites \u00ab\u00a0Jim Crow<\/em>\u00a0\u00bb [4]<\/a>, inspir\u00e9es des Black Codes de 1865-1866 et ceux d’avant guerre, instaurent dans de nombreux Etats une s\u00e9paration entre les personnes \u00ab\u00a0blanches\u00a0\u00bb et celles dites \u00ab\u00a0de couleur\u00a0\u00bb dans les lieux publics (transports publics, \u00e9coles, etc.).<\/p>\n

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Photographie de Rodolphe Julien Desdunes (un des fondateurs du Comit\u00e9 des Citoyens de Louisiane), dans l’ouvrage Nos Hommes et Notre Histoire<\/em>, Montr\u00e9al: Arbour & Dupont, 1911.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

La loi adopt\u00e9e en 1890 par l’Etat de Louisiane, connue sous le nom de \u00ab\u00a0Separate Car Act<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0, en est un exemple [5]<\/a>. Elle impose des compartiments diff\u00e9rents dans les transports publics pour les blancs et les personnes de couleur et sanctionne l’infraction d’une amende de 25 dollars ou 20 jours de prison [6]<\/a>. En 1891, Louis Martinet et Rodolphe Desdunes fondent le \u00ab\u00a0Comit\u00e9 des Citoyens<\/em>\u00a0\u00bb \u00e0 la Nouvelle-Orl\u00e9ans pour lutter pour l’abrogation de cette loi [7]<\/a>. Ils font appel aux avocats Albion W. Tourg\u00e9e et James C. Walker pour mener le combat juridique [8]<\/a>. Les militants \u00e9laborent des strat\u00e9gies pour cr\u00e9er des litiges susceptibles d’amener les juges \u00e0 se prononcer sur la constitutionnalit\u00e9 de la loi. Ils demandent pour cela \u00e0 plusieurs des leurs d’enfreindre le \u00ab\u00a0Separate Car Act<\/em>\u00a0\u00bb et organisent leur arrestation [9]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Le 24 f\u00e9vrier 1892, le fils de Rodolphe Desdunes, Daniel Desdunes, musicien de profession, est arr\u00eat\u00e9 apr\u00e8s \u00eatre mont\u00e9 \u00e0 bord d’une voiture r\u00e9serv\u00e9e aux blancs dans un train circulant de la Nouvelle-Orl\u00e9ans (Louisane) \u00e0 Mobile (Alabama) [10]<\/a>. Cette premi\u00e8re affaire tourne vite court. Le juge John Howard Ferguson invalide l’inculpation de Desdunes au motif que le \u00ab\u00a0Separate Car Act<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0, n’a vocation qu’\u00e0 s’appliquer qu’\u00e0 l’int\u00e9rieur de l’Etat de Louisiane et non aux voyages entre deux Etats [11]<\/a>. Le Comit\u00e9 c\u00e9l\u00e8bre cette demi-victoire [12]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pour la deuxi\u00e8me tentative, les militants font appel \u00e0 Homer Plessy, cordonnier [13]<\/a>. Comme Daniel Desdunes, l’homme n’est pas choisi par hasard. Il est suffisamment blanc pour acc\u00e9der au compartiment des blancs et assez noir au regard de la loi de Louisiane pour pouvoir \u00eatre arr\u00eat\u00e9 [14]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Le 7 juin 1897, Plessy ach\u00e8te un billet premi\u00e8re classe pour un train reliant cette fois deux villes de Louisiane, Nouvelle-Orl\u00e9ans – Covington [15]<\/a>. Il est arr\u00eat\u00e9 comme pr\u00e9vu apr\u00e8s s’\u00eatre pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 comme un noir, avec la collaboration de la compagnie de chemin de fer (East Louisiana Railroad<\/em>) et d’un d\u00e9tective priv\u00e9 engag\u00e9 par le Comit\u00e9 [16]<\/a>. Le juge John Howard Ferguson se prononce cette fois sur la constitutionnalit\u00e9 du \u00ab\u00a0Separate Car Act<\/em>\u00a0\u00bb et d\u00e9clare la loi en conformit\u00e9 avec les treizi\u00e8me et quatorzi\u00e8me amendements \u00e0 la constitution [17]<\/a>. La Cour supr\u00eame de Louisiane confirme sa d\u00e9cision en retenant que si le quatorzi\u00e8me amendement implique le m\u00eame niveau de prestations pour les citoyens, il n’impose pas que celles-ci soient identiques ou partag\u00e9es [18]<\/a>. L’affaire est port\u00e9e devant la Cour supr\u00eame des Etats-Unis.<\/p>\n

\u00e0 suivre…<\/p>\n

\n

1. [\u2191]<\/a> \u00a0Commence un esclavage d’un autre genre qui va durer jusqu’\u00e0 la seconde guerre mondiale. selon l’\u00e9crivain et journaliste de New-York Times, Douglas A. Blackmon, prix Pulitzer en 2009 pour son ouvrage \u00ab\u00a0Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II\u00a0\u00bb<\/i> (2008).<\/p>\n

2. [\u2191]<\/a> An Act to Confer Civil Rights on Freedmen, and for other Purposes,<\/em> extrait : \u00ab\u00a0All freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes in this State, over the age of eighteen years, found on the second Monday in January, 1866, or thereafter<\/strong>, with no lawful employment or business<\/strong>, or found unlawful assembling themselves together, either in the day or night time, and all white persons assembling themselves with freedmen, Free negroes or mulattoes, or usually associating with freedmen, free negroes or mulattoes, on terms of equality, or living in adultery or fornication with a freed woman, freed negro or mulatto, shall be deemed vagrants, and on conviction thereof shall be fined in a sum not exceeding, in the case of a freedman, free negro or mulatto, fifty dollars, and a white man two hundred dollars, and imprisonment at the discretion of the court<\/strong>, the free negro not exceeding ten days, and the white man not exceeding six months..<\/em>.\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n

Extraits sur les sites : https:\/\/www.facinghistory.org\/reconstruction-era\/mississippi-black-codes-1865<\/a> ; http:\/\/web.mit.edu\/21h.102\/www\/Primary%20source%20collections\/Reconstruction\/Black%20codes.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n
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3. [\u2191]<\/a> Virginia Vagrancy Law<\/em>, 15 janvier 1866, Chapitre 28.\u2014An Act providing for the punishment of Vagrants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Extrait : \u00ab\u00a01. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That the overseers of the poor, or other officers having charge of the poor, or the special county police, or the police of any corporation, or any one or more of such persons, shall be and are hereby empowered and required, upon discovering any vagrant or vagrants within their respective counties or corporations, to make information thereof to any justice of the peace of their county or corporation, and to require a warrant for apprehending such vagrant or vagrants, to be brought before him or some other justice; and if, upon due examination, it shall appear that the person or persons are within the true description of a vagrant, as hereinafter mentioned, such justice shall, by warrant under his hand, order such vagrant or vagrants to be employed in labor for any term not exceeding three months<\/strong>, and, by any constable of such county or corporation, to be hired out for the best wages that can be procured; to be applied, except as hereafter provided, for the use of the vagrant or his family, as ordered by the justice. And if any without sufficient cause, run away from the person so employing him or them, he or they shall be apprehended, on the warrant of a justice, and returned to the custody of such hirer, who shall have, free of any further hire, the services of said vagrant for one month in addition to the original term of hiring<\/strong>; and said employer shall then have the power, if authorized by the justice, to work said vagrant, confined with ball and chain; or should said hirer decline to receive again said vagrant, then said vagrant shall be taken by the officer, upon the order of a justice, to the poor or work house, if there be any such in said county or corporation, and be delivered to the overseer or superintendent, who shall work said vagrant for the benefit of said county or corporation; or, if authorized by the justice, to work him, confined with ball and chain, for the period for which he would have had to serve his late employer, had he consented to receive him again; or should there be, when said runaway vagrant is apprehended, and public work going on in said county or corporation, then said vagrant, upon the order of a justice, shall be delivered over by said officer to the superintendent of such public work, who shall, for the like last mentioned period, work said vagrant on said public works, confined with ball and chain, if so authorized by the justice. But if there be no poor or work house in said county or corporation, and no public work then in progress therein, then, in that event, said justice may cause said vagrant to be delivered to any person who will take charge of him. Said person to have his services free of charge, except maintenance, for a like last mentioned period; and said person so receiving said vagrant is hereby empowered , if authorized by the justice, to work said vagrant confined with ball and chain; or should no such person be found, then said vagrant is to be committed to the county jail, there to be confined for the like period, and fed on bread and water. But the persons described as the fifth class of vagrants, in the second section of this act, may be arrested without warrant by the special county or corporation police, and when so arrested shall be taken before a justice, who shall proceed to dispose of them in the mode prescribed in this section, or may at once direct them to be committed to prison for a period not exceeding three <\/em>months, to be kept in close confinement and fed on bread and water<\/em>.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

Voir l’article\u00a0Vagrancy Act of 1866<\/em><\/a> de Brent Tarter sur le site www.encyclopediavirginia.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4. [\u2191]<\/a> Voir \u00e0 ce sujet l’article pr\u00e9c\u00e9dent : L\u2019arr\u00eat Plessy v. Ferguson du 18 mai 1896 (I) : la validation de la s\u00e9gr\u00e9gation par la Cour Supr\u00eame des Etats-Unis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

5. [\u2191]<\/a> Voir l’ouvrage \u00ab\u00a0Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America’s Journey <\/em>from Slavery to Segregation<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0, de<\/span> Steve Luxenberg, 2019, chapitres 18 et 19 ; l’ouvrage \u00ab\u00a0Race and Schooling in the South, 1880-1950: An Economic History<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0, de Robert A. Margo, 1990, page 68<\/span>.<\/p>\n

6. [\u2191]<\/a> Idem,\u00a0Robert A. Margo, 1990, page 68<\/span>.<\/p>\n

7. [\u2191]<\/a> Idem, Steve Luxenberg, 2019, chapitre 19 ; voir l’article \u00ab\u00a0Overlooked No More: Homer Plessy, Who Sat on a Train and Stood Up for Civil Rights<\/em><\/a>\u00ab\u00a0, de Glenn Rifkin, The New-York Times<\/em>, 31 janvier 2020<\/span>.<\/p>\n

8. [\u2191]<\/a> Idem, Steve Luxenberg, 2019, chapitre 19<\/span>.<\/p>\n

9. [\u2191]<\/a> Idem, Steve Luxenberg, 2019, chapitre 19<\/span>.<\/p>\n

10. [\u2191]<\/a> Idem, Steve Luxenberg, 2019, chapitre 20<\/span>.<\/p>\n

11. [\u2191]<\/a> Idem, Steve Luxenberg, 2019, chapitre 20<\/span>.<\/p>\n

12. [\u2191]<\/a>\u00a0Idem, Steve Luxenberg, 2019, chapitre 20<\/span>.<\/p>\n

13. [\u2191]<\/a> Voir l’ouvrage \u00ab\u00a0We As Freemen: Plessy V. Ferguson<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0, de Keith Weldon Medley, 2003, chapitre 1 ; idem,\u00a0Glenn Rifkin, The New-York Times<\/em>, 31 janvier 2020.<\/p>\n

14. [\u2191]<\/a> Idem, Keith Weldon Medley, 2003, chapitre 1, idem, Steve Luxenberg, 2019, chapitre 20<\/span>.<\/p>\n

15. [\u2191]<\/a>\u00a0Idem, Steve Luxenberg, 2019, chapitre 20<\/span>.<\/p>\n

16. [\u2191]<\/a> Le contr\u00f4le est planifi\u00e9 avec le conducteur de train et l’arrestation est faite par le d\u00e9tective priv\u00e9 Chris C. Cain engag\u00e9 par le Comit\u00e9 des Cotoyens. Voir l’ouvrage \u00ab\u00a0Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, and America’s Journey <\/em>from Slavery to Segregation<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0, de<\/span> Steve Luxenberg, 2019, <\/span>chapitre 20.<\/span><\/p>\n

17. [\u2191]<\/a> Idem, Glenn Rifkin, The New-York Times<\/em>, 31 janvier 2020 ; idem, Steve Luxenberg, 2019, chapitre 20.<\/span><\/p>\n

18. [\u2191]<\/a>\u00a0Voir l’article \u00ab\u00a0In the Shadow of Plessy<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0, de Cheryl L Harris, Journal of Constitutional Law, volume 7.3, f\u00e9vrier 2005,\u00a0page 891: \u00ab\u00a0principle that, in such matters, equality, and not identity or community, of accommodations is the extreme test of conformity to the requirements of the [F]ourteenth [A] mendment<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

L’abolition de l’esclavage en 1865 avec la ratification du treizi\u00e8me amendement \u00e0 la constitution des Etats-Unis ne r\u00e8gle pas la question du statut et des droits des afro-am\u00e9ricains. Tr\u00e8s vite, des Etats du Sud adoptent…<\/p>\n

Lire la suiteL’arr\u00eat Plessy v. Ferguson du 18 mai 1896 (II) : la validation de la s\u00e9gr\u00e9gation par la Cour Supr\u00eame des Etats-Unis<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-actualite","category-etats-unis","category-histoire","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loiseaumoqueur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loiseaumoqueur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loiseaumoqueur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loiseaumoqueur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loiseaumoqueur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6235"}],"version-history":[{"count":87,"href":"https:\/\/loiseaumoqueur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6360,"href":"https:\/\/loiseaumoqueur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6235\/revisions\/6360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loiseaumoqueur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loiseaumoqueur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loiseaumoqueur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}